Final score: Bradley 95 Belmont 72

[Da Coach]

Next game: Belmont (11-7, 4-3) at Bradley (13-5, 5-2), Saturday, Jan. 20, 1:00 pm
Bradley now has won 7 straight after their come from behind win at SIU. They are 7-2 at home, with losses to Indiana State and Cleveland State.
Belmont has lost their last 2 games- 94-64 at Indiana State last Saturday, and 83-72 at home to UNI this past Wednesday.
This is the only game this season against Belmont. Bradley will not play in Nashville this year.
Bradley lost both games last year, losing 63-60 in Nashville when three different Bradley 3-pointers rimmed out in the final 10 seconds (2 by Deen,1 by Hickman), then losing 78-76 in Peoria on a Ben Sheppard shot with 3 seconds left - https://belmontbruins.com/sports/men...-university/60

For the 3rd Saturday in a row, Bradley will appear on the MVC-TV Network- NBCSports Chicago and Bally Sports Network.
They will also be on ESPN+ with blackouts possible in the areas served by the cable TV networks.

Streamed on ESPN+ - https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player...e-4474f4a1b5f4
Chat room- https://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Live stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Radio- www.wmbdradio.com

Belmont was picked 5th in the MVC Preseason Poll, just 2 points behind #4 Indiana State- https://mvc-sports.com/news/2023/10/...-favorite.aspx
They are now 4-3 in the MVC and in a 3-way tie for 5th place with SIU and UNI- Standings- https://mvc-sports.com/standings.aspx?standings=50
Bradley is 5-2 in the MVC and tied with Murray State for 3rd place behind Drake and Indiana State.
Last year, they finished 14-6 in their first season in the MVC, tied for 3rd place- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../2023/group/18

Schedule/results- https://belmontbruins.com/sports/men...tball/schedule
Roster- https://belmontbruins.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats- https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/s...3/pdf/cume.pdf

Despite a major roster overhaul from last year's team that was one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country, this year's Belmont team is still a very good shooting team. They shoot 48.2% overall (3rd in the MVC) and they shoot 37.4% from three (3rd in the MVC). They average 78.2 ppg on offense (3rd in MVC), but they are dead last (12th) in the MVC with yielding 78.0 ppg.
Bradley averages 74.4 ppg on offense (6th), and yields 66.2 ppg on defense (3rd).
MVC Stats- https://mvc-sports.com/documents/202..._MBB_Stats.pdf
Bradley stats- https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/s...3/pdf/cume.pdf

[tomahawk chop]

We owe them a beatdown after last season especially after their winning basket came after their player travelled and the official let it go.

[bigjimmy]

If we want a chance at repeating as MO Valley regular season champions this game and the next home game against Murray State are must wins to keep pace with Drake and ISU Blue.

[Da Coach]

It seems like one change this year has been the absence of halftime acts. They have been replaced at a few performances by dance troupes, youth basketball teams, etc. So far, I have not heard a single complaint. I think it means that few, if any, fans ever paid much attention to the paid halftime acts in past seasons.
I never thought that any of those past halftime acts ever increased attendance, other than maybe the first couple appearances by Quick Change. After those first few years, I doubt Quick Change drew any extra fans, and they charged thousands of dollars to appear.
So I am OK with Bradley saving their money and continuing to get no-cost halftime acts like the ones we've seen this year.

But one performance that might be worth watching tomorrow is the anthem singer. Yvonne Murphy is a Bradley grad student from a small village just outside Peoria's sister city of Clonmel. Ireland. She is a gifted vocalist, and has done the anthem a few times before. She is also a very bright student, who is now a grad student pursuing a Masters in business and cybersecurity.
She spent her first few years at Bradley living with a host family that our family is friends with, so we have gotten to know her and she is a delightful young lady.
Here was a Phil Luciano article (when he still had a job at the PJ Star) about Yvonne from 3 years ago - https://www.pjstar.com/story/news/co...ic/6784007002/
And one from the Bradley magazine- https://www.bradley.edu/heres-the-la...c-05cf5702594e

[Dub]

I miss the halftime acts somewhat, but the guests I bring miss them more. It is often asked of me, “what’s the halftime act?” This? Back in the Les era heyday, the halftime acts were strong and the kids left with giveaways almost every time. But I’m sure it was very expensive. It’s likely a relic of the past, financially. If we had more students there, I believe someone could engineer a suitable /free alternative by entertaining us with frat vs sorority challenges and games, etc. I’m there for the game and to hang out with people I love, so that’s enough for me. But I do think there was value there for a lot of people.

