Next game- Bradley vs. Murray State, Saturday, Feb. 22, 5:00 pm- Red-Out Game- Wear Red!

[Da Coach]

Next game- Bradley (21-7, 12-5) vs. Murray State (14-14, 8-9), Saturday, Feb. 22, 5:00 pm
Note the start time for this game is 5:00 pm, an unusual start time.

This game is a Red Out '25 game. The first 10,000 fans receive a rally towel. Wear Red!
RED OUT '25 T-shirts will be available for sale ($12.00)



The game is on ESPNU and on ESPN+ - https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player...6-37b2d88bb37a
It is also on WMBD Radio- https://wmbdradio.com/player/?playerID=2045
Live Stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Chat Room- https://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Good tickets still available- https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/070061309A421EF7

This is the 3rd season that Murray State has competed in the MVC. In each of the previous 2 MVC seasons, Bradley finished 1-1 against Murray State, winning both home games and losing both games at Murray State.
In Bradley's history, they have played Murray State 19 times, and they have a record of 10-9 against them.
This season, Bradley defeated Murray State at the CFSB Center in Murray, KY, back on Jan. 18, 74-61.
Recap- https://bradleybraves.com/news/2025/...ray-state.aspx
Box score- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2024-25/murray-state/boxscore/22354

MVC Standings after 17 games - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...ngs/_/group/18

Murray State is 14-14 overall and 8-9 in MVC games. They are 6-6 in road games this season.
They are coming off two games that were scheduled to be home games, but because of power outages in Murray, Kentucky related to severe winter storms, the last 2 games were played away from their home arena.
They lost to Northern Iowa last Monday in a game played on Belmont's campus in Nashville, 67-74.
And they beat Southern Illinois 62-60 on Wednesday in a game that was moved to SIU's home arena in Carbondale,
They are the only team other than Bradley to beat Drake in Des Moines this season.
Bradley is 11-3 overall in home games, and 5-3 in MVC home games.
Murray State was picked 3rd in the MVC Preseason poll - https://mvc-sports.com/news/2024/10/...-favorite.aspx
Starting guard JaCobi Wood (13.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 4.8 apg, & 40.1% 3pt FG%) was an MVC Preseason 1st team pick
And forward Nick Ellington (9.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg) was a Preseason 2nd team pick.
The 3 other starters are:
A.J. Ferguson (11.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 39.8 3pt FG%)
Kylen Milton (11.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg)
Terrence Harcum (11.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg)

Murray State historical record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...ray-state/men/
Schedule/results- https://goracers.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://goracers.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats- https://goracers.com/sports/mens-bas.../stats/2024-25

Bradley stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats
MVC sortable stats-
Team- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...eam/_/group/18
Individual- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...yer/_/group/18

[Fetz86]

I'll be there, first time since the sell out regular season title win over Drake.

[LittleBrave]

I'll be there, first time since the sell out regular season title win over Drake.

Nice! I'm coming down from northern Chicago area...will be my 2nd trip to PIA this year, which I haven't done since I was in middle school!
Tommy, Dub, and I will be rockin' RED and raisin' the ROOF of Carver!

[LittleBrave]

I foresee Zek and Duke both getting 20+, and Hannah with a couple H-Bomb KaBOOMers!

[Da Coach]

Red Out tomorrow- https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1892982783737225596

Still good tickets left - https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/070061309A421EF7
Free Bradley Rally Towels!

[Steve Zalutsky]

The Red out seems amazing and I hope Carver Arena has a big crowd! We need the W to keep pace with Northern Iowa for the 2nd seed !!!! I'm unable to go today, but if anyone knows where the Bradley section will be in Valparaiso, please let me know! I'm planning on attending my first ever away game to root for our Beloved Bradley Braves!!!!!

[bigjimmy]

Pretty cool visual of the red towels on the seats, though I wish they had put them on all of the seats.

[Big Mike]

Wow...what a finish....unbelievable!

[houstonbrave]

That was a fight. Terrible start to both halves and Zek did not show up, but Bully and Duke carried us. Good game for Darius, Christian and Meta as well.

