Next game: Wisconsin-Parkside at Bradley, Monday, Nov. 7, 7 pm

[PhiAlphaBoy]

It was a bit of a quick comment, but they just said on the broadcast that both are redshirting.

Jinx, buy me a Coke.

[Big Mike]

Espn 3 says they are both redshirting.....did I hear that right?

[Da Coach]

Agiste for sure, but this is the first mention of Ekono redshirting

[Da Coach]

Final score Bradley 93 Parkside 59

https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media;team=home

[BUBraves2006]

Jinx, buy me a Coke.

I said it first!

As for the game, whoa, where did Darius Hannah get his right foot from? Last season he moved around like he had two left feet! Talk about growth - saw all kinds of potential but just didn't know if he'd be a guy who could really score offensively. Those moves were smooth all night and that will translate, even against better opponents.

Once Mast is healthy, a front court of him, Malevy and Hannah is going to be a force.

[Da Coach]

Nice win with everyone contributing.
Stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

Bradley shoots 56.1% (32-57) overall and 50% from three (9-1. Also 74.1% on FTs (20-27). Only 7 turnovers, despite very frequent personnel changes, and Duke, Pop, Zek, and Connor all playing point at times.
Darius Hannah with 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, and a block. What a terrific game. he would have had 20 or more points, if he would just lay the ball in the basket instead of trying to dunk everything. He missed 2 or 3 dunk attempts.
Ja'Shon was 7-7 from the field, 19 points, 4 rebounds in just 17 minutes of playing time.
Hickman 14 points, 3-5 from three, 3 assists, and terrific defense.
Ville with 11 points, 3-4 from three. I wish he and Hickman would take more shots!
Leons 7 points, 6 rebounds. IMO, he plays too unselfish at times. But he also played terrific defense.
Deen and Weathers were solid at the point with only 1 turnover between them.
Montgomery with 9 points, 4 rebounds in just 20 minutes.

Looks like Max Ekono will redshirt, along with Sulaiman Agiste. And Sam Hennessey was absent from the team tonight for unexplained reasons. He played a couple minutes in the Illinois Wesleyan game last Wednesday, so maybe he was ill?

Next up- Utah State in Logan, Utah on Friday. That is going to be a very tough game. Utah State has one of the highest winning percentages at home of any Division I school.

[BUfan14]

My game one observations: We did what we needed to, which doesn’t always happen early in the season for Bradley. This should have been a blowout win and it was.

As far as individuals:

Hannah looked much improved and stronger. Still a little unpolished at times, and I wonder if bigger teams/players with more athleticism will still be able to push him around a little. Overall though, it’s nice to see he can at least hold the fort down until Mast is back. If he keeps growing, I’m now optimistic on his future again. Great game from him.

Henry was playing back in a 4 type role instead of the 3 spot he played last year early. He looks so much better in this role. His strength was never passing or outside shooting. Give him the ball free line and in and let him go to work. Nice return!

I expected big growth from Hickman this year and he looks confident. He just seems like a guy that won’t be beaten in terms of effort and will power. I think he has a huge year and potentially Bradley career if he’s around the next few years.

I was hopeful Leons would also take a huge step, but I just wonder if he’s never going to quite be an assertive type player. He’s still a great asset and we need him to step up while Mast is out against better teams. He always plays well, even if he rarely imposes his will. I just think he will need to score more to go where we want to go this year.

The new point guards looked solid. Deen looks to have great potential. He rarely tried to force anything either, which has been a problem with even our great point guards in recent years. Weathers seems to understand his game and I think will fill the Howell type role even better. My only concern here is size against bigger/better teams.

Ville is what he is at this point. I have to think his athleticism has been hampered by injuries over the years. Get him open as a spot up shooter off the bench and that is the perfect role for him.

The back up bigs were good enough, but we will see when facing bigger teams. Linke never seems like a liability because he doesn’t force anything, but he also has yet to seem like a real asset on offense either. Biliew looked solidly built and I was impressed for a new big man. With three years here I have hopes he could be an Ari Boya type player. One game impression against lesser competition of course, but I thought he looked like more of a contributor than Linke.

Montgomery was really impressive. Along with Hickman, I might now predict him as having huge growth this year. Hickman and him shooting threes, passing, and playing D has me excited for two sophomores. I know it’s dreaming in today’s world, but can you imagine if Deen, Hickman, Montgomery, Leons, Mast all stick around next year as starters? Then Hannah too? And then five of those six (Leons) could still be around the year after that. Wow, in the old days it’d have been fun to watch that group grow together over a few years.

I really liked that everyone was in their appropriate role and played within themselves. I thought the starters were all the right starters too. This is the first year in a while where I can say that. Usually I feel like Brian takes a while to figure those things out, and sometimes tries to force things like Henry at the 3, or Ville starting. I didn’t feel that way at all with this team and think that’s a good sign to finally have early season success.

Only one game against a D2 opponent, so this is all just initial impressions, but I like what I see early on!

[bigjimmy]

I really enjoyed our pace of play. Attacking and finishing at the basket was much improved and didn’t turn the ball over. Having said that on Friday it’s a whole different animal we’re playing. Utah State is no joke. Playing at a hostile environment for the first time will give us a chance to see how we respond to adversity which will happen in this game. This will be a good first test.

[️ Fanatic]

I really enjoyed our pace of play. Attacking and finishing at the basket was much improved and didn’t turn the ball over. Having said that on Friday it’s a whole different animal we’re playing. Utah State is no joke. Playing at a hostile environment for the first time will give us a chance to see how we respond to adversity which will happen in this game. This will be a good first test.

. What was noticeable & could make a difference vs. stiffer competition... The big men (Hannah & Leons) carrying the ball up the court, rare to find that combination on a team & that can possibly be a good weapon. I also liked the pick & roll offense & the open looks for the big men to finish (as noted vs. a smaller D2 competitor). Looking forward to Friday's game as an early season test.