Final score: Bradley 69 Evansville 58

[Da Coach]

Bradley is now 15-9 overall, and 6-5 in the MVC. They play Evansville Sunday, Feb. 9, at 1:00 pm.
Evansville is 9-15 overall, and 0-11 in the MVC. The game will be televised on CBSSports Network.

https://www.cbssports.com/cbs-sports-network/

Standings

Northern Iowa	9-2	-	20-3
Southern Illinois	8-3	1	14-10
Indiana State	7-4	2	14-8
Loyola Chicago	7-4	2	15-9
Drake	6-5	3	16-8
Bradley	6-5	3	15-9
Valparaiso	5-6	4	12-12
Missouri State	5-6	4	11-13
Illinois State	2-9	7	7-16
Evansville	0-11	9	9-15

Live Stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Chat Room- http://www.chatzy.com/524398219675
Evansville website- https://gopurpleaces.com/sports/mens-basketball

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

MVC overall stats- http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/CONFLDRS.HTM
MVC games only stats- http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/CONFONLY.HTM

Evansville's top scorer DeAndre Williams has not played since their January 4 game against Valparaiso. He has been out since then with a back injury that occurred in their Dec. 21 game against Murray State. There has been no report when Williams might return to playing.

Bradley beat Evansville in their game January 8 in Peoria, 72-52.
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2020/...-10-years.aspx

[Wizard]

We have gone down and down in the past few weeks. Now we are in 6th place and struggling to avoid a Thurs. play-in in St Louis. If we cannot create several new sets to give our shooters clear shots, this will continue. Also we need to teach our players how to set good screens and roll off the screens. Our guards need to drive more and kick out to open 3 pt. shooters.
Wizard

[Tommy]

I think it was Wardle that said this, maybe it was Dave Snell, can't remember, but basically they said we need to stop dribbling all over the place and move the ball with passes in order to get open shots as passing is a much quicker way to move the ball (obviously). This was a really simple statement but a wonderfully powerful observation.

[Da Coach]

Sunday's game will also feature a halftime ceremony to induct the new 2020 class into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame.
The 2020 class includes:
Jeremy Crouch (men’s basketball)
Ashley Birdsong (softball)
Rob Scahill (baseball)
Stephanie Behrns (volleyball)

Jim Molinari (men’s basketball) was also inducted during the Illinois State game on January 22.
There is also a Pre-game Luncheon on Saturday. Doors open at 11 am, lunch will start at 11:30 am, and the program will start at 12:00 noon.
There are tickets still available- call the Braves Club Office (309-677-2667) Doors open at 11 a.m., lunch is served at 11:30 and the program starts at noon.

[Normal Paul]

What I observe is without an inside threat the other team extends and overplays the lanes which results in the excessive dribbling because passing lanes are blocked.

[Da Coach]

....
Evansville's top scorer DeAndre Williams has not played since their January 4 game against Valparaiso. He has been out since then with a back injury that occurred in their Dec. 21 game against Murray State. There has been no report when Williams might return to playing.

Here is an update today from Evansville head coach Todd Lickliter about DeAndre Williams-

https://twitter.com/chadlindskog/status/1225907021712674820

“He’s been in and he’s moving around more so I think he’s better”,
but there’s no official update on when he’ll return to game action.

[bigjimmy]

As long as we take care of home court the worst case for us is to finish 6th. Combined home records for all the Mo Valley teams are 96-22 and if you take out Evansville the record is 91-15 so it’s absolutely essential we win these last 4 home games. Presuming Valpo loses at Loyola we will be 2 games ahead of 7th with just 6 Valley games to go so needless to say boys LET’S GET ER DONE!

[Da Coach]

It is nice to see Elijah Child's on the floor & going through warmups. He looks good, and his shots are going in (most of them).

On the Evansville end, I don't see DeAndre Williams.

[BUfan17]

Way too close for a while there, but Evansville is way better than their record. They are going to get a conference win sometime. No Childs today and I'd say we would have lost. Without him we live and die by the three, and we were only 1 for 11.

Anyone know what happened on that double Technical? I like the way Kingsby plays but he seems to like to mouth off on the court, this isn't the first time he had done that. I hope Wardle will cut that out.

[Tommy]

Good win today, though I was not feeling so good when Evansville went up by one late in the game. They seemed much quicker than us and they had really good and crisp passing (something we could learn from). Far too many easy back door points for the second game in a row, so we really need to tighten up our D on that portion of our game.

On offense, I think we still dribble too much, but it was considerably better in this game, and it was nice to see some dunks again. Only 1 3 pointer for the game is pretty horrendous, though, and that isn't going to get it done come tournament time.

Eli getting a double double in his first game back is pretty amazing, and Brown looks like a different player with him back, so let's hope that continues.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's our first win where we didn't score 70 points. That was our magic number until today when we scored 69. Also, the scorecard indicated every MVC conference game has been won by the team with the most rebounds (did I read that correctly?). If so, that streak continues.

