Final score: Bradley 83 UIC 76

[Classof77]

I think there's only two teams in the league we would have beat today, and UIC is one of them. Glad we came away with a W.

[OhRotanes]

Definitely have been playing uninspired the past few games. Next game against SIU is huge. Which team will show up? Really need to get it it together before the tournament

[Da Coach]

Final: Bradley 83 UIC 76

https://uicflames.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

[bradleyfan124]

Let me put a couple things in perspective. UIC almost beat Misssouri State at Missouri State, a tough place to play. Plus Drake had to go to overtime to beat UIC. The people that should be going thru convulsions are SIU fans. They lost to Illinois State, the third worst team in the conference

[Da Coach]

Any team can pull an upset, especially on their home court (except it seems Evansville). So the Braves can't have another letdown.
Bradley played extremely well today on offense. And though Coach Wardle seemed disappointed with the defense, I thought the defense wasn't bad. UIC just played very well on offense, and Jace Carter is a terrific player. And not to complain about officiating, but the way it was called with every touch called a foul, seemed to benefit UIC.

Go BU
Looking to see the Braves in 1st place by Wednesday night.

[Dub]

Great result today, and a lot to be happy about. There’s still another level we can reach. Great BU crowd as well, and I have to believe that helped our guys quite a bit.

[Bball31]

When we took a double digit lead today I would switch over and watch SIU at ISU. SIU played a pretty pretty game shooting 51% from the floor and 44% on threes. ISU played similar to how they did here in Peoria. They outrebounded SIU by 11 and shot free throws very well again. If they play like they have the last two games, they will definitely give us a challenge when we go there. I also recorded the Drake at Belmont game. Drake dominated the game and looked like everyone thought they would this year. And today they played without DeVries who did not make the trip to Belmont, due to an elbow issue. Sturtz, Brodie and Penn were incredible at both ends of the floor. Drake defended their threes and took away their back cuts to the basket. The last month of the Valley race is going to be nip and tuck.

[Bradley3342]

Let me put a couple things in perspective. UIC almost beat Misssouri State at Missouri State, a tough place to play. Plus Drake had to go to overtime to beat UIC. The people that should be going thru convulsions are SIU fans. They lost to Illinois State, the third worst team in the conference

I agree with you bradleyfan124. I have been pretty negative toward this team at times also but we are still in the hunt for a regular season title. Plus if you look back at all the injuries we have had early.and our record is still pretty decent. We might even have won a couple more of those games if not for those injuries. A win on Wednesday and a lot more will jump back on the bandwagon again…..

[Da Coach]

Official attendance was 2,240. I would estimate there was somewhere around 700-800 Bradley fans, maybe more.
Official box score- https://uicflames.com/sports/mens-ba...boxscore/17597

[BUBraves2006]

One more report from Chicago:

• Today was a lot more indicative of what UIC is a team - streaky shooting, not much depth but a few decent players. The game in Peoria was both Bradley playing great and UIC playing horribly. That game almost made UIC look like a Division II school. This was more the true skill level, about an 8-12 point difference from BU for much of the game, about right for a competitive if not bottom feeder in the league.
• UIC really tried a different strategy to start the game, essentially doing everything to take Reink out of the game (fronts, double teams), which rattled us for a bit. Trouble is, if we start to hit our shots, you really can't keep playing that sort of defense against us.
• By now, guys need to understand their skillsets. While Hannah has improved a ton this year and I like his game overall, he needs to scrap the drive from the 3-point line from his repertoire. I think he got a little bit too much confidence in it against bad opponents and those who actually defend are stripping him all the time. Reink might have to stop shooting 3's - he's down under 28% now and while his shot doesn't look bad, teams aren't really respecting it and if he can't hit when he's wide open, he might need to stick to his incredibly skilled low post team and keep working on feeding teammates for open shots.
• There seemed to be a lull after we got up 15 where we just started to run the clock out. I haven't seen that much this year but obviously, it wasn't all that effective so we have to keep playing the whole way.
• While we may not have a great chance at the title at this point, I think we're closer to that than sometimes is alluded here. The Valley this year is loaded with teams that if they made the NCAA tournament could win two games and go to the Sweet 16 and also any of them could get blown out in their first game. High variance teams who probably drive most of their fans crazy, night to night.
• The fan contingent was awesome, as it usually is, for games in Chicago. It's funny that for the most part, this is really the only reason UIC is in the league (IMO), is to give an opponent to other valley schools fans to attend games where a lot of their students/alumni come from and live after school.
• Feeling proud that I helped start the first "BU! BU!" chant that overtook the arena and was even mentioned by Coach Wardle after the game ...

[BUBraves2006]

Big BU crowd behind the bench as well as straight across by me

[bigjimmy]

Things I liked: Offensive ball movement. We had 19 assists on 26 made FG's, our 2nd highest total and best percentage of the season. Only had 10 turnovers so I didn't think we forced many bad looks. FT shooting in the first 35 minutes we were 12-15. The last minute we were 5-7. Things I didn't like: Poor defense. Gave up 48 points and gave up 8 threes. Too many times we don't move our feet and either get back doored or reach in for fouls. Unlike most games our poor defense didn't cost us. At the end of the day a W is a W and we are tied for 3rd, a game out of first. Won't be easy as 6 of our last 8 games are against teams with winning records in the conference and, as we saw at home this past Wednesday and against SIU today, at ISU Red won't be easy either. It might behoove us to guard the guy who I think is the leading candidate for POY in Marcus Domask as he had 32 points against ISU. He took 25 of their 55 shots, making 13 of their 26 FG's, and was 6-12 from 3 while the rest of the team was 5-15.

[Tommy]

Sent you guys a PM. I assume the BU section is 105?

BUB2006, so sorry we missed you. We looked in section 105 and didn't see you, so maybe next time!

[Tommy]

And not to complain about officiating, but the way it was called with every touch called a foul, seemed to benefit UIC.

Couldn't agree more, Coach, and if this season is going to be one of those years where the refs want to blow the whistle every minute of every game, we are going to struggle. BW teams don't do well when the refs try to be the stars of the game. The last 3 games in particular have been terrible.

[bradleyfan124]

Couldn't agree more, Coach, and if this season is going to be one of those years where the refs want to blow the whistle every minute of every game, we are going to struggle. BW teams don't do well when the refs try to be the stars of the game. The last 3 games in particular have been terrible.

Speaking of the ref's. Lets talk about them. I remember the Valley had some pretty good ref's. Some even would ref NCAA tournament games. Hightower, Bain. Now these new refs i have never seen before. Like with the players is it coming down to who has the big money. Are we getting second rate referees?