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Final score: Bradley 87 Drake 73

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Bradley (14-8, 7-4, NET 138) at Drake (12-10, 6-5, NET 153), Saturday, Jan. 31, 5:00 pm
Note the unusual start time of 5:00 pm to accommodate the TV broadcast on CBS Sports Network
Live Stats- https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=611401
Chat room- https://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
WMBD radio - https://wmbdradio.com/player/?playerID=2045

These two teams played in Peoria on January 7, and Bradley won 93-66. Bradley jumped out quickly to a big lead, and lead 40-19 at halftime. The Braves didn't let up in the 2nd half, increasing their lead to as much as 40 points (68-28) with 12:31 left. They coasted to the final 27 point win, 93-66.
Recap- https://bradleybraves.com/news/2026...e-figures-as-bradley-wins-big-over-drake.aspx
Box score- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2025-26/drake/boxscore/22691

Bradley is coming off the disappointing 70-85 home loss last Saturday night to UIC to drop to 7-4 in the MVC. And Drake is coming off a close 82-78 win at home over Evansville. Drake has won their last 3 games in a row, and are now 6-5 in the MVC, one game behind Bradley as both teams try to finish in the top 5 to avoid the Thursday games in St. Louis.
This game is a "Stripe the Knapp" promotion, which probably means blue and white T-shirts for alternating sections of the Knapp Arena.
Bradley pregame article- https://bradleybraves.com/news/2026...y-travels-to-des-moines-to-take-on-drake.aspx

Drake Schedule/results- https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats- https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2025-26?path=mbball
As a team, Drake averages 77.4 ppg (5th best in MVC), and yields 72.4 ppg (7th best in MVC). They shoot 35.3% from three as a team (3rd in the MVC).
Bradley averages 77.7 ppg (3rd in MVC), and yields 73.3 ppg (8th in MVC). And Bradley shoots 33.8% from three (5th in MVC).

Drake is under a new head coach for the second year in a row. Eric Henderson, who replaced Ben McCollum, had success at South Dakota State for 6 seasons with a record of 129-60, four Summit League regular season titles, two Summit League Tournament championships and 2 NCAA Tournament appearances.
This year's Drake team includes only one returning player from last season, 6'3" junior guard Andrew Alia, who only played in 7 games last year for Ben McCollum.
The rest of Eric Henderson's 13-man roster is comprised of 8 portal transfers from other 4-year schools, and 4 freshmen, only one of whom has played (6'10" forward Griffin Goodbary), and the other three are redshirting.
Henderson's playing rotation is usually 8 or 9 players. They are lead by Loyola transfer, a former Bradley recruit, Jalen Quinn, who is averaging and MVC-leading 18.9 ppg. Jaquan Johnson ranks second in scoring at 17.0 ppg. Quinn shoots 34.2% from three and leads the team in assists (3.3 apg).
6'3" senior guard Jaehshon Thomas, a transfer from Charlotte, averages 10.8 ppg and is one of their top three point threats at 38.0% from three.
6'9" sophomore forward Okku Federiko, a transfer from South Carolina, averages 10.5 ppg and a team-leading 5.4 rpg.
6'1" sophomore guard Owen Larson, a transfer from South Dakota State, where he played for current Drake coach Eric Henderson. He missed the first 9 games due to injury, but has returned and is starting and averaging 8.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg, and 2.4 apg.
6'6" guard Eli Shetler, a transfer from Indiana State, averages 8.5 ppg and 4.8 rpg. He is shoots 38.5% from three.
6'3" redshirt-junior guard Andrew Alia averages 7.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and he has shot 45.5% from three this season (35-77).
6'6" redshirt-junior guard Braden Appelhans, a transfer from New Mexico, averages 5.6 ppg off the bench, and he shoots 40.8% from three.

6'6" junior forward Wilguens Jr. Exacte, a transfer from Bowling Green, was starting and averaging 8.6 ppg and 5.3 rpghe . But he suffered a foot injury in Drake's game on Dec. 29, and will miss the rest of the season.

