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Final score: BU 63 InSU 58

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
Bradley returns home to play Indiana State Saturday night at 7:00 PM, just the 3rd Saturday night game at home this season. The game is broadcast on ESPN3.com.

Bradley is now 3-21, 1-10 in the MVC. Indiana State, which lost a lot of it's team from last year, was picked 6th in the 2015-16 preseason poll. But they are now 13-10, 7-4 in the MVC after their win Tuesday (2/2/16) over Drake. Only Wichita State has more conference wins than the Sycamores!
MVC Standings-
http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/CONFSKED.HTM

Website-
http://www.gosycamores.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&SPID=7259&SPSID=65149&DB_OEM_ID=15200

Indiana State has 3 players scoring in double digits, all guards and wing players. In fact, their top 5 scorers and their top 4 rebounders are all guards & wings-
http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/INS.HTM#team.ind

None of their inside players (Murphy, Bunschoten, Rickman) average more than 4.8 ppg or 3.9 rpg.

Unlike past seasons, Indiana State is not a great three point shooting team. They have 2 players who shoot pretty well- Brenton Scott at 41.7% overall (6th among MVC players) and 43.8% in MVC games (7th best), and Matt Van Scyoc at 35.8% (22nd among MVC players). Those 2 players have taken 264 of the 500 three point attempts for Indiana State this season.
Nobody else on the team shoots better than 28%.

Indiana State team stats-
http://www.gosycamores.com/fls/15200//statistics/0809-mbb/SeasonStatsMBB.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=15200

Roster-
http://www.gosycamores.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=15200&SPID=7259&SPSID=65152
 
Also- This Friday, Feb. 5, is the Hall of Fame luncheon-
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25964

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=210635395

There are still tickets available for the HOF Luncheon- Call the Braves Club Office at (309) 677-2667.

This year??™s induction class includes high-scoring men??™s basketball guard Phillip Gilbert, softball slugger Julie Jehle Barnett, soccer All-American Hamid Mehreioskouei and volleyball star Jenna Passman Regan. The induction class will be the featured guests at this year??™s third Braves Club Game Day Luncheon, presented by Busey Bank, Feb. 5 at Renaissance Coliseum, then officially will be inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame during halftime of the men??™s basketball game versus Indiana State Feb. 6 at Carver Arena.
 
I've watched the last 3 Sycamore games, and they are NOT playing well right now. Think the Braves have a decent shot at winning their second Valley game.

Also looking at the entire slate of MVC games this Saturday, it could be a really wacky day across the Valley. Vegas oddsmakers will most likely see it differently, but I could see the following happening:

Braves > Sycamores....may be more likely than most Valley outsiders could see.

Bulldogs > Panthers....UNI is not great on the road (that's being kind) and DU has been in almost every MVC this season.

Ramblers > Salukis....LU has proven they can win on the Valley road (see UNI) and the Ramblers are playing much better. Meanwhile, SIU is bigtime coming down earth.

Bears > Aces.....the second least likely to happen, but the Bears are right there with the rest of the mid MVC teams. Think UE's short bench (basically 6 players) might be running down both mentally and physically.

Redbirds > Shockers...it's not that big of stretch that the Redbirds could be sitting alone in 2nd place in the Valley at 8-3, but ISU coughed up a 7 point lead with 40 seconds left in regulation down in the Ozarks AND a 7 point lead in OT...crazy. Redbirds shot a season low 30 percent at home vs. UE (and were still in the game). ISU also coughed up late game double digit leads on the road in Terre Haute and Carbondale. Shockers are loaded, but it's the Valley and you just never know.

Am I saying that any of the above will happen? No, but that's the beauty of the Valley....you almost never pick a sure thing. I wouldn't be too surprised by ANY of the above results. Indeed, it could be a wild and wooly day across the Valley this Saturday as the teams are battling toward Arch Madness....LOVE IT!! :)
 
That was the best first half in a long time. Bradley is playing with a noticeably faster tempo similar to their 2nd half at Missouri State.
They clearly play better and get better shots playing like this. And the fans are loving it!
Bradley 33 Indiana St. 23 at halftime
 
Luuk van Bree's dad is here again from the Netherlands. Luuk is having a great game. 26 points.

