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Final score: Drake 64 Bradley 57

Da Coach

Da Coach

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Undefeated and 1st place Bradley Braves (13-2, 4-0) vs. .500 and middle of the pack Drake (12-2, 2-2), Wednesday, Jan. 8, 6:00 pm
MVC Standings - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...ive/sort/avgThreePointFieldGoalsMade/dir/desc

Drake's NET rank dropped from 59 to 77 after their home loss to Murray State Sunday. Their RPI is now 43, down from 11, and Kenpom is 85.
Bradley's NET rank is 75, their RPI is 55, and Kenpom is 89.

Note the different starting time than the usual weeknight home game. Wednesday's game starts at 6:00 pm to accommodate TV.
This game is on the CBS Sports Network. - https://www.cbssports.com/watch/cbs-sports-network
Live Stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Chat room- https://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Radio- https://wmbdradio.com/player/?playerID=2045​

Bradley has won 5 games in a row, and 12 of their last 13. Drake has lost their last 2 games after winning their first 12 games.
Drake is under a new head coach Ben McCollum, formerly of D2 Northwest Missouri State.
4 of Drake's starters are transfers from Northwest Missouri State-
6'4" Junior guard Bennett Stirtz
6'5" 5th yr. guard Mitch Mascari
6'6" 5th yr. forward Daniel Abreu
6'3" 5th yr. guard Isaiah Jackson
The other starter is their 6'8" center Cam Manyawu, a sophomore transfer from Wyoming.

The only three reserves who average more than 7.9 minutes per game are-
6'7" junior G/F Tavion Banks- a transfer from Northwest Florida State junior college
6'8" redshirt senior forward Nate Ferguson, the only holdover from last year's team
6'5" freshman guard Isaia Howard- the only freshman on the roster; averages 11 mpg, scored over 3,000 points in high school at Plattsburg HS in Missouri

Drake links-
Schedule/results- https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Coaches- https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster#sidearm-roster-coaches
Stats- https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2024-25?path=mbball

Drake averages 72.3 ppg on offense (9th in MVC), and Bradley averages 81.6 ppg (2nd in MVC)
On defense, Drake is # 1 in the MVC, allowing 58.2 ppg. The next best team in team defense (UNI) allows 67.5 ppg. Bradley is 3rd at 68.4 ppg.
Bradley and Drake both have a FG% of 49%, but Bradley's 3-point FG% is # 1 in the country at 42.9%, while Drake's 3-point FG% is 34.1%, which ranks 9th in the MVC.
Drake's Bennett Stirtz leads the MVC in scoring (18.3 ppg), in assists (6.1 apg). and in steals (2.5 spg)
Their top three point shooter is Mitch Mascari at 46.8%. Stirtz is 29.5% from three, and Daniel Abreu is 32.9%.
No other Drake player has made more than a total of three 3-pointers all season, and nobody else shoots better than 25%.
Drake has only one starter over 6'6" (6'8" center Cam Manyawu), yet they get a high percentage of points in the paint due to their offensive system involving a lot of motion and multiple high and low picks each possession. In their home loss to Murray State Sunday, the Racers effectively used switches on defense to neutralize many of their attempted pick and roll plays. I expect Bradley to do the same.
Drake doesn't rely much on 3-point shots. They average only 6.6 made 3-pointers per game (11th in MVC), compared with Bradley's 10.9 per game (1st in MVC).
3 of Drake's starters are among the top 7 MVC players in minutes played per game- # 1 Stirtz (37.9 mpg), # 3 Mascari (35.8 mpg), and # 7 Abreu (33.8 mpg).
Bradley's highest ranking players in minutes per game are # 18 Duke Deen (30.8 mpg), # 19 Zek Montgomery (30.7 mpg), and # 22 Christian Davis (30.0 mpg).

Bradley stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats
MVC stats- https://mvc-sports.com/documents/2024/11/5//2024_25_MVC_MBB_All_Game_Stats.pdf
ESPN's sortable stats-
Team- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/stats/team/_/group/18
Individual- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-b...up/18/table/offensive/sort/avgPoints/dir/desc
 
Drake also bleeds the shot clock almost every 1/2 court possession. You have to guard for at least 20 seconds every time. It can wear a team down.
But…now we know they’re human after all.
Attendance was 3,807? Holiday break?
 
BengalFan14 said:
Drake also bleeds the shot clock almost every 1/2 court possession. You have to guard for at least 20 seconds every time. It can wear a team down.
But…now we know they’re human after all.
Attendance was 3,807? Holiday break?
Click to expand...

Right on! Two losses should give us the template for beating them. Let's hope we learn from their two losses and deliver up a 3rd!
 
