Final score: Bradley 61 Loyola 54

[Da Coach]

Bradley's next game is at home Wednesday, Feb. 13, at 7 pm against 1st place Loyola.
Bradley is 13-12 overall, and 5-7 in the MVC (tied for 7th). Loyola is 16-9 overall, and 9-3 in the MVC.
Last season, Loyola ended up 32-6 with the final loss occurring in the NCAA Tournament semifinals, and they finished the MVC 15-3.
Bradley beat Loyola last season in Peoria in a great game 69-67. Elijah Childs lead Bradley with 18 points and 8 rebounds.-
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2018/...ola-69-67.aspx

Bradley is 34-26 all-time against Loyola, but just 4-9 against them since they joined the MVC in 2013.

TV: MVC-TV Network- NBCSports Chicago and FoxSports Midwest. Also on ESPN+ where not available by the MVC-TV Network affiliates
Radio: WMBD 1470 AM and 100.3 FM, and online at www.1470wmbd.com
Live stats: https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Chat Room: http://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans

Loyola website: https://loyolaramblers.com/index.aspx?path=mbball
Schedule/Results: https://loyolaramblers.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball
Loyola Stats: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...Stats_1819.pdf
Loyola roster: https://loyolaramblers.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball

Their leading scorer is senior Marques Townes, a transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson. He averages 15.4 ppg on the season, and he has been getting mentioned as a possible MVC Player of the Year candidate. He ranks 5th in scoring overall in the MVC, but in MVC games only, he is the MVC leading scorer, averaging 18.1 ppg, almost 2 ppg more than anyone else. He also an excellent 3-point shooter at 40.5% overall, and 51.2% in MVC games. But Loyola is not a one-man team. Their 2nd leading scorer is sophomore Cameron Krutwig who averages 14.4 ppg overall, and 15.4 ppg in MVC games (ranks 4th in MVC scoring). Krutwig is also their leading rebounder with 7.4 rpg. In the 2 regular season games against Bradley last season, he had 21 & 13 in Chicago, and 13 & 8 in Peoria. But in the MVC Tournament quarterfinal game, he had only 4 & 2. So Bradley must have gotten better at figuring out how to contain him.
Third leading scorer is senior preseason POY Clayton Custer, an Iowa State transfer, averaging 12.0 ppg and 39.1% from three. Fourth leading scorer and 2nd leading rebounder (8.6 ppg & 6.5 rpg) is sophomore Lucas Williamson, who will not play against Bradley. He missed 8 games in December and early January due to a broken bone in his hand. He returned and played in 4 games in January, but then he re-injured the hand and has now missed the last 6 games after he underwent surgery to fix the fractured bone. He is projected to return about the time of the MVC Tournament. 5th leading scorer is a freshman, Cooper Kaifes, who is averaging 6.1 ppg and is shooting 47.2% from three overall, and 50% in MVC games. In place of Lucas Williamson, the 5th starter likely will be sophomore Aher Uguak, a 6'7" forward transfer from New Mexico. He is originally from South Sudan, the same native country as Koch Bar. He emigrated to Canada, and played high school basketball in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is a cousin of former Chicago Bulls player Luol Deng. He averages 5.6 ppg and 3.6 rpg.

Bradley stats-
https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...dley_stats.pdf

MVC stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/confstat.htm

[egib52]

Hopefully there is a large, rowdy crowd. The atmosphere was good for InSU and ISU, but I feel it will need to be taken up a notch.

[Go_Braves]

BRADLEY - YOU HAVE TO " TAKE IT " ....

As great as it is to see Bradley play well and win their last 2 games, and as much as we enjoy the success this past week, we now face perhaps the toughest stretch of the schedule. The next 3 games are a home game against the 1st place team Loyola, and then back to back road games at Illinois State and Drake who are tied for 2nd place.

