Final score: Bradley 50 SIU 48

[braves16]

We never really let their crowd really get into the game because they had a really good crowd just waiting to explode.

[houstonbrave]

Great win. I was not sure I was gonna survive that one. But geez make some free throws. Duke is in a funk-so many fouls lately.

[NashvilleBU]

Tough road win.

Mast is our closer. Deen was a ghost today. Henry was a huge X factor this game.

JD Muila for Southern is a beast defender and rebounder. Domask def 1st teamer.

[braves16]

Drake up 16 with 5 minutes to go in first half.

[Da Coach]

Drake up 16 with 5 minutes to go in first half.

Stats- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401490227

Ftr, Drake beat Belmont 79-61 in Nashville, their worst home loss this season.

Attendance today at the Banterra Center was 6,516. Not bad (they average 5,029), but well below what they expected for an ESPN national broadcast, and a highly promoted game for 1st place (Promotions: Blackout Game, Mardi Gras promotion, $7 tickets, reunion of their 2002 Sweet 16 team, and students get in free and get free drinks and pizza). They were hoping for a sellout.

[BUfan14]

Wardle has previously said that the players practice free throws in practice. The problem for college players is that there are only so many hours in the week for practice and much of practice needs to be devoted to preparing offensively and defensively for the next game. I think the real problem is that we just don't recruit great shooters.

In past years I would agree with the sentiment on shooters, but like I said we have pretty good shooters this year. Mast, Leons, Zek, Hick, Deen are all above average three point shooters. Zek was at around 50% from three a few games ago (I think that has went down a bit lately without looking), but these are guys that should shoot at least 70-75% from the line, if not closer to 80% based on how how they shoot the three. I also mentioned Jashon has gotten worse over his career. He shot 75% one year from the line. Hannah is the one guy that is probably just a bad free throw shooter even as he grows a bit, but the rest of those guys? Especially the guards? They shouldn't shoot as bad as they do.

[braves16]

Drake up 19 at half.

[Da Coach]

The line was Bradley by 1.5 points, and they win by 2 on a three pointer, plus a free throw with 4 seconds left..
As usual, the gurus at the sports books seem to know what they are doing.

[Da Coach]

Official Box score-
https://siusalukis.com/sports/mens-b...boxscore/11711

Malevy Leons did not have a good game offensively. He was 0-4 shooting, and had just 3 points. But Bradley would not have won the game without his terrific defense. A lot of what Malevy does goes unnoticed. He tied Rienk for team lead with 7 rebounds. He had 3 huge blocks, more than every other Bradley player combined. And he had 4 steals, twice as many as the rest of the team combined. And he played 31 minutes of incredible defense. Domask did get 23 points, but it took him 18 shots, and many of them were when someone else was guarding him. But, Malevy's inside presence was a major reason that SIU relied heavily on perimeter shots, which they did not shoot very well today (5-21, 23.8%).
This team is special, and Malevy is a big reason for it.
And, thank goodness Malevy plans on returning next season.

[Tommy]

Agree that the officiating was wildly inconsistent. Didn’t mind the first half where they let everything go, but they did a 180 in the 2nd. They called ticky tack fouls on Rienk and Duke and when you put our center and point guard out for an extended period of time, we’re going to struggle.
On the bright side, good teams find ways to win and we shot terribly and still found a way to beat a 20 win team on their court. These guys are proving to have heart, as well as cool heads.
One game at a time and the boys seem to understand that.
Shout out to Dubl R for pulling out the W for us!

[Bradley8792]

It sure was good to be on the winning end of a last second shot victory. Seems like we have lost several of those over the last few seasons. At what point do you just start double teaming Damask and take your chances with the rest of SIU. He single handedly kept them in the game and prevented a blowout.

[Da Coach]

Player of the Game: Rienk Mast
Play of the game: Rienk Mast
https://twitter.com/BradleyUMBB/stat...12367486091264

Replay of the game on ESPN- https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/...8-6e1e663a503a

[Tommy]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but looking back, this appears to be our longest win streak since the Hawkins' 87-88 team that won 11 straight.

[BUDUCK]

We get a first round bye at Arch Madness! Even if we lose both our last two games and SIU wins, we get at worst the 4 seed because we won both games we played against the Salukis.

[Da Coach]

Vote for Rienk-

https://twitter.com/ValleyHoops/status/1627445821728780294