[Da Coach]

Belmont is without starting point guard and their 3rd leading scorer Ja'Kobi Gillespie (16.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.1 apg) due to injury to his left wrist.
He has missed their last 4 games. They beat Drake and Illinois State without Gillespie, but now have lost their last 2 games to Indiana State and UNI.

[braves16]

Good finish to the first half, now just need to keep it up in the 2nd half.
I see ISUred is up 9 over Missouri State at half in Springfield.

[Da Coach]

Bradley scores the final 9 points of the 1st half to take a 44-34 lead at Halftime
Stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

Both teams shot the ball well, Belmont 50% (13-26) and Bradley 53.3% (16-30).

[Tommy]

Ready to hear the arguments for how Duke Deen isn’t tall enough or good enough for D1 now.

[OhRotanes]

That was a crazy amount of 3s they hit today. 18/31

[BUfan14]

As I’ve said all year our top 7 are impressive and Thomas is becoming a nice 8th piece, kind of surpassing Meta for now. This was a great offensive showing. That team can shoot too though, as we didn’t play bad defensively and they still made a lot of threes and scored in the 70s. Nice to see Atlason play better in the second half, as he has been a little off lately.

As I’ve also said all year, our guards have to stay healthy. Duke, Connor, and Burch are a nice set of guards. But please stay healthy!

Great game Bradley!

[BUfan14]

Ready to hear the arguments for how Duke Deen isn’t tall enough or good enough for D1 now.

I think for me I always viewed Duke as a very valuable piece and a big time scorer when he’s on, but I wasn’t sure he didn’t need challenged as a starting point guard for us. What has really impressed me during this streak is not the scoring (I knew he could do that), it has been his enormous improvement as a ball handler, passer, and even defender. Even early this year he wasn’t nearly as advanced in those areas. He’s almost a completely different player now with all those areas improving . He’s become an all around player and a true point guard. The assist and turnover numbers he’s put up have been impressive and all league like lately. If he keeps it up, look out. If anything came of the Hickman injury, other than exposing how important guard health is for us, it might have been Duke finding another gear and style of play.

[Da Coach]

What a spanking Bradley put on Belmont, especially in the 2nd half. Bradley 18-31 from three (58.1%), 36-59 overall (61.0%)
Final score: Bradley 95 Belmont 72- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

There were a number of terrific performances by Bradley, but the Player of the Game has to be Duke Deen. Deen had 25 points, and he had 3 rebounds, 7 assists, and only 1 turnover in 32 minutes. Duke was electrifying with shots from everywhere on the floor, some were off-balance, and a couple were well behind the 3-point line. He was 10-14 overall, and 7-10 from three.
Malevy Leon was 6-8 overall, and 5-6 from three for 17 points.
Christian Davis had an awesome 2nd half- 14 points, 12 of them in the 2nd half, on 6-9 shooting, 2-4 from three.
Connor Hickman was his usual solid self- 13 points, 4 assists
Great games also by Atlason (6 pts, 3 reb, 2 assts, and 2 steals), Thomas (6 pts, 2 reb, and 2 steals), Hannah (9 & 7), Burch (5 pts, 3 reb, 3 asst), and everyone else.

Bradley is now 14-4, and 6-2 in the MVC
Next game: Wednesday, Jan. 24, 7 pm

[BUBraves2006]

14-2 with Hickman in the lineup. We have four really good players and if 1 is off, we are fine. If two are off or you have an injury, then we aren't as good. But you could say that about basically every team in the Valley. Belmont sure would be even better with Gillespie.

Game after game after game ... The depth doesn't matter if our top 8 is as good as it is. Enjoy the ride. It's a lot of fun.

[LittleBrave]

Wow!!! That was a very entertaining game and we were clicking on all cylinders on offense!!
Great to see Malevy stroke the 3, swishing 4 of his 5 three makes.
Great contributions by Thomas, Almar (especially on D), Burch, and CD off the bench!
And DUKE! What a tear he's been on lately!

A win this week vs Murray and we go to 15-5, which would match the best mark at this point since the great 1995-'96 MVC Championship team.

Let's take care of biz this week!!!