Loyola 69 Bradley 56 in Sunday's game; Next game Monday @ 6 pm

[Da Coach]

Bradley (9-5, 3-2) hosts Loyola (11-3, 6-1) in 2 games- Sunday, Jan. 24, at 3 pm and Monday, Jan. 25, at 6 pm in Carver Arena.
The Sunday 3 pm game is on the MVC TV Network (FOX Sports Midwest / Indiana / Kansas City / NBC Sports Chicago, and online at FoxSports Go and ESPN+). The Monday, 6 pm game is on the CBSSports Network.

Pregame article from BradleyBraves.com-

https://bradleybraves.com/news/2021/1/22/mens-basketball-braves-host-loyola-sunday-and-monday.aspx

Bradleyfans Chat Room-

http://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans

Live Stats link-

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

Loyola website-

https://loyolaramblers.com/sports/mens-basketball

Loyola stats-

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/loyolaramblers.com/documents/2020/12/6/2021_MBB_Combined_Stats.pdf

Coach Wardle said that neither Ari Boya nor Ja'Shon Henry, who both missed the ISU game Wednesday, Jan. 20, practiced today (Fri. Jan. 22).
He sounded hopeful that Henry would be available for the Sunday game, but said Boya was "highly doubtful".

Bradley statistics-

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/bradley.sidearmsports.com/documents/2020/11/25/bradley_stats.pdf

[patrick_o'brian]

Anyone else still deflated from the ISU debacle on Wednesday? I should be pumped for Loyola this weekend but 3-2 after 5 with Henry and Boya out, it just doesn’t feel good. Hopefully the team is ready and we come out 5-2 with a Loyola sweep on Monday night.

[Da Coach]

That would be nice. And, yes, I'm still bummed about the loss at ILSU, especially seeing winless Valparaiso handling them pretty well so far on the Redbirds' home court (Valpo 36 - ISU 23 at halftime)-
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId=401275974

I am just hoping Ja'Shon is OK and can play tomorrow. And although it doesn't sound good for Ari to return against Loyola, maybe hope to get him back for the following game at Valpo or the series next weekend at Indiana State. I think if we get everyone healthy, we'll be OK.

[bigjimmy]

Regardless of if Henry and or Boya plays I would expect a 100% better effort in these next 2 games then we saw on Wednesday. Loyola plays as hard as anyone on both ends so we better match that intensity or else it’ll be a long two days for the Braves. Of bigger concern is our 3 point shooting. As a team we are 102-306, 33%, which is 180th overall(Drake by the way is #1 overall at 43%). And it’s not like we’re forcing shots from 3. We’ve been missing wide open shots from there. That percentage needs to improve or we’ll be seeing teams pack it in the paint like the last game so Eli can’t get any clean looks.

[Da Coach]

The line on the Bradley-Loyola game opened with Loyola favored by 8 points. It has shifted down to Loyola -6.5 points now.
As of now, there has been no new word about the availability of Ja'Shon Henry.

Here is Dave Eminian's pregame article. He doesn't have anything new on the injuries since the quotes from Coach Wardle from Friday-
>Bradley big Ari Boya, who has missed the last five games with a right foot injury, "still has a little pain, highly doubtful for this weekend" according to coach Brian Wardle.
>BU sixth man Ja'Shon Henry did not practice Friday as he continues to recover from a concussion suffered in practice. He is questionable for the Loyola series
https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/...la/6663183002/

[patrick_o'brian]

Yeah, we’re just not a good team right now.

