Bradley runs out of steam, falls to Panthers in semis

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Yesterday looked like Bradley could beat anyone in the conference. But Northern Iowa asserted itself as the conference champion today, dispatching the Braves from the MVC tournament in dominant fashion.

After his 31-point game against Creighton, junior guard Sam Maniscalco was cloaked all day by the Panthers defense. Though he did manage to score 10 points, Maniscalco had little opportunity to have much of an impact on the game.

The Braves (16-15) fell behind big early and never hit enough shots to recover. After a fifth turnover in the half, Bradley went into the under 12-minute timeout down 19-6.

The game never got better as the Panthers (27-4) tenacious defense forced Bradley to settle for a lot of outside jumpers. Even when the Braves got open looks, the shots simply weren't falling and there weren't any second chance opportunities.

Northern Iowa had a 36-19 lead at halftime by holding Bradley to 6-of-21 shooting and 0-of-5 from 3-point range. Even though the game wasn't completely out of reach, it had the feel like one more burst from the Panthers would seal the result.

Yet when the teams came out after the break, the surge didn't happen for either team. Bradley really came out playing inspired defense and held Northern Iowa scoreless for the first five minutes. But the Braves simply couldn't capitalize, only scoring four points during that stretch.

If Bradley had maybe narrowed the gap to 8-10 points, the second half might have been a lot more interesting. Instead, the Panthers went on a 14-3 run during the next five minutes to cement the win.

Note that there was no need to mention any of the Northern Iowa players when describing the flow of the game. That's just how much of a "team" that the entire squad really is. Nobody scored more than 10 points but nine different Panthers did have points in the game.

Their style of play isn't pretty but it simply accumulates victories. Though the team shoots way more threes than teams of the past, Northern Iowa looks a lot like the rugged Southern Illinois teams from a few years ago. Opponents just don't get much of an opportunity to win.

Assist to turnover ratios (15-7 for, 7-14 against) were solid for the Panthers and they also limited Bradley to just six offensive rebounds.

When a team only scores 40 points, it's tough for anyone to really put up much of a stat line. Senior center Sam Singh grabbed eight rebounds (no other Brave had more than three) and junior guard Andrew Warren had 12 points to lead all scorers (eight of those were from the free throw line, though).

Bradley's depth wasn't as big of a factor today since the Panthers play a much less bruising style than Creighton does. But the cumulative effect of the past two games, especially having to turn around in 24 hours and play again seemed to be a major factor in why Bradley couldn't get anything going offensively.

Finishing one game over .500 might be enough for Bradley to be invited into one of the lower level postseason tournaments. But really, a major factor in these events often has to do with money and since the Braves draw well, that might put them ahead of some other teams.

But if this is indeed the final game for the 2009-10 Bradley Braves, the season ended in a similar manner to how the other 30 games were. A few great moments left fans wondering all year whether the team could truly turn the corner. Discouraging defeats continually brought down that optimism.

Because that's really what this season was: average. The final (?) record (16-15), the conference record (9-9), the performances of nearly every key member of the team (some great games for every guy to go along with some non-existent/bad ones) - these all fit the term.

Now the question is where can these guys go from here? Will they continue to develop, like Taylor Brown did, and come back with a similar but better team in 2010-11? Few can question the talent level - fans saw it against the better teams on the schedule. Now everyone will see if the Braves can pull it all together for an improvement next season.

Bradleys dominates second half, knocks off No. 18/19 Northern Iowa

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Students rarely have the opportunity to storm in the court at Carver Arena. But after Bradley stormed back from a nine point halftime deficit, the "Red Sea" was able to wash onto the court in euphoria.

Junior guard Andrew Warren scored all 15 of his points in the second half to help the Braves (13-12, 8-7 MVC) shock the No. 18/19 team in the country. Four Bradley players finished in double figures as it was the first time the Braves have knocked off a ranked opponent in downtown Peoria.

