Final score: Bradley 68 SIU 62

[wily coyote]

PFC a lot better than the way we played. Thanks for asking. Hopefully we'll get better soon and it better be real soon.

[tornado]

I have to admit, it was closer than I would have liked - we just give the ball up too easily.........
but SIU has no right to gripe about injuries and having no depth...cuz those are all the players Barry recruited - he had plenty of chance to get other kids...

Seriously - all their main guys are 3rd, 4th and even 5th year players, jucos & transfers with lots of experience...
We only have one guy who is a 4th year player and no 5th year guys - more than half our lineup are freshman and sophomores - SIU plays only one sophomore and have NO freshmen....


We still have a problem with bad, unforced turnovers and I think the stats guys missed a few..
SIU nearly doubled us up on points on turnovers, offensive rebounds and 2nd chance points....
we can't keep giving it back to opponents again and again...we have to value the possession better!

[Braves2006]

Thankful for the W... But this was really hard to watch. Seems like we are falling off the rails a bit the past 2 games. What happened to Kennell?

[Da Coach]

Nice 2nd half. Every time SIU challenged and was within a basket of catching Bradley, the Braves came back and scored to finally put it away.

Box score-

http://www.bubraves.com/documents/2018/1/9//Bradley_68_Southern_Illinois_62.pdf

Attendance- 5,319

Bradley is now 13-5- that is as many wins as Bradley won all last season (they were 13-20 in 2016-17).
They are also 3-2 in the MVC and all alone in 4th place-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/standings/_/group/18

Donte Thomas was a stud tonight- Player of the Game- 22 points (8-10 from the floor, and 1-1 from three) and 7 rebounds, plus good defense.
Darrell Brown had a good game- 11 points, 5 assists with 0 turnovers.
DLO- 7 points, 6 rebounds, and good defense.
Jayden Hodgson- 11 points, and 4 steals! Plus some big free throws in the final minute.
Elijah Childs- 7 points 5 rebounds
Luuk 5 & 5
Nate- 5 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds

Coach Wardle played only 8 players tonight, and Stipo did not play.

A couple tings I wondered, and I am not second-guessing the coaching staff- SIU was shorthanded. Why not press them more, play more players, and force them into a faster tempo to tire them out?
And SIU had only 2 big men, and except for a 2-minute stretch in the 2nd half, they played 4 guards and 1 forward for 38 of the 40 minutes. Why doesn't Bradley try to take advantage of mismatches with guys like Luuk van Bree or Elijah Childs? Donte did well trying to go to the basket being guarded by a smaller man, but almost nobody else did.
It seemed like we were more concerned about matching up with them and it forced Bradley into a slower, half-court game.

[Da Coach]

One other thing I noticed. Tonight's officiating crew was Mike Stuart, Gerry Pollard, and Kelly Self- 3 guys with a history of highly active whistles, and calling a ton of fouls. But tonight I thought they did a pretty good job and did not call many fouls. There were just 16 total fouls on each team, and only 38 free throw attempts combined. I thought they did miss a couple of out-of-bounds calls under the Bradley basket that appeared should have gone to Bradley but were awarded to SIU, but otherwise, they let the teams play without blowing their whistles so much.

[Braves2006]

One other thing I noticed. Tonight's officiating crew was Mike Stuart, Gerry Pollard, and Kelly Self- 3 guys with a history of highly active whistles, and calling a ton of fouls. But tonight I thought they did a pretty good job and did not call many fouls. There were just 16 total fouls on each team, and only 38 free throw attempts combined. I thought they did miss a couple of out-of-bounds calls under the Bradley basket that appeared should have gone to Bradley but were awarded to SIU, but otherwise, they let the teams play without blowing their whistles so much.

I agree. This was refreshing.

[Dub]

Last season we really continued to improve all the way to the conf tourney. At the outset of this season it felt like our improvement picked up where we left off... but frankly the past 3-5 games I haven??™t seen any. I hope the staff and our student leadership can jar this bunch back into the forward progression we need. I still don??™t really see a clear cut floor leader on our team and that disappoints me.

