Final score: Bradley 62 SIU 52

[Da Coach]

Bradley's next game is against the only MVC team they have not played yet this season, Southern Illinois.
Bradley is 15-8, and 8-4 in the MVC, and tied for 3rd behind SIU (17-6, 9-3) and Belmont (16-7, 9-3).
Bradley is 11-1 at home, the only loss was to Belmont. SIU is 6-4 in road games, and 3-3 in MVC road games (won at UE, Murray, and INSU, lost at UNI, MO St, and Illinois St).
Southern is coming off a 72-66 loss at Illinois State Sunday, despite a career high 32 points from their leading scorer Marcus Domask. Illinois State was playing without their top scorer Darius Burford.-
https://siusalukis.com/news/2023/1/2...ois-state.aspx

MVC Standings-


The game is on ESPN+ - https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/...5-bd37372350bd
Live stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Chat room- www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Radio/audio stream- WMBD 1470 AM or 100.3 FM
Tickets- https://offer.fevo.com/bradley-brave...1tq-e79eb0a%2F
Ticketmaster- https://www.ticketmaster.com/bradley...005D3C96A01427

Bradley split the 2 games against SIU last season, winning in Peoria on Jan. 22, 70-62. Rienk Mast had 20 points, and Terry Roberts had 18.-
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2022/...ois-70-62.aspx
Then Bradley lost at SIU on Feb. 15, 65-57 in a game that Bradley shot poorly and trailed by as much as 25 points. Bradley rallied late and held SIU to 7 points over the final 10 minutes to cut the lead to 5, but ran out of time.-
https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...boxscore/21099

This is SIU's 4th season under Head Coach Bryan Mullins. Last season they finished 9-9 in the MVC, and in 6th place. And in 2020-21, they finished 5-13, and in 9th place.
Schedule/results- https://siusalukis.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://siusalukis.com/sports/mens-b.../roster?view=1
Stats- https://siusalukis.com/sports/mens-b.../stats/2022-23

SIU is lead by 6'6" senior Marcus Domask (17.6 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.6 apg, 32.4% from three) and 6'1" senior Lance Jones (14.1 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.2 apg, 29.2% from three). No other player averages more than 7 points per game. The only other player who has started every game is 6'1" senior Xavier Johnson, a transfer from George Mason University (7.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 2.7 apg, 39.7% from three, tops on the team).
They have a number of role players who don't score much, but seem to come through when needed- Jawaun Newton, a 6'3" fifth-year senior guard who transferred from Evansville (5.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 30.4% from three), Clarence Rupert, 6'8" sophomore forward who transferred from St. Peter's (5.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg), Dalton Banks, a 6'2" junior guard (4.3 ppg, 35.9% from three), Troy D'Amico, a 6'7" sophomore forward(3.4 ppg), and Trent Brown, a 6'2" senior guard (3.0 ppg, 30.2% from three).
As a team, SIU shoots 31.8% from three, which ranks 10th in the MVC. They are the top defensive team in MVC games, yielding 60.7 ppg, Bradley is averaging 63.5 ppg on defense in MVC games.
Offensively, in MVC games, SIU averages 66.5 ppg, which ranks 8th in the MVC. Bradley leads with an average of 73.3 ppg.

Bradley stats- https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/s...2/pdf/cume.pdf
MVC stats- https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...Game_Stats.pdf

[Da Coach]

This is the latest "Biggest Game of the Year".

[bradleyfan124]

This is the latest "Biggest Game of the Year".

I hope we can get a huge crowd there Wednesday. The last 2 home games have been great.

[Classof77]

This is the latest "Biggest Game of the Year".

I'm reminded of a line from one segment of the movie Buster Scruggs, said by the grizzled old cowboy as the Indians began their second charge. "Well, this'll tell the tale."

[Nashville Cat]

Coming up from Nashville, can we get 5k fans?

[Da Coach]

Coming up from Nashville, can we get 5k fans?

The last home game topped 6,000 (6,046), but that was Illinois State. But I'd like to see above 5,000.

https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2022-23/illinois-state/boxscore/21523

[BradleyBiz]

We should have no problem topping 5k. It should be closer to 6k. Could top ISU attendance depending on the walk up crowd.

[Classof77]

I hope whatever Bradley did to get so many students at the ISU game is done again. It was great having so many in my area.

[battlebasset]

ISU beating SIU is making me cautiously optimistic. But the turnovers and free throw situation helps to mitigate that.

[Da Coach]

Put Zek on Lance Jones, and Malevy on Domask. If you can limit those 2 leading scorers, they can be beaten.

[Tommy]

Put Zek on Lance Jones, and Malevy on Domask. If you can limit those 2 leading scorers, they can be beaten.

That is exactly how they need to play it. As much as I hear about Hickman being our best defender, from my eye test I think Zek is better and he's certainly longer. I think if we keep Domask under 20 we win this one, but we've got to execute on the offensive end and SIU isn't exactly going to give us anything!

[BUfan14]

I'm reminded of a line from one segment of the movie Buster Scruggs, said by the grizzled old cowboy as the Indians began their second charge. "Well, this'll tell the tale."

As long as we don’t lose in a big game again and have to say this to other Bradley fans…

[Crusenswings]

That is exactly how they need to play it. As much as I hear about Hickman being our best defender, from my eye test I think Zek is better and he's certainly longer. I think if we keep Domask under 20 we win this one, but we've got to execute on the offensive end and SIU isn't exactly going to give us anything!

I would say Zek is our best on ball defender, but far from even average as an off ball defender.

[Bball31]

I think for the Bradley to win, they must have minimum turnovers, get more steals than we’ve been getting and shoot better at the free throw line. If they can do that, they should come out of the game with a win.

[Go_Braves]

Did anyone catch what ISU head coach Ryan Pedon stated - shared on what it takes to defeat Southern Illinois - in the January 30th Pantagraph Sports article ? Here is what Ryan shared.

"The team we beat tonight is a team I have great respect for. It's a blue-collar team and there's a reason they're at the top of the league," said ISU head coach Ryan Pedon. "The brand of basketball that is required to beat them is you have be tough and resilient and you have to be very disciplined when you play them, offensively and defensively. It requires a certain response, and our players responded the right way."

It is going to take a huge strong performance from everyone to defeat Southern Illinois. Southern Illinois is going to throw everything into this game including the kitchen sink. Southern Illinois will do anything to keep from loosing 2 in a row. The first 10 minutes of this game is going to tell a lot. GO BRADLEY !!!