Considering how much the Braves struggled to score in the first 20 minutes, the turnaround out of the break was nothing short of amazing. Northern Iowa methodically changed an 11-11 tie at the 10:27 mark into a 32-23 lead at the half. The team's patient offense got plenty of good looks and second chance opportunities. Combine that with how the Panthers (22-3, 13-2 MVC) put the clamps on the Bradley offense and it looked like another home loss was coming.

A few Northern Iowa fans remarked in the concourse at the half how if they could hit a three (3-of-14), they'd be up thirty. Few could have argued the impressive fact that a team which didn't even play its best ball was still nearly up double digits on the road.

If it wasn't for sophomore center Will Egolf, the Braves almost certainly would have been buried. Ten of Egolf's 12 points came before halftime, showing his athleticism against a bigger defender (talented Panther center Jordan Eglseder).

But for as many times as Bradley has come out of the break flat and allowed other teams back into games, the Braves finally returned the favor to an opponent. On both ends of the floor, the home squad looked like a completely different team.

Warren, who had been completely invisible in the first half, was active on defense and scored five of Bradley's first nine points. Before the under first television timeout, the Braves had tied the Panthers at 32-32.

The game seesawed back and forth for the next eight minutes, lacking a ton of flow due to the whistle-happy referees, coined by some as the "best" the Valley has to offer - John Higgins, Mike Sanzere, Gene Grimshaw. In a game that had only eight fouls called between both teams in the first half, suddenly had become boxing match in the referees eyes.

This stretch from 13:56 to 8:15 had an astonishing 13 fouls called between the teams. All players and coaches want is a consistent philosophy that is used throughout the game. Both coaches had plenty to gripe about but luckily, this didn't determine the outcome of the game.

In fact, both teams were unbelievable from the line. The Panthers made their first 11 free throws of the game, finishing 17-of-18 overall (93.3 percent). Bradley bested that total by making all but two attempts in the game (22-of-24, 94.4 percent).

And it was a free throw by senior guard Chris Roberts on a three-point-play opportunity that capped a decisive 9-1 run at 4:53. Roberts, who arguably had his best game of the season, had 13 points, no turnovers and finished his driving layups, which has been a problem at times this year.

Head coach Jim Les experimented a bit with a zone defense in the first half and then used it more frequently as the game progressed. The switching of defenses had the Panthers' offense confused and they frequently settled for contested outside shots.

And for as good as Northern Iowa can be from the perimeter, this was a game where the long bombs weren't falling. The Panthers made just 6-of-30 from beyond the arc, accounting for more than half of their 55 shot attempts.

That kind of result continues to leave fans scratching their heads as this Bradley team can knock off opponents like Northern Iowa and Illinois and drop puzzling decisions to Loyola and Western Carolina.

There's no way to guess how the rest of the season will go for the Braves. They could easily sweep their last three games and finish in the upper half of the conference. Just as possible, Bradley could overlook Indiana State on Tuesday and fall back into the play-in mess in the Valley standings.

No matter what happens the rest of the way, today was a good day to be Bradley fan.

Click the photo above to view a slideshow.

Bradley's rugged defensive effort falls short in Cedar Falls

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If Bradley puts together the same defensive effort it did tonight, this team will still win a lot of conference games. Unfortunately for the Braves, Northern Iowa made enough plays to survive at home, 52-50.

Junior guard Sam Maniscalco led all scorers with 15 points (6-of-11 from floor, 3-of-5 from 3-point range) and added five rebounds, two assists, three steals and only one turnover. Ali Farokhmanesh made all four of the Panthers 3-pointers and finished with 14 points.

A four minute scoring drought allowed Northern Iowa (15-1, 6-0 MVC) to take a 45-35 lead with 10:49 to play in the game. Bradley (7-9, 2-4 MVC) ratcheted up its defense from that point, only letting the Panthers score seven more points the rest of the game.

One of the biggest reasons for the defensive success was that head coach Jim Les continued to change between man-to-man and 2-3 zone sets. He observed that this rattled the Panthers and it showed as they didn't score for almost five minutes.

