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Final score: UNI 69 Bradley 64

Great road game where we came up just a bit short.

I can’t help but wonder if at some point a change will need to be made at point if Brown continues to shoot so poorly on the road. I can’t help but wonder if we couldn’t have won this game if we gave his minutes to Thomas or Ville.
Best case scenario, Brown gets back to being the player we know he can be. We’ll need him at his best if we want to win the conference.
 
Bradley played outstanding, but fall to UNI 69-64-
https://unipanthers.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

Other than Brown shooting just 3-14, the only thing they did not do well was free throws, and that cost them. Bradley was just 14-25 (56%) from the FT line, and they missed a couple 1 and 1 opportunities in the first half. Bradley was shooting 73% coming into the game.
Elijah Childs looked pretty good for not playing in nearly 3 weeks, but his right hand was probably bothering him somewhat.
Nate Kennell lead Bradley with 18 points and 9 rebounds. Bradley had only 8 turnovers for the game.
For UNI, A.J. Green had 35 points, and it seemed he couldn't miss in the 2nd half. If he just had an average game, Bradley would have won easily, but he is really good and a tough guy to defend. UNI was 8-26 from three, and Green was 7-13. The rest of the team was just 1-13.
 
Agreed with Da Coach on his assessment of the game. From what I've seen in the Valley winning on the road might be difficult. Free throws was the difference between winning and losing tonight. If we shoot 73% we win by 3 instead of losing by 3.
 
I agree we should have won if we hit our average on free throws. Green is good but not that good. Let’s get one at Evansville and then come back home and take care of business. Go Braves!
 
Not satisfied with the result, but happy with the game plan and effort. With what I’m seeing so far, Bradley could have 1/2 a chance to contend for the valley. Compared to previous seasons, we are playing with more toughness and focus than we have at this point in the season. If our tendency to improve throughout the season continues, then look out. I’m encouraged.
 
It was encouraging to see how we fought and played hard for most of this road game, which we haven't really done up to this point. Unfortunately our My Hyde tendencies from the FT line reared their ugly head in a game that was certainly winnable. I don't mind if DB misses shots but the ones that really hurt are the ones that he tries to create when he has no shot. Eli played well in spots but you could see how the layoff affected his timing on defense and rebounding. Even with the missed FT's if we had just played smarter on offense we would have won. Hopefully we can take advantage of the head coach issues at Evansville and grab a road win.
 
bigjimmy said:
It was encouraging to see how we fought and played hard for most of this road game, which we haven't really done up to this point. Unfortunately our My Hyde tendencies from the FT line reared their ugly head in a game that was certainly winnable. I don't mind if DB misses shots but the ones that really hurt are the ones that he tries to create when he has no shot
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Agree completely on missed FT as well as DB. He needs to lead this team. If his shots aren't falling for whatever reason this year (<30% from the floor!!!), I don't think that he needs to be launching from 25 feet especially early in the possession! He needs to break down the defense, get to the paint and make good decisions. I think that Kingsby struggles with decision-making as well. Yes, he is quick and he pushes the ball up the floor but he takes some bad 3's and could certainly be better at consistently creating for his teammates. Our tradition of offensive fouls while setting screens has certainly continued and that cannot happen and we certainly have to finish better. Nate got bailed out with the worst call of the year when he missed the wide open lay-up without getting touched and Kingsby missed a layup on the nice feed from Childs. My point is just too many cases of poor execution offensively and I am tired of hearing the road excuse. We're not exactly playing all of our road games in raucous arenas!!! These kids have played thousands of games through AAU by age 18 where they have been exposed to all types of gyms, floors, rims, etc. and everything imaginable. To finish my rant, don't make any excuses! Make your FT, execute on offense by taking "good" shots, finish when you are at the rim, create for your teammates, stop setting illegal screens on the ball, and don't complain about the refs. We simply have to be better than that. Finally, we seem to struggle at times against defending the high ball screen more than other teams. Everyone knows it is coming. Is it execution or guys like Bar, etc. are not physically able to do it?
 
I think the problem with the high ball screen showed last night because of the hot shooting night by AJ Green. He's 6'4" and has such a high release point on his shot that it is almost impossible for a small guard like DB or Kingsby to guard him closely with any kind of screen. I don't think it has been as much of a problem prior to last night. Even after last night's game, Bradley's FG% defense (38.6%) is still the best in the MVC by far, 2 percentage points better than the next best team, and their 3 point FG% defense is 29.3%, which is outstanding. Both rank in the top 50 of all D1 teams.

It's interesting that Trae Berhow, who was leading the MVC with a 3-point FG% of 52.7%, and ranked 2nd in the country, was held to 0-4 from three. And the entire UNI team other than Green were just 1-13 from three.
 
I'm going to post something on here I don't think I've ever done. Last night the officiating was less than desired BUT in no way cost us the game. WE cost us the game because of several factors. 1.) and foremost was the dreaded Free throw line IMO opinion the main reason. When your bigs are better free throw shooters than your guards we have a PROBLEM. 2.) not blaming DB for the loss but for taking several shots that had no chance. He has done it his whole career but as a senior you would think he'd eliminate that habit. 3.) the illegal screen call reared it's ugly head again. I made a statement to some of our friends several games ago that we had seemed to clean that part of our game from the Ford era. that like missed FT's is the same as a turn over. I've been around the game for 50 years and I know it's not impossible to eliminate my 3 reasons but not impossible to improve on them and if we did that loss would have been a win. I still believe we have the talent to win this league but must continue to improve in those three areas. Don't want to end on a negative note so I will say I thought our defense was good enough to win but a really good shooter had a career night kudos to him.
 
Great that Elijah was cleared by the doctors and he was able to contribute last night. Scary play under the basket when he landed on his back! Is there any news on Ari’s finger?
 
I understand the frustration with DB's play but I imagine coach is thinking long term, and if we want to win at Arch Madness our best chance at doing that is to get DB back on track. He seems to play fairly to very well at home and has really struggled on travel games and I believe coach is sticking with him to help him figure out whatever it is that is causing these issues.

It's always disappointing to lose a road game that you could have won, but at the same time we should be encouraged that this was our best travel game to date (not including the Kansas St. game where we had 3 days to acclimate to the new venue) and if, or better yet, when DB gets off of this road slump he's been on, we are going to be a REALLY tough team to beat regardless of the venue.

I still think we win the Valley and Arch Madness this year, but we are definitely going to need a productive DB to do that.
 
Jim said:
Great that Elijah was cleared by the doctors and he was able to contribute last night. Scary play under the basket when he landed on his back! Is there any news on Ari’s finger?
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Ari was taken back to the locker room at 15:56 of the first half with a finger injury on his right hand. He appeared to be in significant pain, but he returned to the bench just a few minutes later with a couple fingers taped together. He re-entered to the game at 9:35 left in the first half, and scored his only basket a few seconds later, was fouled and made a 3-point play. At that point, 9:18 of the first half, Bradley lead 23-11, their biggest lead.
He did not appear to be bothered much by it after he returned, and he played several more minutes in the 2nd half. It might have been a dislocated finger, which can be very painful, but if popped back in place quickly, usually the pain is relieved. That would usually be treated with taping the affected finger to an adjoining finger.
 
As DB goes, so goes the team this season.
This is definitely NOT his best season - probably 2nd or 3rd best, and last year definitely was his best and most consistent.

Discouraged by Koch Barr only getting 2 whole pts the whole night and not much production. He has been very good this year - especially with the intangibles that you don't see in the box score.

Let's get a W on Wed. night! Gotta get a few road wins in league play if we wanna contend!
 
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