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Final score: Bradley 76 Evansville 68

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Next game: Bradley (9-4, 2-0 in the MVC) vs Evansville (4-9, 0-2 in the MVC), Monday, Dec. 29, 7:00 pm at Carver Arena
The game is on ESPN+ - direct link- https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/87a134fa-bb06-4478-ae5c-ba06d5907080
Chat room- https://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Live Stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
WMBD radio - https://wmbdradio.com/player/?playerID=2045
Tickets- https://www.ticketmaster.com/bradle...ia-illinois-12-29-2025/event/07006342B04047D2

Bradley is 2-0 in the MVC with wins at Indiana State and at home against Southern Illinois. They are tied for 1st place with Belmont, Illinois State, and Murray State.
Bradley's NET is 122, and Kenpom is 117. Bradley has won 6 in a row, and 8 of their last 9 games.
Evansville is 0-2 in the MVC. Both were close losses at home, to Belmont (78-83) and Drake (65-66). This will be their first MVC road game. They are tied with Indiana State, Southern Illinois, and UIC at the bottom of the MVC standings. Evansville's NET is 271, and their Kenpom is 274. UE has lost 4 in a row, and 6 of their last 7.
The Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, picked Evansville 8th out of the 11 teams, ahead of: 9) UIC, 10) Valparaiso, and 11) Indiana State.

Evansville links- https://gopurpleaces.com/sports/mens-basketball
Game Notes (from last game)- https://gopurpleaces.com/documents/2025/12/19/122125-mbbnotes-Drake.pdf
Schedule/results- https://gopurpleaces.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://gopurpleaces.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats- https://gopurpleaces.com/documents/2025/12/21/122125-mbbstats.pdf
Evansville has only one player scoring in double-digits- 6'10" forward Connor Turnbull- 14.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 3.0 blocks per game
Other starters from their last game-
6'10" junior forward Joshua Hughes- 9.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 42.9% from three
6'4" 6th year guard Alex Hemenway- 6.6 ppg, 33.9% from three- streak shooter- capable of getting hot from three; he was 3-6 in their last game vs. Drake
6'7" freshman guard Leif Moeller- 7.8 ppg, 3.7 assists per game, 32.7% from three
6'3" freshman guard Bryce Quinet- 6.8 ppg, 22.6% from three

Other contributors-
6'9" senior forward A.J. Casey- 8.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg
6'5" 5th year guard Keishon Porter- 7.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg
6'6" senior forward Trent Hundley- 5.9 ppg, 40.0% from three- streak shooter- had 20 points (6 threes) vs. Belmont, but just 6 points vs. Drake
6'11" freshman forward James Dyson-Merwe- 2.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg in 11.5 minutes per game
6'4" sophomore guard Kaia Berridge- 2.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg in 12.0 minutes per game

Pregame article from BradleyBraves.com- https://bradleybraves.com/news/2025...d-aces-set-to-face-off-ahead-of-new-year.aspx

Bradley stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats
MVC stats- https://mvc-sports.com/documents/2025/11/4//2025_26_MVC_MBB_All_Game_Stats.pdf
Evansville ranks last (11th) in team offense (69.4 ppg). Bradley ranks 6th (78.5 ppg).
Evansville ranks 7th in team defense (72.9 ppg). Bradley ranks 5th (69.5 ppg).
Evansville is 10th in FG% (42.0%), and 8th in 3ptFG% (31.1%). Bradley is 8th in FG% (44.3%), and 6th in 3ptFG% (34.2%)
 
I don’t know how many of you listen to the Pregame show with Chad, but it is SOOOOO much better than prior years. Last year the guy was awful and Dan Diorio was not great but Chad is fantastic.
 
Final score- Bradley 76 Evansville 68
Stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

Terrific game by last week's MVC Player of the Week, Jaquan Johnson- 22 points, 9-9 on FTs, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and one steal (he had 2 but one wasn't credited)
Also great games by-
Montana Wheeler- 12 points, including several huge baskets that helped propel bradley from behind, and into the lead early in the 2nd half
Demarion Burch- 11 points, and terrific defense
Alex Huibregtse- only 8 points, but 9 big rebounds, 2 assists, and played great defense in the 2nd half
Corey Thomas- 9 points, 11 rebounds, and some nice defense in the 2nd half
Timo van der Knaap- off-night shooting, just 2-10, but a couple of huge threes and 5 rebounds
A.J. Smith- his worst game of the year; he seemed to get frustrated when his shots didn't fall, and never got into the flow of the game
 
Timo has been stepping up while AJ has regressed. AJ’s lack of size and shooting really shows with bigger teams. Nice comeback win. Tough stretch with Belmont (will want revenge after Indy St loss) and Murray State on the road and Drake and UNI (imo the best team in the conference) at home.

