Final: SIU 66 Bradley 69

[DeltaBrave03]

And some are eerily quite around here, oh well.....

[Braves4Life]

And some are eerily quite around here, oh well.....

Allow me to chime in that I am very happy with the win... Defend your Home Court boys... We did... We won! Wins are sure a whole lot better than losses... We should all be happy... We're beating teams that beat us last year... For those that can't add 2+2... That means BU IS getting better!

[JMM28]

Good win. Good to close out that kind of game.

BU is on the right track.

[Rusty 54]

Missed my first home game since the 1991-92 season tonight...... Oh we'll it was a good streak. Glad to see us get this one, and we needed it!.....

We need more fans like you.

Glad we got the W. Taking care of business against the teams you are supposed to feel good.

[Braves2006]

This was a game we absolutely could not lose.

I AGREE! We needed this one bad and it may have been ugly at times, but theyhung in there, made some free throws and closed it out. Good win!

[Da Coach]

It is a good win. But, this was game I think we all expected Bradley to win. SIU is not a good team. Recall that we beat them in carbondale less than 2 weeks ago without Will.
I understand it's your duty to come on and proclaim how much better we are after each game, but I suspect most Bradley fans will reserve their joy about getting better until we beat better teams.
FTR, I am on record saying I believe Bradley is improved this year, mainly due to having a more experienced, veteran core group of players, playing a second year in Coach Ford's new system, and playing a weaker schedule.

[Braves4Life]

I understand it's your duty to come on and proclaim how much better we are after each game, but I suspect most Bradley fans will reserve their joy about getting better until we beat better teams.
FTR, I am on record saying I believe Bradley is improved this year...

Glad to know you are with me on this one DC. We now both proclaim this together, my friend.

[SFP]

The theme of this year's team is the bad, the good and the ugly. The bad was our O again, the good was our 3 point shooting and ugly (we really need to get better at) is what the press does to our team!

Hey - How about our 3 point shooting guys! They played zone on us and the guys for the most part hit some 3s. There is hope!

[LittleBrave]

Good win. Good to close out that kind of game.

BU is on the right track.

We nearly blew a nice 8 point lead with just over 2 minutes left.
We need to work on closibg out games better.
Yes, very happy with the W, but not real happy about making it so close at the end.
Happy for Walt to come up huge with those 2 FTs at the end after the heartbreaking miss vs. ISU last year, and even more, the 2 misses vs. V Tech.
Some really nice games by certain individuals (WL, WE, TP, and especially DSE, who may have played his best offensive game of the season).
But more importantly, a great team win. Lots of energy throughout the game though the defense was pretty porous in the lane for most of the night.

Won't dwell on it too much, but a loss would have really done a number on this team, and though we still may only get a few more Valley wins, a loss may have given this team a feeling that it's gonna be tough to get out of last place for yet another year. Instead, with a win on Sat. we are thinking about playing meaningful games...and it will be past mid January!!!

[LittleBrave]

The theme of this year's team is the bad, the good and the ugly. The bad was our O again, the good was our 3 point shooting and ugly (we really need to get better at) is what the press does to our team!

Hey - How about our 3 point shooting guys! They played zone on us and the guys for the most part hit some 3s. There is hope!

I thought our offense was much better than our defense. Yeah, we had some poor posessions and too many turnovers, but for the most part, I saw much better ball movement and better shot selection. The bad was definitely our defensive intensity and toughness in this one, though Early and Jackson seemed to be hitting everything they threw up...way too many easy points in the paint!!

And it was unreal how everything seemed to be bouncing the Saluki's way, especially in the first half.

Regarding our 3 point shooting, we have been one of tge best 3 point shooting teams in the Valley so far in league play. As long as we hover around 35% in games, we will make things interesting. It is obvious Jake has improved and is shooting with more confidence...only a matter of team before DSE was going to find his stroke, and only a matter of 5 years before Will found his!!! Hooray for our seniors stepping it up!

[Gary the Gargoyle]

I think this team has 3 (maybe 4) league wins left in them. Then, depending on who you get in the BB, maybe you finish the year with 15 wins. I don't care who was on the schedule, that's real, significant improvement over last year. FWIW, coming into this season, I thought 12-13 wins is where they'd end up, with the jump to 17-18 wins in year 3.

[Big Mike]

Reynolds: game story...

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x1503801251/LIVE-Bradley-vs-Southern-Illinois

Reynolds: Egolf energizes Braves...

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x1503801543/Egolf-energizes-the-Braves-with-11-points-7-boards-4-blocks-against-Southern

Wessler: Barry Hinson...

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x1503801540/Wessler-Competitive-little-cuss-back-at-Carver

[Beninator]

Another W in the books! I think that SIU got every garbage basket possible last night. Have to give the SIU coach credit for using a press in the second half. For the most part, we looked better getting the ball across the line, but the press disrupted our offense.

[bradleyfan124]

I agree about the press. It seemed to slow down our offense. Once we got it across the line the flow was gone. But we won so I guess we can say we handled ok

[BUFanatic]

Missed the game, great to hear that BU is protecting home court! That was one of my big expectations for this year. Keep on keepin' on!