Iowa State cruises to easy victory against Bradley

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The combination of a great Iowa State performance and a horrible Bradley one led to lopsided and disappointing game in Ames, Iowa today.

Marquis Gilstrap led the Cyclones (8-3) with 25 points and NBA prospect Craig Brackins added a double-double (16 points, 12 assists). The Braves (5-5) had no answer for either of these big men, nor did they against the quicker, more-talented Iowa State guards.

Junior guard Sam Maniscalco was exposed repeatedly as being a step too slow to guard Diante Garrett, Iowa State's speedy floor general. Maniscalco's performance wasn't any better on the offensive end as he missed all six shot attempts and committed three turnovers with no assists.

The problem is that Maniscalco isn't really a point guard. He's an undersized shooting guard who can get really hot from the beyond the arc. But Bradley has to play him there for the lack of better options.

The backup to Maniscalco is sophomore Eddren McCain, who has been so spooked by his lost shooting touch that he can't provide anything other than quickness on defense at this stage. McCain has looked better the past few games, but in reality, he can't be trusted yet to be the starter.

Maybe the silver lining might have been recently "unredshirted" freshman guard Jake Eastman. Though he was seeing his first action of the season and made just 1-of-8 shot attempts, Eastman did provide a burst of energy and led the Braves with five rebounds.

But the majority of players that Bradley needs a contribution either had bad games or were completely invisible. Senior guard Chris Roberts had a hollow 12-point game as he made numerous mental errors (five turnovers) and only secured one rebound.

At least that was something as opposed to Bradley's leading scorer Taylor Brown provided. The sophomore forward scored just four points and pulled down three rebounds. In Brown's defense, his defensive numbers were limited as he was saddled with the unenviable task of guarding Brackins, who played the majority of the game on the perimeter despite his 6'10" size.

And even though junior guard Andrew Warren led the Braves in points (16), all but four of these points were when Iowa State had built a 20+ point lead. Overall, this was just a bad performance from top to bottom.

Starting spots up for grabs?

Head coach Jim Les sounded as agitated as ever on the radio after the game. He said that he was "embarrassed" by his veteran players' performances. Les said that he'd start two freshman (Eastman and forward Milos Knezevic) and walk-on guard Ryan Phillips if it meant he'd get a better effort from his team.

Though this comment was said to be more of a message than a statement of what he's going to actually do, don't be surprised if Bradley does have some differences in starters when they head to Drake for the opener of the conference season.

Les has done this before, making all starting spots "up for grabs" and it has had some positive results. Hopefully that will get the team to find itself after this stretch of three poor losses in a row.