3 takeaways from Drake basketball's win over Central College

It's a new season for Drake men's basketball, and the Bulldogs kicked off the year with a statement.

The Bulldogs (1-0) took down Division III Central College, 101-48, in their season opener on Wednesday, Nov 4. Jon Carroll led the Bulldogs with 20 points, and five other players finished in the double digits.

"We wanted to make a great first impression for our fans," coach Eric Henderson said postgame. "We have had a terrific summer, an exciting fall and our guys…they compete at a really high level, and I wanted to make sure that our fans could feel that."

Here are three takeaways from Drake's win over Central on Nov. 4.

What did Henderson want to see from his team in the season opener?

The Bulldogs ended last season with two wins in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament before falling in the semifinal, and then the roster went through an overhaul. Henderson added eight new players to his team, including four transfers.

That left a lot of questions coming into the season opener.

Drake shot 54.2% from the field, and 34.6% from 3-point range on Wednesday. Henderson managed to put most of his bench on the floor, and all but one player who made it into the game scored at least one point.

But a dominant performance doesn't mean there aren't things for Henderson to fix.

"One thing that stood out in the first half, (Central) had eight offensive rebounds, and I was not real pleased about that," Henderson said. "And they only had one in the second half. That was nice to see us say, 'Hey, coach talked about this at halftime, let's take a look at that, let's make sure we're intentional and improve.'"

Justin Burns stands out in Drake's win

The junior forward played just 17 minutes in the season opener, but he made a statement.

He finished as the team's second-leading scorer, with 14 points – and he didn't miss a field goal, going 7-for-7 overall. Burns' contributions weren't limited to the point total, and he put up eight rebounds – seven defensive – three steals and one block.

"He's an electric athlete," Henderson said. "He's starting to slow down some in the post and finish better. Obviously, he was great tonight…he's very electric, and that was something that was very intentional that we wanted to improve from last year's team to this year's team."

It's good to have Owen Larson back for Drake basketball

Larson appeared in 25 games last season, but he missed the first month while recovering from a knee injury – and even after making his return to the court, it took some time for the South Dakota State transfer to settle into his game.

In the 2025-26 season, he averaged 10.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists in nearly 30 minutes per game. On Wednesday, Larson finished with 11 points, five assists, two rebounds and one steal in just over 21 minutes of play.

"You guys see the difference, right?" Henderson said. "He's playing with so much more confidence and swag and he's been terrific. I'm so proud of him, how he's responded after some tough moments…and I'm really looking forward for him to have a great year."

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 3 takeaways from Drake basketball's win over Central College