Final score: Bradley 66 San Francisco 64

[BUSongwriter]

Official box score- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...boxscore/22290

Disappointing crowd of 4,918

Three possible factors for that. 1) The Santa Clara loss hurt. The hype would have been greater if the Braves were streaking into last night's game. 2) A Wednesday night in the rush to Christmas, and 3) While San Francisco is very good, it doesn't have the name recognition to get more marginal basketball fans excited.

But here's my prediction. If both teams continue to win, the Bradley-Drake game in Peoria on Jan. 8 -- though it is also a Wednesday -- will draw 8,000-plus. Unless there's a blizzard.

[Da Coach]

Three possible factors for that. 1) The Santa Clara loss hurt. The hype would have been greater if the Braves were streaking into last night's game. 2) A Wednesday night in the rush to Christmas, and 3) While San Francisco is very good, it doesn't have the name recognition to get more marginal basketball fans excited.

But here's my prediction. If both teams continue to win, the Bradley-Drake game in Peoria on Jan. 8 -- though it is also a Wednesday -- will draw 8,000-plus. Unless there's a blizzard.

The Murray State-Indiana State game last night drew only 4,132 last night in Terre Haute. That is even more of a disappointment considering it was a conference game with one of the better MVC teams, which the Sycamores won. That is an even worse drop-off for a team that had a couple 10,000+ sellouts last season, and lead the MVC in attendance through the first month and a half this season with an average of well over 5,000 per game. Their average has dropped to 4,789, which is now 3rd in the MVC behind Murray State (4,898 ) and Bradley (5,130).
Bradley's next road game is January 1 at Indiana State. Their students should be on break, and maybe that will help Bradley a little.
Indiana State is the only 2-0 team in the MVC standings as of now - https://mvc-sports.com/standings.aspx?standings=67

[Dub]

Really fun game. Well-played, high level and tough on both sides. Our team deserves sell outs. Either way, I’ll be there.

[NashvilleBU]

I feel like we have been better on the defensive end but has been making us a less efficient on the offensive end. CD is a perfect example, great D but his legs look tired on offense.

- Duke is still that guy. Zek offensive game is coming together quite nicely.

- Johnson and O have a nice bounce from the bench to give our starting guards a break. Def a fall of on point production but solid D when they are both on the court.

- Almar’s shot is starting to come together. Very dangerous. CD is always solid on both ends. My fav player.

- Darius is the lone bright spot imo for the big guys. Corey Thomas has potential but makes too many head scratching plays, same with Meta. I wouldn’t mind seeing a little bit on Linke, plays hard and rebounds well. Offense is limited but not much more of a drop off imo

[Da Coach]

Connor Dillon has not made an appearance in the last 2 games. Is it related to an increased emphasis on defense by Coach Wardle? Simple matchup concerns? Or more related to the return of Demarion Burch to the rotation?

[Tommy]

Connor Dillon has not made an appearance in the last 2 games. Is it related to an increased emphasis on defense by Coach Wardle? Simple matchup concerns? Or more related to the return of Demarion Burch to the rotation?

Dillon really wasn't getting a ton of time before and most of it was filler in my opinion. I think you're probably right about Burch being back cutting him out of the rotation for the most part.

[tomahawk chop]

Winning was the most important thing last night. I thought the margin should have been higher considering all the missed layups by Atlason, Hannah and Thomas. They need to do a better job of finishing or at the least create contact in there by their defender and get to the free throw line. We just need to continue to get better each and every game. I think Connor Dillon has not played the last few games because of his defense. Last night both Burch and Johnson hardly played because of their lack of scoring but that will change because of the schedule.

[BengalFan14]

Dillon really wasn't getting a ton of time before and most of it was filler in my opinion. I think you're probably right about Burch being back cutting him out of the rotation for the most part.

It’s hard to find minutes for Dillon. I imagine he’ll play if we need an offensive spark. I’m sure he’s frustrated but he will be needed. The conference portion of the schedule is a grind.

[BUfan14]

Nice and needed win. Tough, messy game. Big guys are still not all the way there yet for this team to reach the next level. I really want Hannah to go back to playing more 5 and making post moves. He’s quicker than most posts and think he does better working inside out. Also I still think Almar is a four ideally. Interesting we started Thomas, and I’m curious to see if that continues. Either way, Almar is the starter by minutes. I also mentioned the Linke thing in the previous game thread. I wonder if that’s being considered at all in terms of giving him a few minutes. Thomas has improved throughout the year so hopefully that continues.

I agree that Dillon will still be needed this year and, especially with our post deficiencies, you can never have enough shooters, but we are deep in them this year.

This might be the best team we’ve played and we won, so that’s a good night overall!

[bradleyfan124]

Almar is getting more consistent. However I think the other part of his game is improving also. He is making plays, getting more creative in his offense, rebounding.

[Da Coach]

Santa Clara played at San Francisco Monday night in a West Coast Conference matchup. Both teams shot very well, and the game stayed close.
San Francisco won 97-94 in overtime. - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId/401706670



San Francisco benefitted from a crazy Santa Clara turnover late in overtime when SCU player Carlos Stewart stopped in the middle of a crucial possession down 1 points with about 1 minute left in the overtime to readjust and tie his shoe It lead to a turnover and USF scored on the subsequent possession to go up by 3 points. - https://x.com/IvettaAbramyan/status/1873963309961253166