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
 
If Bradley doesn't come away with a W, we are in jeopardy of ending up the 6-seed in Arch Madness.
Win and get to 8-4 and there's a decent chance to actually snag the 2-seed...provided we somehow get better than we are now.
Belmont is cruising and gonna be tough for anyone to topple them for the 1-seed.

Gonna be a tough one as Drake will be amped for revenge. Definitely need to rebound well.
 
Drake shot 38 free throws to Evansville"s 12. Evansville made 8 more baskets then Drake. We can only hope we do not get officials on Sat. that seem to be homer biased.
We also need to do what we did to them in Peoria and jump on them early . We just need to shoot, rebound and defend a lot better in order to win. This game is a must win in order for us to finish in the top 5.
 
Losing at home, means you need to steal one on the road. Here's our first chance.

Lets see if we can actually play defense for the first time in a bit.
 
Hopefully we take our confidence from last season's victory at the Knappy Center into this one. We have a handful of guys who remember that big road win.
 
I hope in the week off we've been working on our confidence and our communication. Both have been lacking in pretty much all of our losses. With 3 of our last 4 home games against Belmont. ISU Red and Murray State this pretty well makes this a must win. Win and we have a 2 game lead on 6th.
 
Yu has arrived!!

AND, I think we are seeing why it is important to recruit 3-point shooters!!!

and that 2nd half steal & drive by Montana Wheeler shows he has the heart of a pit bull!
 
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I'll pay for a team of lawyers to sue NCAA and try to get Alex another season of eligibility

Was thinking we'd be calling this the Kai Yu game but now it's in the books as the Alex Huibregtse game

anyway - seems the refs were trying to help Drake - sent them to the FT line 26 times
and even tho they were trying to foul and send us to the FT line, BU shot just 14
 
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Big road win for Bradley, and a terrific shooting night. Bradley was 47.6% overall (30-63) and 65.4% from three (17-26).
Alex Huibregtse was the Player of the Game with 29 points. He tied the Bradley record for most three pointers in a game, going 9-10 from three. That tied Duke Deen's 35-point game at Missouri State on Feb. 21, 2024 when he was 9-12 from three.
Final score: Bradley 87 Drake 73
Stats- https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=611401

Kudos also to Kai Yu with a career-high 12 points.
Jaquan Johnson- 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.
Meta had 9 points, 8 rebounds.
 
Da Coach said:
Big road win for Bradley, and a terrific shooting night. Bradley was 47.6% overall (30-63) and 65.4% from three (17-26).
Alex Huibregtse was the Player of the Game with 29 points. He tied the Bradley record for most three pointers in a game, going 9-10 from three. That tied Duke Deen's 35-point game at Missouri State on Feb. 21, 2024 when he was 9-12 from three.
Final score: Bradley 87 Drake 73
Stats- https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=611401

Kudos also to Kai Yu with a career-high 12 points.
Jaquan Johnson- 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists.
Meta had 9 points, 8 rebounds.
Click to expand...
Alex shot tonight like I expected him to after watching him play for Wright St. My expectations for him was shoot 40% from 3 plus make at least 5 of them a game. Yu obviously showed he is capable of making some baskets and getting rebounds. Wheeler also played well but Meta and Johnson had average games at best because of how many shots they missed. Meta has struggled lately making 3 or 4 ft. shots and seems like he only is able to make dunks. Burch has not looked good for a lot of games this year so not sure what the problem is as far as an injury.
I also thought there were several fouls called on us that were not correct.
This was a very good win against a Drake team that was on a winning streak.
 
We had to have that game last night after having a home loss. You lose a home game and you must win on the road where you are not expected to, and we did just that. Anything is still possible as ISU Red, Belmont, and Murray State still must come to Peoria yet. But must protect home court. Only a handful of games to play at home and I am pulling for Meta to finish his college career on a high note going down the stretch. So many times last night he looked indecisive as what to do in trying to score around the basket. He is what he is and will be most respectful to him in his last game at Carver Arena as all fans should be. Am sure he tries, but as just stated he is who he is.
 
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