Final score: UNI 83 Bradley 69

[BRADLEY FAN 49]

We won't beat a DII school if our three best players go 3-for-18 with 6 total points.

This is totally a confidence thing and as horrendous as this feels, this switch could literally flip next game. At this point all that matters is get flying again by STL and stay in the top 4. I still think at our best we are still the best in the conference. But we are light years away from that level right now.

[Bradley3342]

My players of the game....Bully, Meta and Burch!

Agreed! Only ones on the court who hustled and showed any heart out there. Especially Johnson and Burch.

[Bradley8792]

Johnson and Burch did a nice job of building their resumes today.

[basketball nut]

I thought Vander Knapp showed some good hustle and was trying to rebound. Atlason also played hard. Now, admittedly, they need to play better defense but today the starters weren't playing great defense either.
It might be time to change up the starters. I still like the hustle of Davis but Hannah is doing to much standing around.

[BengalFan14]

A problem is the food chain of shots. Maybe that needs to change.

[tomahawk chop]

My next game lineup would be:

Johnson
Deen
Zek
Davis
Hannah

Burch, Meta with Thomas and Dillon sprinkled in.

We aren’t a good post team so lean into small ball and put Darius back where he is best (in the post). Davis is also one of our better rebounders and has looked fine at the four in limited minutes. Johnson rewarded for being our toughest player lately and another ball handler hopefully helps turnovers. Meta and Burch would play a lot too, with Thomas and Dillon sprinkled in on good nights for them.

You are starting 3 guys that have not done anything these last 2 games. Burch deserves to start and Meta too.

[houstonbrave]

Ok I like Zek and I am glad he came back but he does things every game tat make me crazy. He invariably throws a lackadaisical pass they gets stolen. The pass at the beginning of the second half today epitomized the whole darn game. It was the first possession when we needed to start to fight back and he throws a weak pass which is picked off for a breakaway basket. Just unforgivable.

Bully was great and showed fight and showed he cared. Duke you were preseason player of the year and the freshman deserves to start in front of you.

id take Burch in front of Zek right now. Meta looked good a dumb foul and a bad call but he looks much better. My favorite play of his was the first basket of the game where he took a 5-7 foot shot. I’ve been hoping he would start that- his stroke is good.

Then Darius, Christian and Al can fight it out for the last two starting spots. It’s time to show you want it and today it did not look like you wanted it. It’s your senior season- you need to get after it.

We all hate a loss but we expect a fight and our seniors showed no fight.

[BUfan14]

You are starting 3 guys that have not done anything these last 2 games. Burch deserves to start and Meta too.

The only reason I had Meta not starting was because Hannah really needs to play the five (he was much better last year than this year at impacting different aspects of the game). We also are not a great post team no matter who is in there, so to maximize our individual and team strengths start Hannah at the five. Meta still plays a lot.

In terms of our three senior leaders, I really don’t think we are going anywhere without them. Like it or not, we painted ourselves in a corner and said this is what we are going with in recruiting. Burch has played one good game, and has struggled, albeit in limited time and with injuries, most of the year. I think it’s a little premature to start him over our seniors.

If you want to bench one of them to send a message, I’d start with Zek. His lack of focus and defensive effort have been bad for a while. Duke is not playing well, but I don’t think it’s lack of effort. Hannah is just trying to be something he’s not in my opinion and is out of position and getting in foul trouble because of it.

[bigjimmy]

On defense we're doing a poor job of doing a basic thing, moving our feet. Don't move your feet and you start reaching, committing fouls. We're also doing a poor job of fighting through screens. Which in turn is giving up way too many open shots. The last 4 games we've given up 10+3's in each game and in the last 2 games UIC and UNI combined to shoot 62-112 overall. Just have to hope the last 2 games isn't a trend. But it's on offense where I have my greatest concerns. Our last 5 games we've had 10 or more turnovers, the last 2 we've had 15 and 14. Hard to go on any runs when you don't get up any shots. Also when the guy, who is supposed to be the one that instigates the offense has shot in 2025 just 35-108 overall, 22-74 from 3 and in the last 3 games is shooting just 6-29 overall, 2-15 from 3, the rest of the offense bogs down. Duke Dean has given his all to this program but when he struggles we struggle. It results in no movement and poor spacing. You just hope that Duke can figure it out real soon. If he does watch how well we'll play. We just have to fight through this.

[64NIT]

Did Bradley's starters forget to show up to the game? Seems the team is in a bit of a funk, now. I hope they haven't peaked too soon.

[LittleBrave]

It's going to be tremendous karma if running up the score and leaving your starters in up 30 comes back to bite UNI. You better believe the players and coaching staff will remember this - last game of the season is in Peoria against these guys.

BW has done the same, and would be doing the same if we were up by that much. There is mutual respect between these 2 teams/head coaches, as there should be.

[LittleBrave]

Is it me, or is the reason the last 2 teams have buried us from deep is our overplay on the perimeter? Expending so much energy and then ulitimately leaving a guy wide open for 3. This reminds me of a couple of yrs during the JL era and a couple during the nightmarish Geno era. Wardle needs to go back to tape from the Arch Madness victory vs Valpo to run our offense similar to that. GOTTA switch things up - at least TRY!

[LittleBrave]

Let's suit up Zobrist (either Matthew or his father) next game. Suddenly our most reliable shooter from outside is Burch, who I've always thought (even last yr) has a really nice stroke from behind the arc. The 0-show is 10-13 (a sizzling 77%) on 3-pt'ers this season.
Zek and CD are so off on their 3s lately.

[egib52]

Ok I like Zek and I am glad he came back but he does things every game tat make me crazy. He invariably throws a lackadaisical pass they gets stolen. The pass at the beginning of the second half today epitomized the whole darn game. It was the first possession when we needed to start to fight back and he throws a weak pass which is picked off for a breakaway basket. Just unforgivable.

I also am glad he came back, but I wonder if he has taken the wrong approach. He is a talented kid, but I feel like this season he has just sat back expecting his talent to outshine everyone else. He should have come in hungry with the goals of being Valley POY and DPOY. I just feel like he coasts through most games. He has the size to be a top of the league defender on the perimeter and the offense to be our go to scorer.

I think BW needs to send a message now regardless of who we are playing. The kids that want to play the hardest, play the most. I would also have our 3 point shooters getting a ton of shots up to find their strokes again.

[Da Coach]

Let's suit up Zobrist (either Matthew or his father) next game. Suddenly our most reliable shooter from outside is Burch, who I've always thought (even last yr) has a really nice stroke from behind the arc. The 0-show is 10-13 (a sizzling 77%) on 3-pt'ers this season.
Zek and CD are so off on their 3s lately.

Even with their 3-point shooting woes in the last several games, Bradley is still ranked 2nd in the country in 3-point percentage.
Only Memphis has a better percentage. - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...alPct/dir/desc

Yes, Demarion has the highest percentage on the team. He is 10-13 for 76.9%, albeit on a low number of shots.
But here is an uncommon statistic... The national average percentage for 3-point shooting in the NCAA varies each year between 34% and 35%.
But, every player on Bradley who has made at least one three pointer is shooting 36.6% or better. - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...alPct/dir/desc

I'd like to see Bradley get back to working for good three point opportunities, instead of the excessive passing and trying to get the ball inside or settling for a bad shot. It isn't working and leads to turnovers. Plus, we need a couple players to crash the boards and go for offensive rebounds. After missed shots, Bradley seems in a big hurry to retreat on defense when there are a lot of long rebounds that could be contended for. Thus, Bradley is one of the worst teams in the MVC in offensive rebounding.