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Originally posted by Da Coach
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Drake plays a closed scrimmage tonight (Fri. Oct. 18 ) against Omaha
Missouri State plays a closed scrimmage tomorrow (Sat. Oct. 19) at SMU
Northern Iowa plays a closed scrimmage against North Dakota State Sunday, Oct. 20
And Bradley plays a closed scrimmage against Eastern Illinois Sunday, Oct. 20
Preview of Eastern Illinois vs. Bradley-
Eastern Illinois was 14-18 last season, and 7-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference. They are coached by Jay Spoonhour, who is starting his 8th season there. Spoonhour has only had 1 winning season in his previous 7 seasons-
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...tern-illinois/
They should be significantly improved this season. Their team returns all their starters from last season, 8 of their top 9 scorers, and 6 of their top 7 rebounders. The only player of significance that left was freshman guard Ben Harvey, who averaged 10.2 ppg and 3.9 rpg off the bench. He transferred to Southern Illinois, and will sit out this year there, and be eligible to play for Bryan Mullins in 2020-21.
https://siusalukis.com/news/2019/5/8...en-harvey.aspx
Here is their stats from last year, and note that of their top 9 scorers, only #3 Ben Harvey is not back with their team this season-
https://eiu_ftp.sidearmsports.com/cu...9MBX_Stats.pdf
The top players this season appear to be these 3 guards who started every one of EIU's 32 games last season:
> Leading returning scorer Josiah Wallace, a 6'4" junior guard who averaged 15.5 ppg last season and shot 35.3% from three.
> Second leading returning scorer Mack Smith, a 6'2" junior guard who averaged 12.8 ppg last season and shot 37.0% from three.
> 4th leading returning scorer Shareef Smith, a 5'10" guard who averaged 8.5 ppg, shot 33.8% from three, and lead the team in assists with 123 (3.8 apg).
They also have a couple other players who shoot the three very well, and as a team last year, they shot 37.0%.
They a bit lacking in height. They have only 1 player taller than 6'7", Rade Kukobat, who was their only significant inside threat. he averaged 7.6 ppg & 4.8 rpg last season, but he only shot 41.1% overall.
EIU's roster this year includes 10 junior college transfers (they also had 10 jucos last season), plus a 5th-year grad-transfer from Bethune Cookman.
Interestingly, they have NO freshmen and NO sophomores on the roster. They have 7 juniors, and 7 seniors (including a grad-transfer).
https://eiupanthers.com/roster.aspx?...64&path=mbball
EIU was just picked tied for 6th in the 12-team Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll-
http://ovcsports.com/news/2019/10/15...favorites.aspx
Recall that Bradley played Eastern Illinois last season in Peoria on Dec. 15, 2018, and it was perhaps the most disappointing game of the season for BU and fans. Eastern Illinois upset the Braves 73-66-
Recap- https://bradleybraves.com/news/2018/...-illinois.aspx
Box score- https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...Bradley_66.pdf
In that game, EIU was 13-24 (54.2%) from three for the game, the most three pointers they made in a game all season. Bradley only shot 29.4% from three, including just 1-9 in the 2nd half. One of the few bright spots for Bradley was Koch Bar, who had one of his best games with a team-leading 13 points, 5 rebounds, and no personal fouls. It was also the first game that Ari Boya played for Bradley, and he played pretty well (6 points, 4 rebounds in just 9 minutes). So hopefully we can get good games from our big men again Sunday!
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