BU at UIC Game Thread

[Scouter]

Sam Singh"s performance was no surprise to me as he was a good player before he had all of the injuries.

I'm not really sure how you came to that conclusion, considering he played 29 minutes before he got hurt his freshman year and has played only 209 minutes in three seasons.

[Big Mike]

Suntimes on the game...........

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colleges/645160,CST-SPT-uic11.article

[Braves4Life]

I'm not really sure how you came to that conclusion, considering he played 29 minutes before he got hurt his freshman year and has played only 209 minutes in three seasons.

High school stats I imagine.

[Da Coach]

After having a while to think about the game, here are some thoughts this morning--

Rebounding-- When Bradley lost last year, it was usually because BU was outrebounded. But Bradley outrebounded UIC 40-31. They are a much better rebounding team this year. BU had 17 offensive rebounds! I wouldn't be surprised if that's more than they had in any game last year.
Interior defense-- UIC had absolutely no inside game. That was partly because of the improved BU interior defense. We were all worried after the St. Ambrose and Quincy games about the inside defense, but that was very good.
Fouls-- Both of Bradley's 2 starting forwards were in foul trouble (Wilson and Salley), and both fouled out of the game. In past seasons that would have killed any chance of staying in a game, but Bradley has much better interior depth this year, and the subs played well. Singh had a fine game, and Bradley's best stretches of play came when David Collins was in the game. Collins looked more aggressive going to the basket, and he and Singh made their free throws (not a given lest year with Zach).
Turnovers and poor shooting-- Too many turnovers and poor outside shooting. I thought the guards played well, except for that, but that's where Bradley lost the game.
UIC needed their best game to win-- It took a phenomenal shooting night by UIC to beat Bradley. UIC shot 80% from three in the 1st half, then shot 62.5% in the second half (69% for the game). It will be tough to beat a team at home that shoots that well.
Free throws-- Bradley was 15-17 from the line. That's a nice stat to see.
Assists-- Bradley had 18 assists on 26 field goals. Also a very good stat.
Sam Maniscalco had 0 turnovers. He was sometimes a little wild with the ball in the exhibitions. I think this is what we now can expect from Sam in the future.

The UIC fans we talked to admitted they had never seen their team play this well, or shoot like this. I don't think many teams will shoot this well the rest of the year. And the turnover problem will be fixed. Also, I am not worried about DRuff's 1-10 three point shooting.

[Da Coach]

The attendance listed was just 6,080. There seemed to be at least 2,000 to 3,000 Bradley fans there. Which means that for all the promotion (Melafusic) they did, they only drew a little over 3,000 UIC fans. They should have just spent their advertising and promotion money in Peoria and Chicago directed at Bradley fans! It probably would have drawn more fans.

[Dallas Brave]

Suntimes on the game...........

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/colle...-uic11.article

I did not see the game, but after reading the Suntimes article, it sounds like UIC pulled a page out of Bradley's playbook for how Bradley played DePaul in the last two season openers for the Braves.

"They were the aggressors all game,'' Les said. ''They made their shots and got all the loose balls.''

While the Flames shot 53.7 percent from the field, including 69 percent from three-point range, the Braves shot only 40.6 percent and 28.6 percent, respectively.

But the 5-10 Ruffin, considered the best guard in the Missouri Valley Conference by many, committed seven of Bradley's 22 turnovers and was no match for the 5-10 Mayo ... ''That's why I went at him hard tonight,'' Mayo said. ''They say he's better than me, and that inspired me to play harder.''

[dogsrus]

After having a while to think about the game, here are some thoughts this morning--

Rebounding-- When Bradley lost last year, it was usually because BU was outrebounded. But Bradley outrebounded UIC 40-31. They are a much better rebounding team this year. BU had 17 offensive rebounds! I wouldn't be surprised if that's more than they had in any game last year.
Interior defense-- UIC had absolutely no inside game. That was partly because of the improved BU interior defense. We were all worried after the St. Ambrose and Quincy games about the inside defense, but that was very good.
Fouls-- Both of Bradley's 2 starting forwards were in foul trouble (Wilson and Salley), and both fouled out of the game. In past seasons that would have killed any chance of staying in a game, but Bradley has much better interior depth this year, and the subs played well. Singh had a fine game, and Bradley's best stretches of play came when David Collins was in the game. Collins looked more aggressive going to the basket, and he and Singh made their free throws (not a given lest year with Zach).
Turnovers and poor shooting-- Too many turnovers and poor outside shooting. I thought the guards played well, except for that, but that's where Bradley lost the game.
UIC needed their best game to win-- It took a phenomenal shooting night by UIC to beat Bradley. UIC shot 80% from three in the 1st half, then shot 62.5% in the second half (69% for the game). It will be tough to beat a team at home that shoots that well.
Free throws-- Bradley was 15-17 from the line. That's a nice stat to see.
Assists-- Bradley had 18 assists on 26 field goals. Also a very good stat.
Sam Maniscalco had 0 turnovers. He was sometimes a little wild with the ball in the exhibitions. I think this is what we now can expect from Sam in the future.

The UIC fans we talked to admitted they had never seen their team play this well, or shoot like this. I don't think many teams will shoot this well the rest of the year. And the turnover problem will be fixed. Also, I am not worried about DRuff's 1-10 three point shooting.

