Final score: Liberty 55 Bradley 44

[Da Coach]

Bradley (3-2) will play Liberty (2-3) in the second round of the Cancun Challenge at 5 pm Wednesday, Nov. 23.
The game will be televised on the CBSSports Network
Live stats- https://cancunchallenge.net/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Chat room- www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Radio/audio stream- WMBD 1470 AM or 100.3 FM

Bradley lost in the first round game to Auburn 85-64- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...boxscore/21307
Liberty lost to Northwestern in the first round 66-52- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401483386
Cancun Challenge schedule/results- https://cancunchallenge.net/calendar...ll&season=2022

Liberty is coached by former Bradley assistant (under Jim Molinari) Ritchie McKay, in his second stint as head coach there. (2007-09 & 2015-present)
Career record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...e-mckay-1.html
Liberty historical record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/liberty/

They are members of the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN). They finished last season 22-11, and 12-4 in the ASUN.
They were picked to win the ASUN this season in the 2022-23 Preseason Poll-
https://asunsports.org/sports/mbkb/2...20220926skj4mf

Liberty's leading scorer is Darius McGhee, who was named the 2022-23 Preseason Player of the Year in the ASUN. He averaged 24.6 ppg last season, which ranked 2nd in the country to Bryant's Peter Kiss (25.2 ppg). This season, McGhee is averaging 20.8 ppg after 5 games.

Liberty stats- https://www.liberty.edu/flames/wp-co.../LUMB2304c.pdf
Roster- https://www.liberty.edu/flames/mens-basketball/roster/
Coaches- https://www.liberty.edu/flames/mens-basketball/coaches/
Schedule/results- https://www.liberty.edu/flames/mens-...ball/schedule/

Bradley stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats

[️ Fanatic]

A win can really cure a lot of challenges... Bradley could use tonight's game in a big way! Looks like we match-up better vs. Liberty, yet it will still be a tough game. I heard Snell say Ville is 2 of 16 in the last 2-games from behind the arc, and Coach commented that Ville had some open looks last night... Hopefully he finds his rhythm going forward! And Malevy has a lot of basketball skills, yet he is to uncertain driving into paint (yesterday - he drove nicely right under the basket & froze vs. taking the ball right to the basket even if he attracts contact doing so... seems he prefers the first move on the wing to be around the arc vs. towards the basket, that's tolerable if we have post players like Ja'Shon & Reink... without them, we lacked penetration - which makes open looks outside the arc harder. Deen's size was noticeable last night, yet he made an adjustment & used his speed to find opportunities in the 2nd half... And Hickman had a tremendous start yesterday - would be nice to see consistent back-to-back performances today. Bring home a Win Bradley - Go Braves!!

[bradleyfan124]

A win can really cure a lot of challenges... Bradley could use tonight's game in a big way! Looks like we match-up better vs. Liberty, yet it will still be a tough game. I heard Snell say Ville is 2 of 16 in the last 2-games from behind the arc, and Coach commented that Ville had some open looks last night... Hopefully he finds his rhythm going forward! And Malevy has a lot of basketball skills, yet he is to uncertain driving into paint (yesterday - he drove nicely right under the basket & froze vs. taking the ball right to the basket even if he attracts contact doing so... seems he prefers the first move on the wing to be around the arc vs. towards the basket, that's tolerable if we have post players like Ja'Shon & Reink... without them, we lacked penetration - which makes open looks outside the arc harder. Deen's size was noticeable last night, yet he made an adjustment & used his speed to find opportunities in the 2nd half... And Hickman had a tremendous start yesterday - would be nice to see consistent back-to-back performances today. Bring home a Win Bradley - Go Braves!!

The announcers loved Connor Hickman!

[️ Fanatic]

A birdie told me…. Pop Weathers has the stomach flu

[Da Coach]

A birdie told me…. Pop Weathers has the stomach flu

The Mexican food does that to me.

[Nashville Cat]

BU +2 and 132.5. ML is 110.

[Nashville Cat]

A birdie told me…. Pop Weathers has the stomach flu

Any update on pop? He's gonna be needed as Liberty sports 2 quick little guards, one of whom is 1st team A-Sun.

[bradleyfan124]

A birdie told me…. Pop Weathers has the stomach flu

This keeps going and Wardle will have to suit up

[Tommy]

I know I like to say next man up, but this is getting ridiculous!

[Tommy]

Cancun Challenge couldn’t have gone much worse. We only played 7 against Liberty, but they only played 8, so being shorthanded isn’t an excuse.

[Da Coach]

Not much to say. This game was an embarrassment.... outshot, outrebounded, out hustled, out coached.
Final score- Liberty 55 Bradley 44

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401486398

About the only positives were a nice game off the bench from Christian Davis, and Malevy Leons' 17 points, 10 rebounds, and good defense.

[Big Mike]

Not much you can say about tonights game...the players who played gave their all...Kudos to them. Again Ville is killing on both ends of the court...give Davis more of his minutes. How does Biliew not get in tonight with all the fouls trouble at the 5 spot? Pop being out put that much more pressure on an undermanned squad.

[KillerB]

I can't believe how much we were pushed around in both games

[Nashville Cat]

Not much you can say about tonights game...the players who played gave their all...Kudos to them. Again Ville is killing on both ends of the court...give Davis more of his minutes. How does Biliew not get in tonight with all the fouls trouble at the 5 spot? Pop being out put that much more pressure on an undermanned squad

The Biliew thing is baffling. But knowing how this coaching staff operates in CIA-like secrecy around injuries and recruiting, I'm guessing he's hurt. Who knows?

[BUfan14]

Not much you can say about tonights game...the players who played gave their all...Kudos to them. Again Ville is killing on both ends of the court...give Davis more of his minutes. How does Biliew not get in tonight with all the fouls trouble at the 5 spot? Pop being out put that much more pressure on a undermanned squad.

Yes, Ville and Linke playing so much is baffling to me. Biliew is not worse than Linke, even technically.

Every year I say we need more wing shooters and every year we don’t get them. Seems like every team has guys that can go off from downtown on a given night, except us. I like Hickman, but it doesn’t appear his game is a sharp shooter, rather an all around hustle game. Ville is out best (only?) shooter according to the announcers. That’s a problem. I know Deen, Leons, and Mast can shoot to an extent, but that’s not their primary role, nor are they probably going to fill it up from there on most nights. Maybe Davis could be that sharp shooter, but that’s a big ask for a raw first year in D1 player, but as I’ve been saying give him minutes. He actually looked good passing and hustled on defense tonight. That’s something from a wing at least.

Hannah got brought back down to Earth in these games, he is not strong enough.

Leons finally forced it at times and played well doing so.

Even if we get healthy, there are obvious weaknesses to work on. Hopefully we keep improving. We need this year to go well, because who knows what next year brings.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the recruiting class this year like I was last year, but admittedly I’m basing that on seeming fit for weaknesses and peripherals of the players. But it’s played out so far this year, I don’t see a ton of future upside in this class so far. That could hurt if we lose a lot after this year. Winning can help take care of that though, so let’s get better and healthy going forward!