Final score: Bradley 76 Valparaiso 52

[LittleBrave]

What is wrong with Nolan!? 2-6 from the floor and 4 turnovers. I know we’re up but this team is becoming really hard to watch! We just can’t put teams away right now. At this point it is really hard to believe that if it wasn’t for missed free throws we could have beaten both Xavier and Missouri!

No other answer than we need East back to handle the ball and get this offense flowing more fluidly. We have no true PG right now.

[LittleBrave]

A much needed win for the Braves. This was the team I expected to see all season long. Good balance, good defense.

We really weren't that good - it was a matter of Valpo just playing very very poorly. If they had brought their C-game would have gone down to the wire.
We hit our 3s - that's why we won.

[LittleBrave]

A few thoughts from last night:

Was GREAT to see our intensity for nearly all 40 minutes, especially on Defense.

Mast continues to impress in his Freshman campaign. It's baffling (as it is to many of you), why our other freshmen are hardly seeing the court now. They have serious up-side and the way things are going, could they consider transferring? I'd be frustrated if I were Hannah or Kent with their talent level on a team where guys are not playing to their potential.

McAdoo played a LOT of minutes. The kid has a pretty smart b-ball IQ, but really he is not one of our best 5 players - decent bench player at best.
We're in trouble if we rely on him for 20+ minutes a game!! We got away with it tonight since Valpo was awful.

Ville knocks down 4 treys. When he gets back in rhythm, he'll be big for this team. As Ville shoots, BU usually goes. (3 or more 3's almost always results in a Braves victory)

As DC alluded to, offensive flow much better. Better passing from side to side and inside-out. This was the biggest plus for me tonight!

[Tommy]

We really weren't that good - it was a matter of Valpo just playing very very poorly. If they had brought their C-game would have gone down to the wire.
We hit our 3s - that's why we won.

We shot 45.2% from the field and 43.3% from 3's, and I thought we played much better defense on the perimeter. Could have just been bad shooting by Valpo, but we seemed to be much more active and in their face. I'd at least like to think the effort lead to the poor shooting from Valpo, but most likely, a little of both.

Either way, I'll take the win!

[LittleBrave]

We shot 45.2% from the field and 43.3% from 3's, and I thought we played much better defense on the perimeter. Could have just been bad shooting by Valpo, but we seemed to be much more active and in their face. I'd at least like to think the effort lead to the poor shooting from Valpo, but most likely, a little of both.

Either way, I'll take the win!

I'll accept this Tommy. If I had just seen the final score without seeing the game I would have been elated.
But some of our overarching issues are still present - namely no true PG to make the offense fluid, quite a few mental mistakes and it's mid-February, and now we have a lack of depth b/c our freshman (and A Thomas) are on the bench.
I'd like to see us sacrifice a bit of this season for the development of our younger guys even if it means a couple fewer losses.

I am glad we sustained our big leads for most of the night.
Most Wardle teams have been able to close out games and win the close ones, but it's been problematic this season.