[Da Coach]

Bradley loses to Loyola 69-56-
https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/bradley.sidearmsports.com/documents/2021/1/24/Loyola_69_Bradley_56.pdf

Bradley laid an egg in the first half, scoring only 19 points and trailing 43-19 at halftime. Loyola lead 22-2 almost 10 minutes into the game before Bradley scored their second basket. The second half was much better with Bradley outscoring Loyola 37-26, but that was not enough to overcome the 24 point first half deficit.
Again, Bradley's perimeter shooting was poor. They were just 2-11 from three. But Bradley's normally strong defense didn't happen today. Loyola shot 56% from the field, and scored 50 of their 69 points in the paint. Until Bradley gets Ari Boya and Ja'Shon Henry back healthy, expect Loyola and other future opponents to pound the ball inside, because today, Bradley had difficulty stopping Cameron Krutwig, Tate Hall, or Aher Uguak when they got in the paint.
Bradley is now 9-6 and 3-3 in the MVC. They play Loyola again Monday night at 6:00 pm. Monday's game is on the CBSSports Network.

[Big Mike]

Bradley is very bad right now.....hard to watch....no fire or pride showing in that 1st half. A lot of standing around and not enough attention on D'.....2 pts in 10 minutes for the 1st half says it all.

[Da Coach]

I am somewhat encouraged at how they played much differently in the second half and outscored Loyola 37-26, even though they were only 1-6 from three in the second half. At least there was better movement on offense and defense, better passing and ball control (only 5 turnovers in the 2nd half compared with 11 in 1st half), and better shooting (56% overall compared with 34.6% in 1st half). And it wasn't because Loyola rested their starters. Their starting 5 played significantly more minutes in the 2nd half than in the 1st half.
But that first half was ugly, and the same thing happened against ISU. We have to figure out why and correct that. Much of it had to do with the absence of 2 of Bradley's best frontline players against a team that is very efficient at scoring inside.
There is still a lot of time left in the season (Bradley still has 12 more MVC games), and Bradley needs to play for a good seed in the postseason tournament. I think we have the talent to win the MVC again, but there are still many issues to resolve.

[Da Coach]

Game story from BradleyBraves.com-

https://bradleybraves.com/news/2021/1/24/mens-basketball-strong-first-half-leads-loyola-past-braves.aspx

Box score-

https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2020-21/loyola-chicago/boxscore/19744

[patrick_o'brian]

I stopped watching at half but checked the live updates periodically. I noticed East got T’d up. What happened there?

[bigjimmy]

Put that first half in a time capsule and bury it. The 2nd half was a much better effort. Hope they learned something and apply it from hear on in.

[Da Coach]

I stopped watching at half but checked the live updates periodically. I noticed East got T'd up. What happened there?

The play happened with 2:02 left in the 2nd half. The score was 67-51 with Loyola far ahead.
Sean East missed a short shot at 2:04 left, and it appeared that Loyola's Lucas Williamson fouled East on the shot, but no foul was called. Williamson grabbed the rebound, and East quickly fouled Williamson to stop the clock, as trailing teams do in the final minutes of a game. It was somewhat of a hard foul, and East pushed Williamson out of bounds. I did not think, it was deserving of a technical foul, and it appeared the official didn't initially think so either. Only the common foul was whistled. But then Williamson reacted by throwing the ball hard at Sean East as East turned and was walking away, and the ball struck him in the butt. Targeting a player and throwing the ball at him clearly was deserving of a technical foul, and IMO, he should have been ejected for targeting a player with the ball. The official (Gerry Pollard) signaled only a technical foul on Williamson and he pointed at East as the player to shoot the FTs, but he did not initially signal a technical foul on East. But then they reviewed the video for several minutes, after which Pollard informed the coaches there would be a technical foul on East as well as Williamson, but that the two technical fouls cancelled each other out and only the 1 and 1 free throws by Williamson would be shot. So, only Williamson went to the free throw line for a 1 and 1, and missed the shot.
I don't think Coach Wardle was happy with the call, but the game was already decided by then, and so he did not contest the decision.

If anyone wants to see the incident, here is a link to the replay of the game. Move the video ahead to about 2 minutes, 15 seconds left in the 2nd half, and watch the play take place. They also show a couple slo-mo replays.
https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/...1-24d4e21794a6

[Da Coach]

Dan D'Orio said on the pregame show that Henry and Boya are still out tonight.

[patrick_o'brian]

Thanks for the recap DC. Gerry Pollard is horrible. Does not surprise me.