Never a bad night though, when you down the dogs. Go braves.

[pfcmsh]

Glad For The Win

PFC a lot better than the way we played. Thanks for asking. Hopefully we'll get better soon and it better be real soon.

I am with you. Coach Wardle was disappointed at some of the play when he was with Snell and Klein on the post game show. Coach said a couple of times that we need to get to offensive consistency. He said other things too, but that one stuck in my mind.

It was a nail biter until the final minute. SIU would close on us, but we kept pulling ahead every time they closed.

For some reason, I expected SIU to be an easier opponent. I really liked our defense at the end, when we had 5 at the 3 point line. It looked like a defensive line in a football game . I had never seen that before and it made perfect sense as 2 points would have done SIU no good at all.

13 wins matches last year. Even though we are inconsistent, I am happy we have already eclipsed last years win total. Here's hoping we get the offensive consistency really quick and that you keep getting your favorite dessert!

GO BRAVES!!

[Dub]

Also- for those of you that have been at the games, there is a group of sunglasses-wearing fans that hold up a large, professionally made banner during timeouts that reads ???dim the lights??? on one side and ???lights down??? on the other.

I sat behind them tonight and spoke with them about this, and it seems that they want to try to re-create the lit up stage type atmosphere that we had in the field house by dimming the crowd lights.

I would like that as well, but I am not sure it would ever gain traction in our safety culture.

[Braves2006]

Also- for those of you that have been at the games, there is a group of sunglasses-wearing fans that hold up a large, professionally made banner during timeouts that reads ???dim the lights??? on one side and ???lights down??? on the other.

I sat behind them tonight and spoke with them about this, and it seems that they want to try to re-create the lit up stage type atmosphere that we had in the field house by dimming the crowd lights.

I would like that as well, but I am not sure it would ever gain traction in our safety culture.

I haven??™t noticed this. Where are they sitting?

[Dub]

Sec 11 lower bowl. The first row of permanent seats.

[LittleBrave]

Thankful for the W... But this was really hard to watch. Seems like we are falling off the rails a bit the past 2 games. What happened to Kennell?

This sophomore slump has happened to almost every solid BU player. I don't get it, but guess it's the norm - hopefully all across the country and not just our guys.

Sometimes we have players emerge as sophomores, but typically, if our freshman have a good season, they struggle the next season.

With that said, Kennel and Brown are having good seasons - just hitting a rough patch lately.

Hodgson is a smart player, but not very athletic and not sure why he's on the court so much. We need K. Barr's size - that's why he gets lots of minutes, and I feel he has good touch - just can't hold the ball.

[LittleBrave]

I agree. This was refreshing.

Yes it was, though Bradley molested SIU at least 2 times and no whistle was blown.

[LittleBrave]

Also- for those of you that have been at the games, there is a group of sunglasses-wearing fans that hold up a large, professionally made banner during timeouts that reads ???dim the lights??? on one side and ???lights down??? on the other.

I sat behind them tonight and spoke with them about this, and it seems that they want to try to re-create the lit up stage type atmosphere that we had in the field house by dimming the crowd lights.

I would like that as well, but I am not sure it would ever gain traction in our safety culture.

Dimming the crowd lights? I was shocked my last visit to Carver when the crowd was so dark - looked lifeless. I hope they turn UP the lights like at most other arenas.

[LittleBrave]

Donte Thomas is really growing on me the past 2 seasons.
He deserves a lot of credit for sticking with the program at its lowest point - for working so hard to improve to where he is now.
Really hope he is on MVC 2nd team at very least.

I think he's one of my top 3 favorite Braves to suit up in the past 10 seasons (since the 2006-07 NIT team)

Can't say enough about Luk Von Brae and what he brings to the team - gave us another spark last night with a block and assist to give us breathing room - then made a big 3. Thankful he got more PT last night.