I just woke up and read this...so we won.

[real fan]

I saw Sam Singh play in the summer league with Pat when they first got here and he had good skills as far as shooting, passing and rebounding; he came here his freshman season around the same weight as he is now and I posted stuff about him that I believed if he could get healthy that he could help this team;I will guarantee you that I was much more impressed with Sam the first year I saw him then the jr. college player that came here so hyped up about how good he is and hardly plays because he is not in shape.

[MacabreMob]

This thread might be fun to read through in Feb/Mar.

Just another feature I like about this board is how old threads can be resurrected months later.

[patrick_o'brian]

I like the optimism from you DC,but the fact is that we lost. We played bad defense, we had no senior leadership, and we got beat by a supposed inferior team. There was a point late in the second half, (maybe has been mentioned) where Daniel Ruffin, our captain was being harassed by Mayo he was trapped by the BU bench as was forced to call a TO. Instead of gaining his composure he nearly threw the ball right at the face of the UIC defender after the TO was called. At this point I knew that the game was over and that we may be in trouble. I love Bradley Basketball and there is no doubting my loyalty, but the fans who were worried about this team's continuity were right on and until this team can gel and depend on each other during hard times it is gonna be tough to get a "w". I will make no predictions because I feel in my heart that we have the talent to beat everyone in the "power-pack", but I need to see team ball, that is the number one ingredient that we were missing last night amidst, the $hitty referees, the career night by Mayo, and everything else. Continuity will come, but it needs to come fast!

[Braves4Life]

Ruff should not play all 40 minutes. It greatly affected his shooting and play during key runs. He needs to get a few key rests during the game and play 35-37 mins - especially early in the year while he gets his wind.

He has so much of this teams' responsibility and success on his shoulders that I think he was both physically and mentally worn down in this game.

I'd expect a much better Ruff in the next game

[Da Coach]

I just woke up and read this...so we won.

I like the optimism from you DC,but the fact is that we lost. We played bad defense, we had no senior leadership, and we got beat by a supposed inferior team

Sorry. guys, for trying to see something positive in the game, instead of this requiem by all the morose fans. Did I say we won? I don't see that anywhere in my post.

There was a point late in the second half, (maybe has been mentioned) where Daniel Ruffin, our captain was being harassed by Mayo he was trapped by the BU bench as was forced to call a TO. Instead of gaining his composure he nearly threw the ball right at the face of the UIC defender after the TO was called

This is not exactly what happened.
Jim Les had signalled to Ruffin while he was still in the backcourt to bring the ball across the center line and call a timeout. Ruffin was not "trapped", he simply stopped his dribble and signalled for a timeout. After the whistle blew, Mayo took a couple slaps at the ball and knocked it out of Ruffin's hands. Ruff, a little annoyed, overreacted and slapped the ball at Mayo. No harm, and no foul. That had nothing to do with the outcome.

We lost a road game to a decent team, because they shot lights-out. Mayo had the best game of his career, and Ruffin shot poorly. That's why we lost.
I don't think that qualifies as the end of our season, and I don't think the defense was as bad as others here think.

[BradleyBrave]

I agree with DC. Guys, the sky isn't falling. It's a long season. We have 7 newcomers. Our opponent shot 70% from 3 (on contested 3's no less). If UIC does that the rest of the season they'll win the national championship. Ruffin had a bad game, and the refs didn't do us any favors. We have things to work on (mostly on defense), and I think Jim is still figuring out who to play (more minutes for Collins and Cole-Scott would be nice). It was just one of those nights for UIC. It's unfortunate that it was at our expense, but let's get off the ledge.

If there's a gripe to be made, it's scheduling 4 Horizon League road games for our non-conference schedule. Yes, it will help us prepare for the conference season, but 4 is a bit excessive and really is a no-win situation for us and our league.

[Bravesfan]

I like the optimism from you DC,but the fact is that we lost. We played bad defense, we had no senior leadership, and we got beat by a supposed inferior team. There was a point late in the second half, (maybe has been mentioned) where Daniel Ruffin, our captain was being harassed by Mayo he was trapped by the BU bench as was forced to call a TO. Instead of gaining his composure he nearly threw the ball right at the face of the UIC defender after the TO was called. At this point I knew that the game was over and that we may be in trouble. I love Bradley Basketball and there is no doubting my loyalty, but the fans who were worried about this team's continuity were right on and until this team can gel and depend on each other during hard times it is gonna be tough to get a "w". I will make no predictions because I feel in my heart that we have the talent to beat everyone in the "power-pack", but I need to see team ball, that is the number one ingredient that we were missing last night amidst, the $hitty referees, the career night by Mayo, and everything else. Continuity will come, but it needs to come fast!

I think what DC is trying to say is that we dominated in every aspect of the game except for the turnovers and three point percentage. We will win a lot of games if we play like we did last night as long as we cut down on the turnovers. We just ran into a buzzsaw last night, pure and simple, especially with their coach returning. It kind of reminds me when Coach K returned to Duke years ago following his leave of absence for back problems. It creates a spark for the team when that happens, and we just happened to be the first opponent for UIC this year.

Basically we will be fine, and I think a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised by the end of this season.