Lastly, does anyone know why Burger never dresses? He's a walk-on, but I looked him up today and he put up some pretty good numbers in high school and I imagine he could have helped us a little when we were so short handed. Just curious why he never dresses.

Also, what's the scouting report on McAdoo and Nolan (our two transfers)? Are they expected to be as good or better than Antonio Thomas and Kingsby? It's going to be interesting to see what Wardle does with so many options at the guard position next year.

Anyhow, good win and very glad we got it. I would have left the game very unhappy had we lost to Evansville at home and dropped our last 3. Hey, Bar had some nice plays today, too, btw! Couple key ones near the end of the game. Good on him, I really like that guy.

Forgot to mention, I really dislike the official Jerry Pollard. Every game he officiates seems to have close to 40 fouls called (37 in this one). Our team does not play well when they can't get a rhythm going and when they're calling a foul every minute of the game, rhythm does not exist. Pollard likes to be the center of attention and that technical call today was just him on a power trip. No reason for it.

[Bradley3342]

Sure nice to have Elijah back! What a difference maker. Outside of a few missed free throws it didn’t seem like he missed a beat. I was holding my breath when he dove for that loose ball early in the game. Need to keep him healthy for the stretch run. Go Braves!

[Da Coach]

Way too close for a while there, but Evansville is way better than their record. They are going to get a conference win sometime. No Childs today and I'd say we would have lost. Without him we live and die by the three, and we were only 1 for 11.

Anyone know what happened on that double Technical? I like the way Kingsby plays but he seems to like to mouth off on the court, this isn't the first time he had done that. I hope Wardle will cut that out.

Final score- Bradley 69 Evansvile 58-

https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

I agree with you that Evansville has some decent talent, though they lack size and inside game. As we recall, they beat Kentucky in Lexington back in November. They are without DeAndre Williams, but they are still capable of playing very well, so it's surprising they were 0-11 coming into today's game.

Elijah Childs had a terrific game- 19 points, 11 rebounds in 31 minutes. Darrell Brown rebounded with a great game- 22 points. And Bradley got solid gsmes from Koch Bar (4 points, 11 rebounds), as well as from Ville, Ja'Shon, Nate, and Danya.

From what I saw on the double technical (it was on the opposite end from where I sit) is that Danya fouled K.J. Riley as he drove to the basket. It didn't appear to be a hard foul, but Riley didn't like the foul and glared at Danya and appeared to say something. Danya reacted a bit by stepping toward Riley, but I did not see any physical contact. The officials were very quick to blow a double-technical foul whistle. In nearly every other conference, they would have simply stepped between them and it would have defused the situation. Evansville was not yet in the bonus, and on double-technicals there are no free throws given. But each player was assessed with a personal foul, and both fouled out on that play. It might have actually helped Bradley a bit, since Riley is a key part of their offense.

[Da Coach]

...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's our first win where we didn't score 70 points. That was our magic number until today when we scored 69. Also, the scorecard indicated every MVC conference game has been won by the team with the most rebounds (did I read that correctly?). If so, that streak continues.

Lastly, does anyone know why Burger never dresses? He's a walk-on, but I looked him up today and he put up some pretty good numbers in high school and I imagine he could have helped us a little when we were so short handed. Just curious why he never dresses.

Also, what's the scouting report on McAdoo and Nolan (our two transfers)? Are they expected to be as good or better than Antonio Thomas and Kingsby? It's going to be interesting to see what Wardle does with so many options at the guard position next year.

Bradley won 3 previous games without scoring 70. Here are all the scores-

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

In the non-conference, Bradley beat UIC 65-56 and Norfolk State 69-57, and in the MVC, they beat SIU 67-48.

Riley Burger developed a stress fracture in his foot in the preseason, and has not played in any games. He wore a boot and used a rolling scooter for a while, but now looks like he is walking OK, but I don't think he's returned to full practice.

McAdoo and Nolan are somewhat similar players. Both are very athletic, and decent shooters, though not spectacular outside shooters. Nolan is a little taller (6'4") than McAdoo (6'2"), and McAdoo played some point guard at Eastern Michigan and in high school, so he could help as a backup PG. Terry Nolan isn't really a point guard, though he did play some point guard in high school. He gets to the basket more, rebounds better, and gets to the free throw line a lot more. They are both known as good defenders.

Here are threads on both transfers with links to videos and stats-
Terry Nolan, Jr.- https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...terry-nolan-jr

Kevin McAdoo- https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...stern-michigan

[Tommy]

Thanks coach!

[Da Coach]

Coach Wardle explains the reason Bradley was just 1-11 from three today-

https://twitter.com/BUBrianWardle/status/1226633678962528263