Final: Bradley 68 Loyola 61

[OhRotanes]

Huge win. Let's beat Drake and move up in the standings

[BUfan17]

This is probably the most satisfying win all season so far. Great shooting tonight by Ville and Zeke. Also great overall game by Leons and Howell.

[Fetz86]

I still want that guy who can knock them down consistently and is known as a shooter for next year. A guy who averages 2+ threes a game. A Will Franklin, Jeremy Crouch, Nate Kennell type that can bury several a game and rarely misses a wide open look. You add that and a backup PG to this starting 5 and hopefully this resurgent Boya returning next year, and the sky is the limit because inside and out, driving or shooting that team will have all avenues to score available.

Maybe Zek is that guy, great contribution from him tonight.

[BRAVE82]

Yippie!!!!! Don't care for Loyola much.

[BUfan14]

Ok Ville did well tonight in many aspects. He still has a flatter arc on his shot than most “shooters” so that’s makes me doubt he will be super consistent, but not only did he shoot well tonight, he played well as a whole.

Great game for Zek, Mast did a lot of little things, and Leons was great. I thought Mast, who Wardle said was a little sore last game himself, and Roberts showed a lot of guts tonight. Howell still makes me cringe with his turnovers and that lob he attempts way too much, but it was good of him to take some ball handling duties from Roberts. Hickman and Kent struggled a little, but other guards stepped up today.

One minor nitpick - I’m not sure why Hannah came in there during a stretch we might need free throws. I guess cause Boya didn’t look so hot tonight and he wanted to rest Mast a little?

Great team win!

[patrick_o'brian]

Phenomenal win for Bradley tonight. Pumped for Drake on Saturday. Loved Leons’ energy and effort tonight. Great overall performance. Zek continues to impress albeit sporadically. He has game. Just needs more consistency! I love this team!

[Lights down]

Outstandingly defensive effort. Tremendous bench strength! Again I’m pleased with Mikey’s efforts and contributions. Great crowd again. Still need abit more movement without the ball , buts it’s improved.Let’s hit it hard against Drake!

[Dub]

I will wager a guess he doesn't play tonight. I saw the rollover, but I didn't see him walking off the court. Wardle seems to place a premium on late-season health of the "key guys." I predict they'll rest him, but this is not based on insider info.

So glad I was wrong. Terry was a bit limited but CLUTCH play at the 1:30 mark, and intense D all night.

[BUfan17]

Also just wanted to say that Leons is such a special player. Not many guys his size have the moves he does. It is nice to see him getting more aggressive and involved in games as the season goes on. I expect very big things from him next year.

[Bradley3342]

So glad I was wrong. Terry was a bit limited but CLUTCH play at the 1:30 mark, and intense D all night.

Ditto Dub. Didn’t seem like the ankle was hurting him much the way he took it to the hoop a couple of times.. If this team stays healthy they will definitely be dangerous in St.Louis!

[bigjimmy]

An all around good effort and thank goodness we don't have to hear about Loyola's in state winning streak any more! Loyola is very relentless on defense and we only had 11 turnovers which is a low total for us. I don't know if it's by design or what but it seems like Leons doesn't take many shots in the first half but he sure does in the 2nd half. He was 2-3 in the first half and 4-8 in the 2nd half. And he really plays good defense. Rienk was definately bothered by Loyola's physical play on offense as he was just 2-9 but it didn't affect his defense or offensive rebounding as he had 7 on each end of the court . Zek is definately earning more playing time and not just because of his offense. Nice to see Ville have another solid game offensively and played very well defensively as well. A true 40 minute effort. Onward!

[Go_Braves]

This is exactly the type of "overall" team effort Bradley needs to play for the rest of the season. It was so awesome to see "other" players come in and fill in when "key" Bradley players were not having their best game. I was holding my breath during those last 5 minutes expecting a "at Loyola", "at Illinois State", "Missouri State" past game collapse - AND BRADLEY CONTINUED TO PLAY "POISED" BASKETBALL and MADE SOME KEY BASKETS. This team has come a LONG LONG ways to get to this point of MENTAL TOUGHNESS - NOT GIVING IN. 5 regular season games remaining - let's continue to "fine tune" this Bradley team and prepare for what may likely be a VERY TOUGH and VERY EXCITING MVC 2022 Tournament.

[Tommy]

I thought we looked like the better, more talented team last night and the crowd was the biggest and loudest it's been this year. Great atmosphere and hope we see more of it to come.
My game notes:
1. Mast shot horribly, but was a total beast on the boards (14) and defense.
2. BW said on the post game that Roberts was 100%, so just consider that we just beat Loyola without arguably our best player at his best.
3. Leons. What can you say. This kid is completely unselfish and I wish he'd be more selfish. He is C L U T C H!
4. Zek. Nuff said (though I will say one thing, I believe he had 12 points in 10 minutes)
5. Ville continues to shoot well from 3's. He had a slow start this year, but he's been lighting it up pretty well in the 2nd half of the season.

Look out St. Louis, I think everyone is starting to take this team serious!

[Da Coach]

Summary-

https://bradleybraves.com/news/2022/2/9/mens-basketball-braves-stay-hot-defeat-first-place-loyola.aspx

Official box score-

https://bradleybraves.com/documents/2022/2/9/Bradley_68_Loyola_61.pdf

Attendance- 4,450

[Da Coach]

In the updated MVC statistics, in MVC games only, Bradley is now the top 3-point shooting team. The have improved to 36.3% (109-300) in MVC games. They are 2nd in 3-point percentage defense. They are 4th in overall FG%, and lead the MVC in FG% defense. They also lead in assists and assists to turnover ratio.
They continue to lead in the rebounding statistics, offensively and defensively, by a wide margin. -

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/team-conf.pdf

Individual leaders-
Rienk Mast leads in rebounding with 8.4 rpg. Terry Roberts leads in assists with 4.5 apg. And Terry Roberts is the only BU player in the top 15 in scoring- he ranks 4th with 15.2 ppg

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/ind.pdf

Overall MVC stat leaders-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/confldrs.htm