Watch out for Drake's freshman Isaia Howard (6' 5), he was the best player on the floor late in the game against Murray State. Explosive around the basket, great instincts, and gives Drake more athleticism. Expect him to emerge as a starter.
 
BRAVE82 said:
Watch out for Drake's freshman Isaia Howard (6' 5), he was the best player on the floor late in the game against Murray State. Explosive around the basket, great instincts, and gives Drake more athleticism. Expect him to emerge as a starter.
Click to expand...

Yes he is impressive. All jokes aside I expect this to be a very difficult game for us, given Drake is likely feeling serious pressure to right the ship after such a great start to the season. Meanwhile we could be at risk of feeling a little overconfident…We shall see. We do have all the tools to win it if we execute our gameplan, and I expect our men to be ready for battle.
 
Dub said:
Yes he is impressive. All jokes aside I expect this to be a very difficult game for us, given Drake is likely feeling serious pressure to right the ship after such a great start to the season. Meanwhile we could be at risk of feeling a little overconfident…We shall see. We do have all the tools to win it if we execute our gameplan, and I expect our men to be ready for battle.
Click to expand...

I hope we don’t feel overconfident! We easily could be 2-2 with the games that went into OT. I want to see some intensity!! If we come out and play like we did against Mo. St. I can guarantee we lose handily.
Let’s come out and step on their throats right off the bat! Atlason needs to see the ball go in the hoop from 3 so he can give us the help we expect from him.
 
BRAVE82 said:
Watch out for Drake's freshman Isaia Howard (6' 5), he was the best player on the floor late in the game against Murray State. Explosive around the basket, great instincts, and gives Drake more athleticism. Expect him to emerge as a starter.
Click to expand...

I watched the Murray State-Drake game and Isaia Howard came off the bench and made several difficult shots to keep Drake close in the 2nd half. He scored 13 points in 24 minutes of play, and he had 6 rebounds, more than anyone other Drake player.

His story is interesting. He was a prolific scorer in high school at Plattsburg HS in Missouri. He scored over 3,000 points in his HS career and averaged 34.4 ppg his senior year. Yet, because he played at a small school, he did not get much Division I interest. He was recruited by Ben McCollum at D2 Northwest Missouri State and when McCollum got the Drake job, he offered Howard a scholarship at Drake and he committed last May.
McCollum considered redshirting him, but because they were short on players, he chose not to. Howard had only played limited minutes in 8 of their first 13 games prior to Sunday's game. And he had only scored 12 points in the 8 games and was 4-14 shooting. But Sunday, he scored 13 points (6-8, 1-1 from three), more than he had in all 8 previous games combined.
Here's the box score from Sunday's loss to Murray State. Note that 3 of the 5 starters played the full 40 minutes. - https://godrakebulldogs.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2024-25/murray-state/boxscore/13439
 
They have the 4 transfers who've played together for 3 years so they know each other inside and out and obviously the coach trusts them implicitly. They get after it on defense and you need to play them for all 30 seconds on defense. We need to be aggressive to the hoop and pay attention on defense. Bradley fans it's time to show up and SHOW OUT! Haven't brought this one out in a while but boys it's time to GET ER DONE!
 
The advantage definitely goes to the aggressor when you play this Drake team. In their winning streak, they had a lot of opponents on their heels just trying to play them straight up. In their losses, they ran into teams that brought the game to them and were more aggressive. This is what I’m watching for tonight.
 
I don't think there's any better MVC coach at devising game plans than Coach BW.
Their plan against Missouri State was to keep Dez White out of the lane and throw the best defense against him and double down low on Osei-Bonsu.
It worked perfectly on those guys who each were held way below their average, so that Brady & Valentine having career days didn't hurt us.
 
Dub said:
The advantage definitely goes to the aggressor when you play this Drake team. In their winning streak, they had a lot of opponents on their heels just trying to play them straight up. In their losses, they ran into teams that brought the game to them and were more aggressive. This is what I’m watching for tonight.
Click to expand...

That is pretty insightful and I think correct. Hadn't really occurred to me, but thinking back to those games, that's exactly what happened (at least in the Murray State game, I didn't see the UIC one, but considering how they play, I can only assume!).
 
Tommy said:
That is pretty insightful and I think correct. Hadn't really occurred to me, but thinking back to those games, that's exactly what happened (at least in the Murray State game, I didn't see the UIC one, but considering how they play, I can only assume!).
Click to expand...

I also think the mentality of a team's players can make a difference. Through their first 12 games, Drake's coach and players were very confident, and played like they believed they were the best team in the MVC. That mentality has been shattered with the loss at UIC, the team that was picked 12th (dead last) in the MVC Preseason Poll, followed by losing at home to Murray State. I have to think they now have some doubts about how they compare with the other teams in the Valley.
 
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