Final score: Drake 86 Bradley 61

[Tommy]

Consider me concerned. We’ve beaten a total of 2 teams with winning records - SIUE and Akron and one could argue that neither of them are from a very impressive conference. Maybe we’re not as good as we thought and these blowouts against poor competition is exaggerating our talent level.

[Bradley8792]

Consider me concerned. We’ve beaten a total of 2 teams with winning records - SIUE and Akron and one could argue that neither of them are from a very impressive conference. Maybe we’re not as good as we thought and these blowouts against poor competition is exaggerating our talent level.

Very good point. I’m beginning to think we would make a really good Div 2 team.

[bigjimmy]

Not too sure I can add anything here that hasn't been already said about our wonderful performance at Drake. Drake's starters are very experienced and very good but we got outscored 31-8 in the last 10:00. In that period 11 of our last 18 shots were from 3 and we missed ALL OF THEM. In one sequence we missed a 3 and got the rebound, missed another 3 and got that rebound and immediately missed another 3. As poor as our offense executed defensively it looked like we had no clue or idea of how to play any after the first 5 minutes. It's been like that on the road most of this year and I just don't get it. We have played beautifully on both ends of the court at home. Why the disconnect? It just makes no sense. I understand it's harder to win on the road but there's just no excuse for efforts like this.

[braves16]

From the Des Moines Register
Expectations were high for Saturday’s conference matchup between Drake men’s basketball and Bradley. The Bulldogs beat the Braves, 86-61, and the game was what fans expected from a contest featuring two programs looking to move up the Missouri Valley Conference standings.

Drake improved its record to 14-5 (5-3 MVC). Bradley now sits at 12-7 (5-3 MVC).

It was the Braves who started off strong, despite Darnell Brodie putting up the first points of the game. Bradley jumped out to a 6-point lead in the first half, but it wasn’t sustainable with how Drake performed. The Bulldogs – aided by strong 3-point shooting performances from Conor Enright and Sardaar Calhoun – held a 45-23 lead at halftime.


Drake continued to pile on the points in the second half, and thanks to the lead the Bulldogs built in the first half, they were able to hold Bradley off each time the Braves attempted to close the gap.

Tucker DeVries led the Bulldogs with 28 points, including five 3-pointers.

"When you see one go in, it's easy to make the next one and (it) kind of trickles down," DeVries said postgame. "How well we moved and shared the ball...I thought we had a bunch of great looks from three."
Roman Penn was all over the court with 10 rebounds — a career-high for the graduate student — and seven assists.

"He's such a well-rounded point guard," said coach Darian DeVries of Penn's performance. "When he's distributing like that and creating for other players and getting assists, typically we are pretty good as an offense, and then he'll take whatever they give him from a scoring standpoint, as well."







Drake's 86 points were the second-highest performance by the Bulldogs and it came against the top defense in the conference.
Bulldogs' bench comes up big


Last week, Darian DeVries emphasized how important it was to get his bench more experience. While several Bulldogs starters posted successful showings against Bradley, two bench players stood out.

Calhoun added 16 points in the win, including four 3-pointers. Enright was close behind with 13 points off three 3-pointers and two additional field goals. The pair combined for eight rebounds.

"Just come in, be a spark plug kind of energy," Enright said. "Bring your team together and keep the energy up."



In total, the bench accounted for 33 points in the win and recorded 11 rebounds.

"Bench production from Conor and Sardaar and Nate I thought was really huge for us," Darian DeVries said. "I think it completely changed the game. I'll take this performance every game. From the offensive standpoint and defensively, just the energy they gave us whenever we subbed guys."
The average height of Bradley’s players is 6-foot-6. That should be a major advantage against a team whose two tallest rostered players are 6-foot-10, and only one of those athletes played Saturday.

Bradley did have the edge in some respects, like blocks, a category the Braves led 4-1 over Drake. But the height didn’t help much more beyond that. Drake outshot and outrebounded Bradley, and the Bulldogs had the advantage in second-chance points.

"They are so big and physical and aggressive on the glass," Darian DeVries said. "If you're going to try to win a game against Bradley, you have to try to compete with them on the glass and in that rebounding and in that physicality. I thought our guys did a good job of hanging with them, staying even.

"It certainly wasn't perfect, but I thought the guys did a great job of competing on that aspect of the game."

On top of it all, the Braves' best player was also the shortest athlete on their roster. Sophomore guard Duke Deen stands at 5-foot-8, but he was leagues ahead of his taller teammates on Saturday. Deen finished with 21 points, including five makes from beyond the arc.

[Southside]

Ftr, Hickman was the Player of the Game, and lead Bradley in scoring just last game with a season-high 15 points.
https://twitter.com/BradleyUMBB/stat...78843557130240

He was. Since MoSt. He's had 4 double digit games SIUE, Stonehill, Valpo and Evansville. Against quality opponents he had 6, 2, 7, 8, 3, 4. From 3 in those games he is 6 of 30. He is struggling right now. He might bring other positives to the floor, but having him and Ville out there together right now is bad news.