Maybe the most significant play in the game was when Bradley had possession with two minutes to play, trailing 49-48. Junior guard Andrew Warren missed a 3-point attempt and freshman guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards crashed hard to the boards. Simms-Edwards made an athletic tip on the rebound and the ball went into the basket, but he was whistled for an offensive foul.

Watching some of the replays, it probably was the correct call as Simms-Edwards did lead with his arm a bit. But if the call goes differently, maybe the outcome is also changed in the end.

Even with that difficult call, Bradley still had a chance to tie or win with 20 seconds to play. The Panthers had three fouls to give and used them smartly, including a third with just 0.6 seconds on the clock. The Braves were a bit disjointed on the last possession and were out of timeouts.

But then Les came through and made another smart coaching decision. He quickly motioned to the officials to check the clock and see if any time should be added after the third foul. The point here was that it effectively bought him an extra timeout and he was able to draw up a quick play with so little time left.

The Braves ran a back screen and tried to run a lob to the glass but Northern Iowa defensed it perfectly and batted the pass away for the victory. With so little time on the clock, Bradley wasn't likely to get much better of a chance than a wild 3-pointer, anyway.

Invisible stars

For as good as Maniscalco was, the rest of Bradley's starters all had subpar games. Senior guard Chris Roberts probably had the best performance, hitting 4-of-5 three-point attempts and finishing with 14 points. But he also had no rebounds and committed four turnovers.

For as great as Warren has been in conference play, this was one of his worst of the year. He shot just 2-of-10 from the floor and committed five turnovers. The students got on Warren after he had an air ball early in the second half and this seemed to rattle him a bit.

Credit him for knowing that good players need to keep trying to score, though. The majority of his attempts for the rest of the game were open looks but just weren't falling. He'll almost surely be back to his dynamic self against Missouri State on Saturday.

Sophomores Taylor Brown and Will Egolf dealt with foul trouble the entire game and never really got into the flow of the action. Each had just four points but did combine for 11 rebounds.

Considering how ineffective most of the starters were on offense, it's remarkable the Braves kept the game so close. But good defense does that - allows for the opportunity to steal a victory when your best players don't contribute as much as usual.

Looking across the court

The point that needs to be emphasized is how good this Northern Iowa team can be. The Panthers were coming off of two road victories against Southern Illinois and Illinois State where they controlled both contests.

The argument can be made that Northern Iowa did have an off night, especially from guards Kwadzo Ahelegbe (eight turnovers) and Johnny Moran (zero points). But the problems resulted more from the fact that Bradley defended well and wouldn't allow for too many open perimeter looks.

One of the most pleasant surprises was the game that senior center Sam Singh had. The Brave has been used sparsely this season but really helped to slow down the Panthers' talented big man, Jordan Eglseder. Singh chipped in three points to go along with his five rebounds.

Shortening the bench

Les has tightened up the rotation and only played eight guys tonight, electing to keep freshman forward Milos Knezevic and sophomore guard Eddren McCain on the bench. Both of these players' minutes have been slipping as the season has gone on, mostly it seems because of defense.

Maybe there are other things behind the scenes that Les is noticing in practice as well. At least he's not just sticking with rotations just for the sake of doing them.

Simms-Edwards saw significant spike in time, especially with how well he played against Ahelegbe. Since he's come off of the redshirt, guard Jake Eastman has also seemed to pass up McCain on the depth chart. Hopefully this will be a wake-up call for the speedy guard as McCain can still be a contributor for this team now and going forward.

Turning this into a positive

This has to be the most upbeat the team has been all season after a loss. And this is critical considering the schedule coming up. For starters, Bradley needed to realize it still can compete at a high level in the league after the drubbing it took at Missouri State on Saturday. Now just seven days later, the Braves have another crack at the Bears and have them at Carver Arena this time.

And then the schedule gradually gets easier for about a month. This team could be poised to go on a run if it can remember how it played tonight and not the previous three games. Maybe the Braves won't necessarily live up to all expectations, but the opportunity is coming to still salvage a lot from a tough first half of the season.

This point is really a crossroads to see what this team can truly be capable of doing - will it continue to be stuck in "neutral", hovering around .500? Or will the talent and cohesion start to show, possibly making a run at the upper half of the conference?

