Final score: Bradley 69 Miami 68

[LittleBrave]

What a game! When we were down 8, I was about to pack up the laptop, but Coach Wardle and the boys fought hard to the end.
GREAT coaching the last couple minutes, including the final possession topped off by BU's 2020-21 hero-boy Terry Nolan Jr.!

That was a key victory - not that Mia (OH) was a quality win, thought they impressed me, but it was a win we needed to get.
Kinda shows that we have a ways to go - the cupcake tests probably didn't help us much for games like this.
6-2 now with Mizzou tomorrow.

How about our newcomers this year! Without East and Nolan Jr, this team would have some deficiencies having lost Brown and Kennell.

Way 2 go BRAVES!

[LittleBrave]

Tommy, yes I have that concern. Just by chance teams have been shooting lights out against us? Or are we just not defending the 3 like we need to be?

To me, it just seems that Miami OH and S Dak St just shot lights out. Most made 3's were contested and some a bit lucky.
But I hate to lose another game this season - beaten by the 3-ball disparity.

Ville has NOT shot the 3 well in 2 of last 3 games, and that is a BIG deal for this team. You look at last year's Arch Madness and Ville's clutch 3's might have made the difference for us to hoist the trophy again.

Not sure the 3-pt discrepancy in this game, but it seemed that was how BU didn't win by 10+.

[LittleBrave]

What an exciting game! Bradley scored the final 9 points of the game over the last 4 minutes to win 69-68 and overcome the incredible shooting display by Miami.
Box score- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

Miami came into the game shooting only 38.9% overall and 31.0% from three in their first 5 games, 4 of which were on their home floor.
Tonight, Miami shot an incredible 50.0% overall (25-50) and 54.2% from three (13-24) on the road.
Bradley overcame their great shooting by outrebounding Miami 34-27, only turning the ball over 9 times, making their FTs (9-10), and clamping down with terrific defense in the second half (yielded just 31 points in 2nd half), especially the last 4 minutes of the game.

Exciting yes, DC! But I don't think that any of us would have used that adjective had we come up short! LOL

[Da Coach]

...Just by chance teams have been shooting lights out against us? Or are we just not defending the 3 like we need to be?

For the record, Bradley is running the same defense that they ran in 2018-19 and 2019-20, and with most of the same players as last year, plus new players who are bigger, longer, quicker, more athletic, and said to be better defensive players than the guards we lost (Darrell Brown & Nate Kennell). Yet, Bradley's 3-point defense over the previous 2 seasons ranks as the best three point percentage defense in the MVC.

So I am not saying that there haven't been some defensive lapses, but I am going to make the case that we've seen two outlier games with some incredibly good 3-point luck by a couple teams (South Dakota State and Miami).

Through 8 games this season, opponents are 71-196 (36.2%) from three against Bradley (36.2%- ranks 6th among MVC teams).
Bradley held opponents to 31.6% in 2019-20, and Bradley held opponents to 32.7% in 2018-29.
In 2018-19 and 2019-20 combined, Bradley's 3pt% defense ranks #1 among MVC teams.
So Bradley's history of 3pt defense over the past 2 seasons has been terrific.

Here are the 3-point stats for each of Bradley's 8 games so far in 2020-21-
Toledo 11-29 (37.9%)
Xavier 5-20 (25.0%)
Oakland 12-34 (35.3%)
Judson 3-27 (11.1%)
SDSU 17-26 (65.4%)
Lewis 7-18 (38.9%)
JSU 3-18 (16.7%)
Miami 13-24 (54.2%)

So, there have been two extreme outlier games, SDSU (65.4%) and Miami (54.2%). Every other game their 3-point defense has been extremely good. Bradley's overall opponent's 3-pt% is 71-196 (36.2%), but only 41-146 (28.1%) in the other 6 games if the 2 outlier games are removed.

If this was truly a defensive problem, why was Bradley's 3pt defense so awesome in 2018-19 and 2019-20, as well as in the other 6 games this year?
Note that the 28.1% 3pt defense this year (excluding SDSU and MU) would have ranked 5th best in all of D1 last year, and 2nd best in D1 in 2018-29!

Now, if readers aren't already bored, here are some 3-point stats for South Dakota State and Miami in all their games this year-
South Dakota State has shot 74-187 39.6% on threes so far (35.4% without the BU game).
Here are their 3-point stats for each game-
West Virginia 7-19
Utah State 15-27
St. Mary's U. 2-12
Iowa State 9-25
Bradley U. 17-26
North Dakota St. 7-24
North Dakota 7-24
South Dakota 10-30

Miami University has shot 49-139 35.3% on threes so far (31.3% without BU game).
3-point stats for each game
North Dakota 5-14
Wright State 6-20
Western ILL. 7-27
Mt St Joseph 12-30
Univ. of Buffalo 6-24
Bradley U. 13-24

Note that the Bradley game was the one and only game Miami has played where they shot anywhere near the 54.2% from three that they did against Bradley. Their next best shooting game was just 40% against a winless D3 Mt. St. Joseph University.

South Dakota State did have one other great game, shooting 55.6% in their game against Utah State, but their next best game was only 36.8% against West Virginia. But they have never come close to the 65.4% they shot against Bradley. So Bradley's defense was either really horrendous in those 2 games, or maybe the two opponents just had a great night draining threes.

We can either consider that Bradley has played uncharacteristically terrible defense on the perimeter in just those 2 games or that the two teams had an unbelievable night shooting threes, which they will probably never match again, even against far worse defensive teams than Bradley. I choose the latter.

[Tommy]

Thanks for keeping it in perspective, Coach. Glad you're here to dig out the numbers for us so we can all relax a bit!

[Da Coach]

Thanks for keeping it in perspective, Coach. Glad you're here to dig out the numbers for us so we can all relax a bit!

Or maybe I am just mindlessly rationalizing.

[Dub]

Does anyone know the extent of the injury to Elijah Childs? I understand pjs reported an injury to his hip but may not miss time... I don’t have access to the report but was certainly hoping he could be serviceable on Tuesday be we will need him.

[Da Coach]

Does anyone know the extent of the injury to Elijah Childs? I understand pjs reported an injury to his hip but may not miss time... I don’t have access to the report but was certainly hoping he could be serviceable on Tuesday be we will need him.

Here is the only thing that has been said so far about Eli. It was posted Sunday afternoon on the PJ Star website-

https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sports-forums/basketball-fan-talk/495302-next-game-bradley-at-missouri-tuesday-dec-22-6-pm?p=495325#post495325

[Heemeskerk]

Coach thanks for the stats. I guess my expectations were high for a great defensive team. Currently the stats indicate we are not great for whatever reason. I suspect you are right and we will see that prove out the remainder of the season.

[bradleyfan124]

To me, it just seems that Miami OH and S Dak St just shot lights out. Most made 3's were contested and some a bit lucky.
But I hate to lose another game this season - beaten by the 3-ball disparity.

Ville has NOT shot the 3 well in 2 of last 3 games, and that is a BIG deal for this team. You look at last year's Arch Madness and Ville's clutch 3's might have made the difference for us to hoist the trophy again.

Not sure the 3-pt discrepancy in this game, but it seemed that was how BU didn't win by 10+.

You have to remember that Nate usually got the other teams best outside defender which helped Ville. Now Ville is on his own so he will have to adjust. It will help with another excellent 3 point shooter emerge on the team

[bradleyfan124]

I see tremendous potential in this team. The players are still getting used to each other and will continue to get better. Once they hit their top potential i think they will be very hard to beat. Bobby Knights teams used to do the same thing. Struggle at the beginning of the season then come on like gangbusters at the end