Final score: Bradley 69 Evansville 58

[Da Coach]

Official box score-

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/bradley.sidearmsports.com/documents/2020/2/9/Bradley_69_Evansville_58.pdf

[Tommy]

I was talking with my brother after the game, and we were thinking if Williams comes back in time for the tournament, Evansville is going to be a terrible first round draw for someone.

I think we can safely assume they’ll be the lowest seed, so who knows, maybe they get Williams back in time to pull off a major upset against Northern Iowa.

The seeding for the tourney this year is going to be very interesting.

[Classof77]

Elijah sure didn't look like a guy who has missed the last dozen (or there about) games. Great to see him back. I'm not sure we would have beaten any other team in the league today. But also agree Evansville is better than their record indicates.

[Dub]

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.

I got a good look at the double tech, so here’s what I saw. Two officials were fairly near the play and Kingsby’s guy drove the left side and was fouled. However, after the whistle both players continued to play through for a few more steps, which drew a second whistle and a yell from Pollard to “you STOP when I blow the whistle!” Neither player acknowledged his command but just sort of turned away. It looked like Poland thus felt disrespected and blew the double T.

[Da Coach]

Thanks. I sit behind the Bradley bench and one other thing I saw today that seemed unusual. On a couple occasions, as Gerry Pollard was running from the far end (the end farthest from the Bradley bench), as he ran past Coach Wardle, he yelled at him about some of the physical play, apparently by the Bradley players. He pointed to his elbow and seemed to be warning Wardle to tell his players to stop using their elbows. Maybe that is why Pollard had somewhat of a short fuse later in the game. Pollard definitely likes to control a game, and he seems to like to blow his whistle.

[Bradleyfan1]

Pollard is my favorite ref. He calls both ways the same. Takes no shit. Day needs to shut up and ball. Overall im not overly impressed with him. Glad we got the W. For this time of year tho we should be playing at a much higher level. Im confident by this time next week we are feeling much more comfortable, Brown and Eli stay consistant and Nate finds his 3 ball, continue to play solid D. Valpo almost won at Loyola, get the W's, we need wins in case we dont win in St Louis we could score a home NIT game or 2, maybe go to NYC Still hoping we win out and go dancing . Go BU. Pretty good year so far all things considered ,now Finsh strong.

[basketball nut]

I got a good look at the double tech, so here’s what I saw. Two officials were fairly near the play and Kingsby’s guy drove the left side and was fouled. However, after the whistle both players continued to play through for a few more steps, which drew a second whistle and a yell from Pollard to “you STOP when I blow the whistle!” Neither player acknowledged his command but just sort of turned away. It looked like Poland thus felt disrespected and blew the double T.

There was some garbage going on and both players were talking smack at each other after the play was over. Pollard is to professional to call a tech because a player ignored him unless they said something to him. I know a lot of people don't like him but he lets teams play. He is not as whistle happy as a lot the refs we have had this year.

[Tommy]

He is not as whistle happy as a lot the refs we have had this year.

I could not disagree with this statement more and if I weren't completely lazy, I'd pull up the stats to prove it.

[Da Coach]

Some thoughts on Evansville... The last 2 seasons since they fired Marty Simmons, have been nothing short of disasters. They finished last in 2018-19, and are virtually certain to finish last this season, and now they are forced to start over again with another new coach, Todd Lickliter.

I re-watched the BU-Evansville game, and I've seen several earlier Evansville games this season. Lickliter has put some changes in their offense and defense that might make them a little better team. But so far they are 0-6 under him, and they have several players who just don't seem to play very hard and who have become underachievers compared with earlier in the season. I expect some of their players are going to leave after this season ends because none of them were Lickliter recruits, and some can't be happy with the new style and with their playing time under the new coach.

They should be better when they get DeAndre Williams back. He has played too many games to get a red-shirt. However, he is a Walter McCarty commit, and he committed even before McCarty hired Todd Lickliter as an assistant in April, 2018, so who knows if he will stick around and play for Lickliter after this season.

One of their top contributors all season has been FGCU transfer Artur Labinowicz. But he only played 5 minutes against Bradley, all in the first half. He did not play at all in the 2nd half and was scoreless, despite the fact 3 of their guards were in serious foul trouble. There has to be more to that story. He was averaging 12 points per game and almost 30 minutes of playing time per game before Walter McCarty was placed on leave. But his playing time has dwindled, and he is averaging barely 2 points per game over their last 7 games. It also didn't look like Lickliter was happy with his effort, which might explain his meager 5 minutes of playing time.

Another mystery is Sam Cunliffe. He was a High School All-American and a 4-star recruit who committed to Arizona State. But he spent only 1 semester there before transferring to Kansas. After sitting out a year, he lasted just 1 semester playing for Bill Self at Kansas. Self puts up with a lot of crap from his players, yet for some reason, Cunliffe quickly wore out his welcome there. Then after sitting out another year, he started to look like he could become a nice player for Evansville. He is an athletic 6'8" guard who put up 17 points against Kentucky and helped Evansville beat them. Plus, he has lead Evansville in scoring 8 times this year. And yet he looked completely disinterested in playing hard and played invisible defense in his 26 minutes Sunday. He had just 4 points, and I think those were all on backdoor layups. He doesn't have many other options after this year, since he has blown 2 full years sitting out after his transfers. But I can't believe Lickliter can be happy with his poor effort. This is his 4th year of college, and he has yet to play a full season anywhere, but it's possible he could become a grad-transfer if he has enough credits to graduate. He should be an elite player in the MVC, but will he be there next season?

Shamar Givance was a late point guard recruit by Walter McCarty, and was heralded as their point guard of the future. He was a part-time starter last season for McCarty and looked good at times. But now his playing time has dropped, he comes off the bench, and his scoring is down. He had just 2 points against Bradley.

And Noah Frederking has been a very good three point shooter in his first 2 seasons, and Evansville is the worst 3-point shooting team in the MVC. However, after being a starter the last year and a half, Lickliter has him coming off the bench and his production has dropped off. He was just 2-8 from three against Bradley. He is a Marty Simmons recruit, who played a significant role for McCarty last season, but who knows what his future is under Lickliter.
And, there are 3 other scholarship players on the Evansville roster who despite their 0-12 MVC record never seem to get off the bench- 6'5" freshman guard Thomas Gilgoeous-Alexander, 6'2" freshman guard Marcus Henderson, and 6'9" junior center Peace Ilegomah did not play at all last night despite being in uniform and warming up. All three have played very little this season.
So if Lickliter is their coach of the future, he might need a mass rebuilding for next year.

[Scoretable]

Thanks for good sports information important to MVC. An example of challenge in coaching experience. Much is changing in college basketball as in all sports. Is it
that hard for Michigan State to find a football coach? IMO, the landscape change is gaining momentum.