There is also a recruit here from out of state. More on that later. :)
 
Wow.....now that was fun! Nice effort by the Braves and really nice to hear a loud crowd in the final minutes!:D
 
Bradley played the best 1st half I have seen them play all season tonight. The second half got a little sloppy and they seemed to be stuck on 47 for quite a while. I can't believe Indiana State didn't play a zone defense against us, but I'm glad they didn't. It was nice to get a win.
 
The team played a great game from start to finish tonight. Maybe the best game they've played all year, considering Indiana State is a pretty good team.

The final score was 63-58, but the stats computer had a problem much of the night, and still reads the wrong score. I don't know if this will get fixed-
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?a=1&id=104266

ESPN has the correct score, but no stats-
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400843790


Attendance was 6,028

Phillip Gilbert brought his entire East St. Louis team with him for his Hall of Fame induction tonight.

And there was a pretty good 2016 point guard recruit at tonight's game.
 
Great win tonight for this young Bradley team! Luuk Van Bree can be a 1st team all Valley player if he stays at BU for four years. Nice to have the crowd into the game and making some noise, better days are ahead!!
 
gritty win - our guys are getting tougher...

Luuk van Bree 17
Donte Thomas 16
Suggs 10 DLO 7 and 5 asst
we held Brown, Smith & Scott to 13, 12 & 9 respectively - impressive considering the refs put them on the FT line every time they got within a mile of the lane
 
I'm Hoarse

I'm Hoarse

Big Mike said:
Wow.....now that was fun! Nice effort by the Braves and really nice to hear a loud crowd in the final minutes!:D
Click to expand...

Had some unusual realizations during the game tonight. We were exchanging leads. We were up by 10 at the half. That felt strange, but good. Our typical "stuck on number" period seemed to be shorter, and during it, our defense kept them from running away. Nice realization there. KD Bell can sure pass the ball! We seem to be getting more breaks to the basket and made some bunnys. The turn over margin had to be small. Great defense. Max effort. Coach and Dave Snell complimented the crowd getting into the game. Big Mike must be hoarse too! :)

Felt good. We were not only in it, we wanted it more. Good job Braves!! These kids are progressing. Lots to improve on, but let's enjoy this.
 
Hands down our best effort of the year. I had said I thought we were on the verge and it's great to see their hard work pay off. For the most part we were more aggressive on offense and it turned into points. At one point midway to the 2nd half ISU Blue was 15 for 16 from the FT line and we were 9-18. ISU only made 4 of their last 8 while BU made 11 of the last 14 to help close it out. And how about NO ONE fouling out for BU in this game. It'll be nice if we can go back to back for the 1st time this season on Wednesday. Hopefully we can keep building on the effort they've shown the last few games.
 
Not sure why he says the game went "back and forth" in the 2nd half..
I musta missed that - as if they led half the game??

The Indiana State version of what happened is more like what I saw....lots of desperate (even downright weird & lucky like the Smith basket that accidentally went in) efforts by the Sycamores to scratch & claw and stay close or even occasionally pull into a tie, but never enough on their part to take the lead down the stretch.
The game was tied at 49, 52, 54, and 55..but then they never tied or led again..
If that's "back and forth" then I don't see why, to me it was a game that we were the dominant team practically the whole way, we outhustled them, we outshot them, made fewer mistakes, and outplayed a far more mature & seasoned team. They played eight juniors & seniors - we have only one.
 
story from Indiana State writer - he knows InSU played poorly but gives a lot of credit to Bradley...

"Sycamores get burned by Bradley"
ISU fell 63-58, a loss that dropped the Sycamores to 7-5 in the MVC as it
became Bradley's first MVC victim at Carver Arena.

ISU trailed by 10 at halftime and was never able to pull in front. ISU tied the
game four times in the final 5:39, but couldn't get over the top.

Devonte Brown led ISU with 15 points, but there was little else from the
Sycamores on both ends of the floor.

.."A group of freshmen and sophomores (Bradley) were more mature and more competitive and tougher."
..ISU could do nothing right against Bradley's three-quarter court pressure
and the Braves' half-court defense. ISU couldn't get past the Braves.."

http://www.tribstar.com/sports/loca...cle_bdfee1a6-344a-5f4c-a800-806dac94f55c.html
 
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