It's not about TALENT
It's about HEART
It's about who can PLAY THE HARDEST
It's about who can PLAY THE SMARTEST
LOYOLA IS NOT GOING TO GIVE IT TO YOU...
BRADLEY YOU HAVE TO " TAKE IT ".

Just listen to this video .... Everything stated applies to this Wednesday's game against Loyola

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEMXqY4rBxk

[BUfan39]

Plain and simple. Has to be a W. Go Braves!

[tornado]

over the last 2 1/2 games against Loyola - 100 minutes...in which Bradley went 1-2 against them,
here are the stats...

Loyola 171 pts, 68 rebs, 40 asst
Bradley 164 pts, 83 rebs, 38 asst

we are the only team over that span- going back to January of their Final Four season...to prove we can hang with them..

AND we are 22-8 against them in Peoria (13-6 at Carver)

[tornado]

Coach Wardle confirms that Luuk van Bree suffered a hand injury in the game Saturday and is day-to-day,
He may be held out of practice....


one more thing - in case you have never heard this - Barry Hinson talks about Bradley serving beer to get their fans fired up

https://twitter.com/ValleyHoops/status/1050431125636542465

[Da Coach]

Coach Wardle confirms that Luuk van Bree suffered a hand injury in the game Saturday and is day-to-day,
He may be held out of practice....

I saw Luuk come over to the bench with the injury. The pinky finger on his left hand was dislocated, and required attention from the trainers to get it back into place. Usually, that is an injury that is not too serious, unless there is more complicated ligament damage, and heals by taping the 4th and 5th fingers together, or in a few worse cases, wearing an immobilizer splint. Let's hope it doesn't affect his shooting!

[Go_Braves]

I saw Luuk come over to the bench with the injury. The pinky finger on his left hand was dislocated, and required attention from the trainers to get it back into place. Usually, that is an injury that is not too serious, unless there is more complicated ligament damage, and heals by taping the 4th and 5th fingers together, or in a few worse cases, wearing an immobilizer splint. Let's hope it doesn't affect his shooting!

Glad it was Luuk's "left hand pinky".... Luuk shoots right handed - and Luuk may have to adjust his left handed layups and shooting... I'm sure Luuk and coaches are working all situations. Have ANOTHER GREAT GAME LUUK ...

[bigjimmy]

Time to keep putting up or shut up. The seniors are 2-6 against Loyola, their worst record against another Mo Valley team. But the last 2 matchups went down to the wire and we went 1-1. Townes is a definite problem so DLO better bring his big boy pants to try and contain him. Loyola has really missed Ben Richardson's leadership and the inside presence of Aundre Jackson and really haven't found anyone to replace them. Pretty much like every other team in the Valley they've had some really good and really bad stretches this season. Hopefully the joint will be jumpin and the boys just take take it too them.

[Bradleyfan1]

Here we are. On the eve of the next must win game. They all are the rest of the way. Get the next 3 and look out. 1 at a time. We have to figure out how to fill carver. Call the no shows and encourage/ bribe them to come out for this one. Get the students in bunches downtown.

[Chico]

If they can be seen on television they’ll be there.

[tornado]

it will come down to who hits their outside shots - and we need Ja'Shon to play big and contain Krutwig

[Dub]

Interested to see how we handle krutwig. Whether or not we have a healthy van Bree could be a factor. Who else do you guys think is being prepped to guard the post this game?

[Bradleyfan1]

Bar of course. Henry. Boya if LVP can’t go. I’m sure LVP will play. Will he score? We need everyone. Child’s. Keep this thing rolling.

[Dub]

Bar of course. Henry. Boya if LVP can’t go. I’m sure LVP will play. Will he score? We need everyone. Child’s. Keep this thing rolling.

The key on him is to have someone beefy enough to keep him a little further away from the hoop (or take an occasional charge), and also being ready to jump in passing lanes on his kick-outs. I think Luuk / Childs may be more effective against him than Bar, but we'll see. Looking forward to it.