We missed so many layups today.
 
I was pretty dejected throughout this game wondering how this could be a close game against Evansville....at home! I don't really have high expectations this year but I am a bit more encouraged that they pulled this one out, but honestly even more because ISU Blue beat Belmont. Anything goes this year.
 
Really the success of the team rests largely on our outstanding PG play with Wheels and Bully. We had a TON of great looks tonight - great ball movement, but we just don't have the shooters this season. AJ and Meta were pretty awful tonight despite Meta-Verse's great plays down the stretch.
Just not big on AJ Smith and he's been very inconsistent this season, continues to miss many easy buckets near the rim. Not sure what to say except I hope we can get thru the season without needing him to step up big.

Braves looked pretty good in the 2nd half after a lousy 1st half - Evansville looked better than a 4-9 team for sure!
 
real quick for the negatives then moving on.....very poor post play. needs a lot of work.
Good scrappy win, showed some grit and determination. We've got some excellent guards and rebounding continues to get better.
Corey continues to climb in usefulness.

my opinion...we need some serious rework of lineups if we want to win in STL.
I would give some good money to watch these lineups in practice scrimmages just to try them out.
Team red: Jaquan, Montana, Alex, AJ, Corey
Team white: Dietrich, Demarion, Timo, Zob, Meta + Kai off bench

I don't know where to find the data/metrics...but I'd wager that we're stronger as a team when Jaquan and Montana are on the floor together.
Meta would be better coming off the bench in my opinion. He gets gassed after a few times down the court and then starts giving 50/50 effort.
our strength is guard play and drive to the basket. I'd try small lineups more often and get Zob and Dietrich more minutes to avoid foul trouble for the guards.
high energy is the key for this team. Montana's and Jaquan's mindset 100% of the time. Corey when he's having fun. Then the shots will start falling.
 
Why was the crowd so quiet the entire game? You can hear the coaches coaching for the majority of the broadcast.
Are people afraid to cheer?
 
Only speaking for myself and group that was with me, but we were loud and cheering. Agree with previous post where line up change or changes need to be made. Upon listening to post game with Wardle he is of the same opinion where he stated a line up change is going to happen. We all know who we are talking about here. Hope AJ gets his head into the game more because we will surely need him as the season goes along and in St. Louis. Next four games will be a true test of where we will end up in the standings. IMHO hope to split these next four games. Any thing better than that would be great. Next home game let's get a big crowd and be loud and noisy. "LET'S GO BRAVES"
 
Player of the Year candidates last night....

Connor Turnbull - 0-6, zero points, 7 reb, 1 asst, 1 TO (was invisible)
Jaquan Johnson - 6-12, 22 pts, 5 reb, 5 asst, 1 steal, 2 TO (was everywhere, took over the game)
 
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I thought we did a good job of making a mediocre at best team look competitive. Seems like we always come out cold in the first half and end up down, then it’s a fight the entire rest of the game to get ahead and stay ahead.

Will say I thought our second half defense looked a little better and more like a traditional Wardle defense.
 
Bacci'sAftertheGym said:
real quick for the negatives then moving on.....very poor post play. needs a lot of work.
Good scrappy win, showed some grit and determination. We've got some excellent guards and rebounding continues to get better.
Corey continues to climb in usefulness.

my opinion...we need some serious rework of lineups if we want to win in STL.
I would give some good money to watch these lineups in practice scrimmages just to try them out.
Team red: Jaquan, Montana, Alex, AJ, Corey
Team white: Dietrich, Demarion, Timo, Zob, Meta + Kai off bench

I don't know where to find the data/metrics...but I'd wager that we're stronger as a team when Jaquan and Montana are on the floor together.
Meta would be better coming off the bench in my opinion. He gets gassed after a few times down the court and then starts giving 50/50 effort.
our strength is guard play and drive to the basket. I'd try small lineups more often and get Zob and Dietrich more minutes to avoid foul trouble for the guards.
high energy is the key for this team. Montana's and Jaquan's mindset 100% of the time. Corey when he's having fun. Then the shots will start falling.
Click to expand...
Post-play definitely is going to be the limiting factor for this team. Even if we aren't going to get many baskets inside, we need our post players to be better on defense. I was a big proponent of getting AJ Casey from the transfer portal, but we definitely made him look better than he is. Casey also showed how just having an athletic, active guy inside can get a bunch of offensive rebounds. Would love to see Corey take note, but I did think Corey was better last night.
 
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