Final score: Bradley 77 Wright State 74

[Dub]

For those of you wondering about the health of Duke Dean, he just walked out on the floor without a brace or a wrap of any type. When I asked him if he was good, he nodded very convincingly in the affirmative. I think he’s good.

[Da Coach]

No offical word... yet a source shares Duke should be good for game action.

Duke is starting. Here is the direct link to Live Stats - https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broa...html?id=558306

[Big Mike]

Wow...Great Win over a good team!
On to the Championship game Sunday!
Please work on FTs....shouldn't have been that close!

[BUfan14]

Fun game to watch. It’s weird our offense is ahead of our defense in the Wardle era. They have some shot makers though, and I expect Wright State will have a nice year watching them today.

Hannah played really well on both ends. Zek is playing the way I think he plays best. Drives and inside moves with spot up three shooting when it’s open (and a lucky banker every now and then). He creates inside the arc so well. Davis always does whatever the team needs. Scores a lot yesterday, but makes big free throws and a rebound today while playing great defense. Atlason made a nice move at the end, but he is struggling still on defense and with turnovers. Hopefully he will keep growing on that end, cause his offense is a great complement to the other starters. He also doesn’t hit free throws that well so far for a shooter. Duke struggled today. Yesterday I thought he was still a good distributor, but today he just struggled with almost everything on offense, good defensive game though and still had some nice assists. Just decision making I didn’t always think was great. I’m not worried about him.

Meta might have better stats two games ago and today, but I thought his best game was yesterday. Almost flawless. Today a few clumsy plays again, but overall his offense is finally taking advantage of his strengths. He is strong and tall. Defense and rebounding still a work in progress, but better and he had a nice game today overall I thought. Johnson is always tough even after mistakes, and I just like his game. Was that his first three attempt? It looked nice, and if he can shoot decently watch out in the future. Thomas looked decent in limited time. Dillion didn’t seem to play much for some reason. Related note: it seemed weird Timo came in for a couple minutes?? That lineup seemed really odd.

Nice win that I think will age nicely and I look forward to Sunday!

Zek just talked about how he never should have left on ESPNU, and what a family Bradley is. That is some good pub for us! Good recruiting pitch for his own players every year for Brian too. I wonder how many players publicly admit they shouldn’t have left?

[Da Coach]

Another great game by everyone who played.
Final stats- Bradley 77 Wright State 74 - https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=558306

Duke didn't have his best shooting night, 3-14 overall and 3-11 from three. But he was everywhere on defense, hounded Wright State's guards, and had 5 assists and 3 rebounds.
Zek had another terrific game- 19 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists, and he was also playing really tough defense.
Noel hurt Bradley, but in the end, Bradley defense held their guards down, and that was the big difference.
Christian Davis had only 7 points, but he also was good on defense, and had 4 rebounds and 3 assists, and was 3-3 on his FTs in the second half.
Bradley was credited with 5 steals, and all 5 were by Darius Hannah. Darius was 5-6 from the floor, 11 points and 7 rebounds. Another remarkably efficient game!
Almar Atlason played well, and had 12 points. His defense at times is why he didn't play as many minutes as the other starters and he had the only negative +/- stat of the starters (only -2), but he did make a couple key defensive stops inside, and his shooting (4-7 overall, 2-4 from three) was big and it keeps the defense spread out which helps everyone else..
Ahmet Jonovic had 11 points (5-6) and 7 rebounds off the bench, and the other sub who chipped in was freshman Jaquan Johnson with 5 points and some effective defense, especially when he was giving Duke a little rest.

If Bradley can keep playing complete games like this, they will win the MVC and the tournament.
Enjoy the beach and bring on Middle Tennessee Sunday (4:00 pm).

[bigjimmy]

To give up over 50% from the field, 9-19 from 3 and Duke was just 3-14 and we can still win is a testament to how we just have a pretty complete team. Great game from Zek and Almar, Meta and Darius also played well. Davis was strong in the second half. We played our best defense in the last 2:00 of the game which led to the W. Get some rest boys and go get you a championship on Sunday!

[Da Coach]

Bradley's shooting percentage has been consistently good this season. After 6 games, they are shooting 52.2% overall (167-320), and 43.7% from three (59-135). Their overall FG% of 52.2% ranks inside the top 25 in NCAA Division I, and their 3 point FG% of 43.7% ranks inside the Top 10.

Wright State was picked 5th in the Horizon League Preseason poll. Because they lost their coach (Scott Nagy now at SIU) and several key players, I think they were underrated by the poll voters. Wright State big man Brandon Noel was the Preseason Player of the Year, and they have some nice shooters to go along with his inside game. Their depth appears to be their shortcoming, but I think they are a good enough team to finish higher, and possibly win the league. A really nice win by Bradley.

[Tommy]

This team is so well rounded, they’re going to be a matchup nightmare for anyone they play. The level of distribution with points and rebounds is pretty astounding (points more than rebounds). BW reaching into the bench as deep as he did tonight is a testament to his trust in these players.
MTS will be a similar, tough matchup tomorrow. I hope we can get a big lead and keep it so I don’t feel like throwing up through the whole game like today!
Great crowd tonight! BU really shows well! Coach, disappointed you’re not here!

[Da Coach]

This team is so well rounded, they’re going to be a matchup nightmare for anyone they play. The level of distribution with points and rebounds is pretty astounding (points more than rebounds). BW reaching into the bench as deep as he did tonight is a testament to his trust in these players.
MTS will be a similar, tough matchup tomorrow. I hope we can get a big lead and keep it so I don’t feel like throwing up through the whole game like today!
Great crowd tonight! BU really shows well! Coach, disappointed you’re not here!

I'm wishing I was.
But I'm working on a trip Henderson, Nevada next month for the Santa Clara game.

[Tommy]

I'm wishing I was.
But I'm working on a trip Henderson, Nevada next month for the Santa Clara game.

Nice! You don’t miss many!

[Tommy]

FYI, BU crowd was what pushed them over tonight! Crowd was loud and into it, and we showed better than anyone!

[Brave97]

If this team can play consistently at this level, we are in for one hell of a ride. Sunday will tell us for sure

[Nashville Cat]

Is it my imagination or is Meta clearly better this year? A development success story in the making.

[Da Coach]

Is it my imagination or is Meta clearly better this year? A development success story in the making.

Better and a little more consistent. He still needs to do better holding onto the ball. He tends to get the ball knocked away on possessions and when rebounding. Part of the problem is he holds the ball too low where guards can easily slap at it.

[tomahawk chop]

I thought we really played good today and in the second half we appeared to guard even better unfortunately Wright St. made a lot of tough shots against our defense. Obviously Duke has to play better but Atlason and Meta have both improved from last season. We need to take into account that this is only the second season of D-1 they have played plus it also is early in this season. Zek and Hannah were great today and it was nice to see Cory come in and contribute immediately. Bully made his first 3 point shot which was also important and that shot late from behind the basket by Atlason was amazing. Rest up and get ready to win a championship Sunday BRAVES.