The Bengals from Idaho State will be Bradley's first home opponent of the season. Both teams coming off road losses on Friday night square off at Carver Arena tonight.
Bradley's press release: (.pdf)
Idaho State lost its opener 88-68 against future Bradley opponent, Iowa State. This game wasn't really close as the Cyclones led early and never looked back. The Bengals started three guards and had nine guys play at least ten minutes in the game. Two of those guards finished in double figures, senior Amorrow Morgan (15 points, 4 turnovers) and junior Broderick Gilchrest (21 points, 9-11 FT, 5 turnovers).
Morgan finished as a first-team all-conference player in the Big Sky last season, while Gilchrest is a transfer who started his career at Middle Tennessee and played last season in junior college.
It's tough to analyze just one box score from a team, but Iowa State seemed to rattle a veteran squad from Idaho. The Bengals had just five assists but committed 14 turnovers.
Here's the official release from Idaho State: (.pdf)
"Idaho State returns four starters and seven letterwinners from last years’ 13-19 team that advanced to the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament for the second consecutive year. While the Bengals lost a couple of important cogs in Matt Stucki and Lucas Steijn, they return six seniors, including Amorrow Morgan, who led the team in scoring a year ago with a 13.6 average, and he also added 13.6 assists. Also back is leading rebounder Demetrius Monroe, who averaged 5.3 rebounds per game but has been slowed by an injury in the preseason. ISU also returns their leading shot blocker in Deividas Busma (29 blocks) and leading three-point shooter in Austin Kilpatrick (34 threes, but .417 percentage in conference play)."
Some matchup information:
"Idaho State has faced off just once against Bradley, and it was so long against John F. Kennedy was the President. The Bengals lost to Bradley in their only meeting in November of 1963, with Bradley winning 101-70 in Peoria. Joe O’Brien has not faced off against a Missouri Valley Conference Team. Overall against the current configuration of the MVC ISU is 3-9 all-time, and 1-7 on the road (Bradley 0-1, Creighton 2-5, Drake 0-1, Illinois State 2-2, Indiana State 1-0). The only road win came ion January 3, 1953 when Idaho State defeated Creighton in Omaha 69-68."
Tips to victory
This appears to be the kind of game Bradley should be able to win fairly easily. The Braves should have confidence after their positive showing at BYU on Friday. As long as they don't overlook Idaho State and just continue to play solid defense, this should be the first win of the year.
Final Score: Bradley 76 Idaho State 68
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