Bradley gets revenge against Missouri State, wins by 18

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What a difference a week makes. Bradley excelled in all aspects of the game and completed a dominant performance against Missouri State.

The Braves (8-9, 3-4 MVC) had five players score in double figures as sophomore forward Taylor Brown led the way with 16 points and 12 rebounds. For as inconsistent as Brown had been playing recently, he really put together a fabulous performance on both ends of the floor.

Everything that the Braves seemed to do wrong a week ago were addressed in the rematch. Missouri State (13-5, 3-4 MVC) held a 41-27 rebounding advantage in Springfield, Mo. Bradley held nearly the exact same margin at home (43-28) today.

The overall defensive effort was the most consistent performance all season, limiting second chance opportunities and forcing the Bears into a lot of difficult looks. Kyle Weems, who scored 30 against Bradley last weekend, had a quiet 10 points and never was able to get into the flow of the Missouri State offense.

Other than some open 3-point looks for Adam Leonard, the Braves' defense really contested shots well. Bradley finished with six blocks, well above the season average of 2.3 per game.

Playing good defense isn't just something all coach's preach. In eight of Bradley's nine losses, the Braves have given up 68 points or more to their opponents. Though it may be more fun to watch, run-and-gun basketball is not the way that this team is successful.

The offense didn't disappoint either. The movement and passing were crisp and few possessions resulted in bad shot attempts. When so many of these opportunities were layups, Bradley was bound to be successful.

The high screen offense that the Braves often execute looked good, especially when sophomore forward Will Egolf slipped out of his screen and was led perfectly to the basket for some easy layups. Egolf had one of his best games at Bradley, scoring 14 points and adding four rebounds and two blocks.

And Egolf will be a key to the Braves' success/failure as the conference season goes on. He's getting much better at recognizing when he should make a post move and try to score as opposed to when he's got nothing going and needs to find an open player on the perimeter. Bradley has been so limited in the past offensively because they've lacked not just a post scorer, but also a guy who can pass well, too.

The superlatives can be tossed to the rest of the roster, as well. Senior guard Chris Roberts played very good defense with six total rebounds and two steals. On offense he contributed 10 points but more importantly, also had five assists. He was one of many players who aggressively drove to the basket and made the extra pass to get an easy layup for a teammate.

Both junior guards Andrew Warren and Sam Maniscalco had steady games. Warren did force a couple tough shots but still managed 11 points and rebounded more aggressively (five total). In Maniscalco's case, fans could easily take for granted his consistency. For a player who handles the point guard role as much he has, maintains a solid assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6 going into the game, tied for 6th in the MVC) and always can be relied upon for a big three or his great free-throw shooting. Maniscalco showed his versatility too, flipping in two more of his "Steve Nash-esque" finger-roll layups today.

Even though he didn't make as big of a splash as some other games, freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards continues to show flashes of why he's going to be starter for Bradley for many seasons to come. His ability to drive to the basket is as good as anyone at his age since Daniel Ruffin.

Reality check

And with how overwhelmingly positive this game one, it was indeed just one game. Cliche or not, this team must build off of this victory when having to head out to Carbondale to face Southern Illinois on Wednesday. Not many teams win there and Bradley hasn't done so even once since Jim Les took over the program in 2002.

But, this year will be as good of a chance as any with Southern Illinois far from its dominant selves of the past. The Braves are playing much better and looking for revenge after SIU stole a game in Peoria on New Years Day.

Ignoring the actual in-game events, Bradley really isn't too far off of pace from where you might predict they'd be in conference play. Losses at conference leaders Wichita State and Northern Iowa could be expected. It's only the home defeat against SIU that has the Braves at 3-4 instead of 4-3.

This next stretch of seven games are all winnable and Bradley is looking poised to make a run up the standings.