Final score: Illinois State 70 Bradley 57

[Da Coach]

Bradley (13-6, 3-3) next plays at Illinois State (9-9, 3-3) Wednesday, January 17, at 6:00 PM in Redbird Arena in Normal, IL.

Note the earlier than usual starting time- 6:00 PM. The game will be televised by the Missouri Valley Conference Network, which includes NBCSports Chicago (formerly ComcastSports Chicago) and FoxSports Midwest.

Bradley and Illinois State will be in a 4-way tie for 4th place in the MVC standings-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/conferences/standings/_/id/18/year/2018/missouri-valley-conference

Bradley is coming off a loss at Loyola on Saturday-

http://www.bubraves.com/documents/2018/1/13//Loyola_81_Bradley_65.pdf

Illinois State is coming off a tough 74-70 loss at SIU on Saturday, where they lead by 14 points with about 7 minutes left in the game. Then SIU went on a 20-2 run over the next 5 minutes to take the lead and win.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400989695

ISU website-

http://www.goredbirds.com/index.aspx?path=mbball

ISU stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/ILS.HTM

Bradley stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/BRAD.HTM

[Bradleyfan1]

Being lazy here. When was the last time we won in Normal?

I still remember the Dye winner in I think 95. Shirley we??™ve one since then tho.

[Da Coach]

Being lazy here. When was the last time we won in Normal?

I still remember the Dye winner in I think 95. Shirley we’ve one since then tho.

Bradley's last win at ISU was on Feb. 3, 2007. Bradley won 70-62-

http://www.bubraves.com/news/2007/2/4/784385.aspx

Bradley came close in 2011 in Jim Les' final season, but lost 51-50. Bradley also won there in 2004, and 2006.
The Rob Dye winning shot was January 20, 1999.

Here is the sports page from the January 21, 1999 Bloomington Pantagraph-

[tornado]

AJ Robertson was 4-2 at ISU
Versace was 3-5 at ISU
Albeck was 3-2 at ISU
Molinari was 1-10 at ISU
Les was 3-6 at ISU
Geno was 0-4 and BW is 0-2

[BUfan39]

So we need to win this game... Let's not start out in a 10-0 before the first media timeout...

[Mikovio]

A win also keeps us in first place in the Battle for Illinois.

As of 1/15/18:

Bradley 3
Loyola 3
SIU 2
Redturds 1

Double Malik and Fayne and make the others beat you. Flush the turds!

[tornado]

I would love to see us develop a little of the meanness factor...not saying anything flagrant and ejection-worthy but I think everyone knows what I mean....

...a couple hard fouls down low would be a great start...it was nauseating to watch the plump Loyola freshman have his way any time he wanted down low, and our guys were afraid to touch him.
SIU used to use the hard foul down low to their advantage - but we are the softest team in the paint I have ever seen.

BTW- as I was watching the Kansas/Kansas State game then the WVU/Texas Tech game Saturday - I noticed two of the very same refs we had last Tuesday....
...and they allowed lots of HARD contact!
...referee Mike Stuart's crew did the first game then Gerry Pollard's crew was in West Virginia for the 2nd game.
And they really let them play - allowing LOTS of hard contact - and when there was a really hard foul - mostly just calling them fouls.
I think these refs are used to seeing rough play and we need to take advantage! Especially if you're gonna foul a guy when he's going up for an easy shot...
how many danged times do we foul them soft, then they make the layup plus get the FT. At the very least we need to be sure that if we are gonna foul them that they DO NOT make the basket!

[Da Coach]

ISU sophomore Madison Williams did not practice today with the team and may not play Wednesday against Bradley, according to beat writer Jim Benson-

https://twitter.com/Pg_Benson/status/952990662844190728

Williams had started every game this year until their last game at SIU, which he missed due to a knee injury. He averages 6.2 ppg and shoots 32% from the field, but he is one of their better perimeter defenders. In place of Williams, freshman Elijah Clarance played 23 minutes Saturday against SIU, 16 minutes more than his average playing time. He had 7 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.

[Da Coach]

.Comparison-

[tornado]

Just isn't what it used to be....

The ISU beat guy just Tweeted
"Told there are plenty of tickets available for Wednesday's ISU-Bradley game at Redbird Arena."

[Da Coach]

Las Vegas has ISU as a 2 point favorite-

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-basketball/odds/las-vegas/line-movement/bradley-@-illinois-state.cfm/date/01-17-18

[BUfan39]

Does anyone think we'll see a different starting 5 tonight or the usual?

[Da Coach]

I notice in today's Peoria Journal Star article about the Bradley-ISU game, Dave Reynolds has a couple quotes from Head Coach Brian Wardle regarding the team's conference road game woes.
One set of quotes bothered me a bit:

The Braves have floundered on the road most the season, going 2-5. The five losses, including lopsided MVC defeats at Evansville and Loyola in the past 11 days, have come by an average of 17.6 points.
“I think people are going overboard on this road thing with us,” Wardle said. “We were not favored to win any of those games. We were underdogs in all three (MVC road) games. Now, should we be double digits down? Never ever.

I am glad to see Wardle say that we should never get blown out by double-digits, especially by inferior teams, on the road. But he also said that "We were not favored to win any of those games. We were underdogs in all three (MVC road) games."

First, that is not entirely true. Here are the Vegas lines on every Bradley game this season-

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-basketball/teams/team-page.cfm/team/bradley

As can be seen, Bradley was a 2-point favorite in their loss at Drake.
But it is more than just losing a game they were favored to win, it is the failure to even be competitive in many road games. Bradley was just a 1-point underdog at Evansville, but got blown out by 24 points. And Bradley was a 6.5-point underdog at Loyola, but they never lead, they trailed by more than 20, and lost by 16. And if we simply accept that we should always lose games where we are not favored, then eventually Bradley fans will stop caring.

It was also said:
“I think people are going overboard on this road thing with us,”

That bothers me the most. It comes off sounding a bit offensive toward fans, who have been incredibly loyal and supportive. And it seems to be minimizing the real issue with the Bradley team not being in a position to compete in road games where they should be more competitive.

I don't see anyone "going overboard on this road thing". I only see fans pointing out facts. There have been too many road blowouts this season in which the team has underperformed.
Last game, hundreds of Bradley fans showed their passion and support by making the trip to Loyola only to have to watch the team get embarrassed again. Bradley fans have been incredibly loyal and have hung in despite the last 7 awful. Bradley has lost the last 7 games in this BU-ISU "rivalry", and 15 of the last 17. And they have lost the last 10 times at Redbird Arena. It is not "going overboard" to expect this team to be competitive, and maybe win one.
Go Braves!

[Bradleyfan1]

I hope to see Brown going to the basket and us posting Thomas early and often.

A zone press trapping Yarbrough forcing him to give it up early in the possession.

This is not just another game. I feel like NK should understand this and it spread from there.

Pluck The Birds.

[BUSongwriter]

<Does anyone think we'll see a different starting 5 tonight or the usual?>

I would like to see Childs start, just to see if that has any impact on the slow starts we've been experiencing, especially on the road. I can't lay the blame for that entirely on KB, because we've missed a lot of outside shots at the start of recent games. But I think a change is in order and Childs' play (no pun intended) merits it.

My only worry is that Elijah might pick up a couple of fouls even earlier and be forced to sit for a long period of the first half. Which leads to a question: Does anyone else, like me, hate the philosophy of sitting a very good player on the bench for 15 minutes of the first half because he picked up a couple of early fouls? That's a lot of game to be missing a weapon. I'd prefer the first half limit be 3, but I'm not a coach. I just think the first half is just as important as the second.