BU- Missouri State Postgame

[PeoriaLou]

Thank God we didn't need our post players tonight:

Salley's line: 4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 fouls (1 technical)
Singh's line: 0 points, 1 rebound, 2 fouls
Collins' line: 0 points, 1 rebound, 0 fouls
Austin's line: 0 points, 1 rebound, 1 foul (left game at half)

Salley's got to play better down the stretch or Austin should get more and more of his minutes...

[Scouter]

Salley's got to play better down the stretch or Austin should get more and more of his minutes...

Salley needs to quit letting his temper get the best of him and stop getting technical fouls...

[Big Mike]

Did I hear the post game right? DR had his career high tonight with 25 pts? I thought he has been there before ...guess not...congrats DR! Oh yeah.....I'm really liking the TW instead of Wade Knapp anyday!

[Da Coach]

stats--

http://www.bubraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19332&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=1384170

Story from BUBraves.com--
Bradley Rides Early Surges to Sixth Straight Win PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley senior point guard Daniel Ruffin (Peoria, Ill./Peoria H.S.) scored a career-best 25 points and dished out a game-high seven assists, while junior forward Theron Wilson (Topeka, Kan./Highland Park H.S.) turned in his second career double-double with 13 points and a career-best 13 rebounds, leading the streaking Braves to an 83-71 Missouri Valley Conference men’s basketball victory versus visiting Missouri State (11-13, 4-8 MVC) Wednesday night at Carver Arena.

Bradley (14-10, 7-5 MVC) climbed into a three-way tie for third place in The Valley standings with its sixth consecutive win. After struggling at the start of the league race with an injured Ruffin out of action, Bradley also won its fifth consecutive “return” game, dating back to last season, in the double round-robin Valley schedule, avenging a 91-80 loss to the Bears Jan. 2 in Springfield.

Bradley smothered Missouri State with a 14-4 spurt to start each half. After building the cushion to as many as 19 points on two occassions in the first half, Bradley’s initial burst to start the second half pushed its lead to a game-high 29 points, 50-21, when senior guard Jeremy Crouch (Pekin, Ill./Pekin H.S.) buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 15:25 remaining.

Missouri State finally got their offense untracked and countered with a 19-3 run to make things interesting, but the Bears never really threatened the rest of the way. After Missouri State closed the gap to 63-54 on a Justin Fuehrmeyer corner 3-pointer with 5:58 left, Crouch answered with his third trey of the night to push the lead back to double-digits, 66-54. Bradley had only two more baskets the rest of the game, but the Braves sank 11-of-13 free throws down the stretch to maintain their double-digit advantage.

Both teams struggled from the floor in the first half, but while Bradley’s 8-for-27 (.296) effort was only slightly better than Missouri State’s 7-for-26 (.269) showing, the Braves forced 16 first-half turnovers from their visitors and made 15-of-16 (.938 ) free throws in the opening frame. Both teams heated up in the second half, shooting at least 50 percent from the field, highlighted by Bradley’s 7-for-11 (.636) effort from behind the 3-point line. The Braves ended the game 12-for-27 (.444) from 3-point range and added a season-best 29 free throws.

In addition to the efforts by Ruffin and Wilson, sophomore guard Andrew Warren (Indianapolis, Ind./Brebeuf Jesuit Prep) poured in 19 points for the Braves and Crouch chipped in with 16. Deven Mitchell led Missouri State with 17 points, Dale Lamberth added a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Fuehrmeyer scored 14 points off the bench.

Bradley will shoot for its seventh straight win overall and in its rivalry series versus Illinois State when the Braves visit Redbird Arena Saturday night. Bradley has not won seven in a row overall since a seven-game streak that carried the Braves to the championship game of the 2006 State Farm MVC Tournament, a ride that produced an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament. Additionally, Bradley has not won seven straight in league play since winning the final seven games of the 1996-97 season. Finally, a win Saturday at Illinois State would equal the longest winning streak either team has enjoyed in the rivalry, which dates back to the 1904-05 season.

[BradleyBrave]

Salley needs to quit letting his temper get the best of him and stop getting technical fouls...

Salley is a freaking joke. I'm tired of trying to give him the 'benefit of the doubt' or trying to have sympathy for the kid because he's had a rough go of it. He's a 22 year old man, and needs to stop acting like a jack@ss any time someone bumps him the wrong way. I can't think of the last time a BU player had this many technical fouls. It's embarrassing, and I am tired of it.

[Scouter]

I don't see a temper in Matt, I want him to keep playing the same way - aggresive (look up the definition). There is a reason why he is in the starting five. He's a great player and a team player.

Being aggressive is going hard to the glass to get a rebound.

Losing your temper is shoving an opposing player in the chest on your way back downcourt and getting T'd up for it.

Let's stick to just staying aggressive.

[BradleyBrave]

He's a great player and a team player.

No he's not and no he's not. Getting senseless technical fouls game after game isn't being a team player. It's being selfish and putting your agenda ahead of the team's well-being.

Please tell me what Matt Salley is 'great' at.

[ghunt]

Les at 98 BU wins. I wonder which BU coach reached the 100 win milestone faster than he will. Hopefully he does it at InSt.

I think several, if not most....tradition is hard to compete with.

[BradleyBrave]

I think several, if not most....tradition is hard to compete with.

I think just about every BU coach outside of Van Atta and maybe Albeck reached 100 wins faster than Les. Quite frankly, with the talent we've had it should have been reached a year or two ago. But, onward and upward.

[ghunt]

I think just about every BU coach outside of Van Atta and maybe Albeck reached 100 wins faster than Les. Quite frankly, with the talent we've had it should have been reached a year or two ago. But, onward and upward.

I'm too lazy to go into the room and grab the press guide to look it up right now, but Vanatta wasn't here all that long, and didn't Stan still pull off 100 a year or two before he left?

I'm thinking the younger alumni and current student body (and transplants into Peoria) do not grasp how truly good BU basketball has been--hence the frustration some of us have. Again, 12 and 20 years is a painfully sad, sick, and ridiculously long-time for a storied program such as ours to go without conference success. Please, oh, please let us pull it off in St. Louis this year :-) I'm not sure if my wife can take me for another season

[BradleyBrave]

I'm too lazy to go into the room and grab the press guide to look it up right now, but Vanatta wasn't here all that long, was didn't Stan still pull off 100 a year or two before he left?

I'm not sure on either one. I know Van Atta's run was a short one, and I know Stan's started fast and finished very poorly. Outside of those two, I am pretty confident every other coach we've had made it to 100 wins faster than JL will.

[phyneous_j_whoopie]

RA is sick...they confirmed it on the post game

[ER3]

I don't see a temper in Matt, I want him to keep playing the same way - aggresive (look up the definition). There is a reason why he is in the starting five. He's a great player and a team player.

What??? Salley is a "great player"??? No...he's really not. Sorry.

And the technical fouls he continues to get are stupid, selfish, immature plays...(look up those definitions).
There is nothing about that technical that occurred because he was being aggressive...He was soft with the ball on the rebound...got it poked away by a smaller, weaker guy...and he responded by swinging an elbow at him...
That is weak.

[MacabreMob]

RA is sick...they confirmed it on the post game

Thanks for your confirmation.

[Scouter]

So Matt got a technical, big deal - no, who's to say the technical call was correct. Keep playing the same way Matt.

It happened 30 feet in front of me, and it was correct. If you want him to keep getting technicals and keep giving forearm shoves to opposing players, go ahead.