Final score: Bradley 70 SIU 69

[BUfan14]

Wow holy smokes, my word I have never seen BU come back in a game like this one! Was this a record comeback for the program? An all-timer? It was insane, I could not believe they pulled this off!

What was weird to me is, ya we made a lot of shots, but it never felt like an offensive barrage. We just slowly chipped away. Duke and Hick made so many smart decisions along the way and are so much better in that regard this year.

[BUfan14]

Ho boy, the board is going to be fun tonight. I'll check back in after the meltdown has ended...

This didn't age well lol!!!

Just meant SIU’s meltdown right? And it was fun.

[Big Mike]

Would like to be a fly on the wall in SIU's locker after that....

[bigjimmy]

In the last 8 1/2 minutes of the game we outscored them 21-6. Almost a carbon copy of the ISU Blue game as we played a shit first half and almost made it all the way back and I think we would have if Conner hadn't rolled his ankle. Duke, Darius and Conner all had 15 points with Conner scoring 8 of out last 13 points. With Duke having the other 5. In the 2nd half we shot 16-23 overall, 5-7 from 3 and 9-11 from the FT line. SIU hit their first 6 shots and finished close to 60% from the field. We held them in the 2nd half to 8-23 overall, 1-7 from 3. Duke also had 6 assists and tied for the lead with 5 rebounds. An unreal win. This team has so much heart! Wish they didn't have to go down by 23 before showing it. I guess that's why it's not a 20 minute game. WOO BOY!

[Da Coach]

Haha! One of the biggest comebacks I’ve ever seen. What a game

Yes, it is officially the biggest comeback win in history, according to Dave Snell. They were down 23 points with 19:36 left in the 2nd half.
SIU scored only 1 basket and 2 FTs in the final 7:22 of the game. Bradley outscored SIU 16-4 in the final 7:22 minutes.

Final score- Bradley 70 SIU 69- https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=482711
Duke Deen is the Player of the Game- tied for team lead with Hickman and Hannah with 15 points, 6-8 overall, 3-5 from three, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, and ZERO turnovers.

Other candidates-
Hickman had 15 points, 12 of them in the 2nd half; he ended up 6-12 overall and 2-4 from three. He scored the 3pointer to tie the game, then he made 2 FTs to put Bradley ahead 69-67, and then made the free throw to make it 70-67 and seal the win.
Darius Hannah had a good game- 15 points, 7-9 from the floor, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals.
Malevy Leon had 10 points, 5 rebounds, and terrific defense in the 2nd half when a lot of players might have backed off a bit being down 20+ points.
Demarion Burch- 7 points, 3 rebounds
Almar Atlason was 4-4 on free throws and Kyle Thomas and Cade Hardtke () each had 2 points- Bradley needed everyone of those points.

7 wins in a row, 1 game out of 1st place
MVC Standings- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ngs/_/group/18

[Bradley3342]

Now that was fun! Still can’t believe what I just saw! Would be great to get a huge crowd to the game on Saturday and keep the win streak going

[Tommy]

Belmont about to lose their first home game which puts us alone in 4th place, tied with Murray St. Keep winning, Braves!

[Da Coach]

Bradley is in a 2-way tie for 3rd place with Murray State.- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ngs/_/group/18

It is essential that Bradley wins these next 2 home games against Belmont and Murray State. They only play Belmont once, so this upcoming game Saturday determines the tiebreaker in the event Bradley and Belmont end up tied for 3rd or 4th place, and could determine whether Bradley gets a bye in the opening round of the MVC tournament.
And the same for next Wednesday's home game against Murray State. Since Bradley lost at Murray State, they need to win to prevent Murray from getting the tiebreaker.- https://mvc-sports.com/documents/202...eaker_2023.pdf

[basketball nut]

This game was absolutely amazing. Never got the feeling they were rushing anything but played solid defense and started playing smart.
Now let's get 2 home wins and head to Indiana State and show them we are better then we played here. As Big Jimmy said I think if Connor hadn't got hurt we would have completed that comeback also.

[bradleyfan124]

What a great game.Too bad the ESPN announcers missed half of the second half having a love fest with a Southern Broadcaster

[battlebasset]

What a great game.Too bad the ESPN announcers missed half of the second half having a love fest with a Southern Broadcaster

Thought the same thing. That's why I turn them down and listen to WMBD. Getting it to sync up is annoying, however. Not sure why, when the WMBD stream is about 20 seconds ahead of the ESPN+ stream, that they can't delay it a bit longer to keep the visual and the audio more in sync.

[️ Fanatic]

This game was absolutely amazing. Never got the feeling they were rushing anything but played solid defense and started playing smart.
As Big Jimmy said I think if Connor hadn't got hurt we would have completed that comeback also.

What a game / What a 2nd half effort! One key observation that helped with our win.... Xavier Johnson was definitely not as mobile as he was even in the first half. He had some injury that he gutted and played through -- he had a "quiet 18 points" last night, yet during those long periods when SIU didn't score, he is normally their offense and he stopped driving (except for the last two SIU possessions of which he was defended then fouled for 2-Free Throws).

Next game is BIG (one at a time!). Go Braves!!

[Stryker]

Thought the same thing. That's why I turn them down and listen to WMBD. Getting it to sync up is annoying, however. Not sure why, when the WMBD stream is about 20 seconds ahead of the ESPN+ stream, that they can't delay it a bit longer to keep the visual and the audio more in sync.

Concur. Would be nice if the radio was just a bit further delayed.

[Da Coach]

Official box score- https://siusalukis.com/sports/mens-b...boxscore/12431

Attendance was 4,614
Some interesting stats- Bradley shot 9-27 (33.3%) in the first half, and 16-23 (69.6%) in the 2nd half. Overall they ended up shooting 50% (25-50)
Three pointers were similar- Bradley shot 2-8 in the first half, and 5-7 in the second half. after the horrible start, Bradley ends up 47% (7-15) from three.
SIU's stats were the reverse- they shot 59.3% in the first half, and only 34.8% in the 2nd half. They were 7-14 from three in the first half, and just 1-7 in the 2nd half.

[pfcmsh]

Congratulations to the Braves on a historic victory! I always worry about a 2nd half slump, but that was not the case at all. We came back from a 23 point deficit to win on the road. I think that is heart and character. So happy for the team!! Go Braves!