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63 | 79 |
Bradley made a big statement Sunday by pounding Southern Illinois by a 79-63 margin — and it wasn't even that close.
The Braves (7-5, 1-0) led by as many as 27 points during the second half of the game, dominating nearly every facet of the contest. These were the "good" Braves who fans surely wish would be on the court more consistently.
Southern Illinois (5-7, 0-1) hung in the game for a long time, actually taking a brief 27-26 lead with 5:16 left in the first half. But Bradley closed the session with a 15-4 run, then didn't allow a Saluki point until the 14:46 mark of the second half. In the 10-minute span, the Braves had a 26-4 advantage on the scoreboard.
Forward/center Sam Singh was the most valuable player in the game, producing one of his best performances of his Bradley career. He scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds and five steals as well as blocking two shots. Singh wore a protective mask on his face, playing in his first game since breaking his nose December 14th.
One of the biggest concerns for the Braves lately has been free throw shooting. But the team combined to hit 28 of 32 attempts (87.5 percent) against Southern Illinois. Forward Theron Wilson, who is tied for first in the conference in free throw attempts, only came into the game shooting 67.5 percent. But, Wilson knocked down 9 of 10 from the line helping him finish with 17 points.
Guard Sam Maniscalco had another great game, making three 3-pointers and all seven of his free throws. The 18-point output was Maniscalco's career best, topping his previous high of 17 (twice this season).
The team got contributions from all nine players who played at least 10 minutes. Every man had at least five points.
Southern Illinois showed a great deal of inexperience in the game, which can be understood with the amount of freshmen and sophomores that play regular minutes. The Salukis stayed in the game early because their senior leader, guard Bryan Mullins, had a great first half (11 points). But after the break, Mullins didn't score again, missing all six of his shots.
Highly touted freshman guard Kevin Dillard had a game-high 21 points for SIU, but 11 of those came in the last five minutes of the game when Bradley had really slowed down its defensive intensity.
Coming up next:
Bradley plays Wednesday at Wichita State, who lost its Missouri Valley Conference opener 68-56 at league favorite Creighton on Sunday. The Braves haven't played well at Charles Koch Arena since it opened in December of 2003. In fact, Bradley won last season in Wichita, Kan. for the first time in five tries, beating a bad Shocker team 63-54.
Fans can be happy about this win, but with two road games coming up (Saturday, Bradley plays at Missouri State), the true mettle of the Braves will be shown. Considering the difficulty of winning on the road in the Valley, Bradley should be happy with a split in these games.
Other observations:
* - The only negative of Sam Singh's great game was the loss in playing time for center Anthony Thompson. He didn't see the floor until garbage time (two minutes remaining) and clearly is the odd man out with Singh's return.
Hopefully head coach Jim Les will try to get him more minutes than he received this game. Bradley could certainly play two guys over 6'9" at a time, but Les still seems reluctant to try that.
* - Apparently the "point of emphasis" for the MVC referees this season is traveling infractions. Both teams were whistled countless times for minimal or even nothing against the rules. The incessant nature of Valley refs to call too much in games looks to be back again this year.
* - I traveled to Peoria again for this game, sitting up in the nose bleeds for the first time ever. As a result, the photos are really far away for the most part, but I'm still going to post the shots I have from the game.
Click the photo above to view a slideshow.
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