[Tommy]

45 fouls, 32,FT’s to 18, even BW mentioned that maybe the refs don’t like him. It’s really getting ridiculous with the foul calling, but somehow this team still found a way to overcome it. Seemed like they had most our starting lineup in foul trouble after the first half!
Came home and watched the final two minutes and the broadcast doesn’t do justice to just how loud it was. Great crowd, probably the best one we’ve had for noise since we beat Drake to win the conference in the season finale.
Great job overcoming adversity, boys! Now on to Valpo and close it out against UNI!
Let’s hope the foul calling tails off in the tournament. If the refs let us play, I think we’ll roll over the conference.

[yoda]

What a great game for the refs, surely they set some records today - they make the game so enjoyable…

[Da Coach]

Just got home after the game, and I can't recall a game as emotionally draining as tonight's was. Somehow this team needs to figure out why they so often allow opponents to dominate them at the start of the 1st or 2nd half, or both, as was the case tonight. But miraculously, in both cases, Bradley responded and fought back and made up the huge deficits.
Final score in overtime- Bradley 85 Murray State 83 - https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

Impressions- Murray State has a bunch of talented players, and they played extremely well tonight. It is hard to figure out how they have such a mediocre record (14-15, 8-10). I have to wonder if there are chemistry or attitude issues, or if there are some players who aren't so coachable.
And Bradley players just don't quit. A lot of teams would have gotten down on themselves with those large deficits, or when the officiating doesn't seem to go there way, but this team just keeps battling.

The Heroes-
Duke was unbelievable- 24 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and only 2 turnovers. When the team needed him, he put them on his back and carried them. His shooting and energy in the 2nd half overcame a 16 point 2nd half deficit, and took the game to overtime.
Christian Davis- his contributions are often overlooked, but he was incredible tonight. In addition to solid defense, he had 17 points, 8 rebounds, and several really clutch baskets that made a huge difference.
Jaquan Johnson- He just keeps getting better, and more confident each game. 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists in a season-high 35 minutes of playing time. There were parts of this game where he was the best player on the floor.
Darius Hannah- 12 points, 5 rebounds, and several crucial baskets, including the game winner at the buzzer in overtime.
Meta Jonovic is frustrating at times, but his 9 rebounds and 2 blocks and defense in the lane did make a big difference tonight.
Corey Thomas, likewise is frustrating to watch, but he had key baskets, 5 rebounds and 3 blocks in just 11 minutes of playing time.
Speaking of frustrating, the coach calling a timeout inside of 5 seconds left in the overtime when he's got a veteran team, lead by the POY candidate with a hot hand, was a terrible decision. Thankfully, it didn't hurt, as they called a phenomenal play out of the timeout that sealed the win.

Official Box score- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...boxscore/22364
Red-Out attendance- 7,560 -the second highest attendance of the season (ILSU home attendance was 9,646)

Btw, what did everyone else think of the officiating?

[Time Out]

The worst officiating crew I have ever seen, these guys shouldn’t be allowed to ref grade school games, it was embarrassing!!

[BUfan14]

Well that was good resilience, but bad stretches against a lesser team once again. We could have very easily lost this one if not for one of Duke’s hot streaks he goes on. Nicely drawn up and ran play at the end.

It feels like our weaknesses show up for at least part of almost every game. As fun as it is to win a game like this I just wonder if we can pull off three in a row in St. Louis with this style? I sure hope so.

I really think Johnson needs to start now. We get off to bad starts in one or both halves most games now. I know starting two sub six foot guys isn’t ideal, but Johnson plays big and Duke is much better defensively this year that he has been in the past. I would go Johnson, Duke, Zek, Davis, Hannah, but if we insist on going big even though it isn’t our strength, Zek would be a great offensive 6th man if he’s willing to accept it. He would still get starter’s minutes of course. But I think we need Johnson’s energy, effort, and ability to draw fouls to avoid these slow starts. He also gives a second ball handler out there so we can hopefully not turn the ball over so much on passes to start each game/half.

[tomahawk chop]

I would change the starting lineup just because of the slow starts. I am not liking the effort from Zek period. He does not close out on 3 point shooters plus he does not rebound period. How can a player his size and strength hardly get any rebounds, my answer effort. Burch and Bully need to play more as they give a lot of effort on the court. Great win and the refs once again were not good. One of Murray States players dove on the floor for a loose ball and slid 3 ft. and one official was a few ft. away from him and yet no travelling call. I have seen a lot of good officials over the years but most of these guys doing Valley games are really bad.