In Case You Missed It

Missouri Valley

Indiana State 88
Nebraska Kearney 58

Local story (Tribstar.com)
Statistics (.pdf, University website)

Northern Iowa 71
Nebraska Kearney 65

Local story (WCFcourier.com)
Statistics (University website)

National

The first big upset, as Rider wins at No. 18 Mississippi State, 88-74.

BYU's coach gets an contract extension.

Considering his track record and how the Cougars looked against Bradley tonight, it appears well-deserved.

Northwestern star forward Kevin Coble may need surgery.

Arkansas goes crazy, including an incredible shooting performance by Rotnei Clarke.

SI.com writer Michael Rosenberg writes an interesting article about players being "forced" to attend college.

Game Twenty-Three Recap: Northern Iowa @ Bradley

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Northern Iowa stunned Bradley 61-58 with five 3-pointers in the last 3:21 of the game to win its seventh straight road game and 11th overall.

The Panthers (17-6, 11-1) trailed 58-52 after guard Sam Maniscalco made two free throws with 1:38 to play. But Northern Iowa would get a trey in each of its last three possessions, the final one coming from Johnny Moran with five seconds left in the game.

The shocking finish veils a truly spirited effort from Bradley (13-10, 7-5). The host team trailed for nearly 28 minutes until a three point play by Maniscalco gave the Braves its first lead at 39-38. Maniscalco finished with a game high 19 points, scoring a number of his baskets in the first half when Bradley was having some trouble scoring.

Forward Theron Wilson also played well while battling foul trouble the entire game (13 points, five rebounds). But it was the post players for the Braves who really made some key contributions. Center David Collins finally showed some aggressiveness and ended up with 11 points, six rebounds and two dunks (both on plays where he might ordinarily try to lay it up).

Forward/center Sam Singh also chipped in six points. Ordinarily when the Braves get 17 from their post players, they win.

But, as is with any loss, there were also negatives. Northern Iowa center Jordan Eglseder was simply unstoppable in the first half, scoring all 12 of his points before halftime. Neither Collins or Singh seemed to pose much of a challenge and never received help from the rest of the Bradley defense who was overly concerned with shutting down the Panther 3-point attack.

The Braves tried to adjust during the break, focusing more attention on Eglseder. Credit Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobsen for shifting his offensive focus to forward Adam Koch. The senior hit all 10 of his free throw attempts in the game and helped force Bradley into bad foul trouble.

That's a big reason why Northern Iowa keeps winning. The Panthers have so many different options that whoever seems to be able to exploit a mismatch gets the ball. Point guard Kwadzo Ahelegbe took the reigns from Koch as the second half progressed, beating just about any Bradley defender who was matched up with him.

As the Braves defense had to start helping on Ahelegbe's drives to the hoop, this opened up a few layups for Lucas O'Rear as well as the 3-point barrage to finish the game. Ahelegbe had an assist on five of the last seven baskets for the Panthers.

While Bradley certainly could have defended better in the last few possessions of the game, give a ton of credit to the Panthers. Some of these makes were closely guarded and the Braves couldn't do much about it. Northern Iowa doesn't go 7-0 in league road games without making some very difficult shots.

Bradley's offensive execution didn't get it done either in the final moments. Guard Dodie Dunson, who had one of his worst games in awhile (2 points, 1-7 shooting), committed a bad turnover by dribbling the ball off of his foot. Maniscalco had another chance to make a game winning shot, but missed a layup in the waning moments for the second straight game.

Up next:

Another close game goes against the Braves and now they are falling back to the pack in the conference. Bradley temporarily sits in fourth place with all other teams in action tomorrow and faces two tough road games coming up (at Drake, at Creighton).

After such a promising start, the Braves are in danger of coming back to .500 if the road swing doesn't go well. The injuries to Andrew Warren and Will Egolf seem to be catching up with Bradley as the conference season goes on. The depth simply isn't as good as the top teams in the conference.

Though they could certainly finish higher, I think a 4th-6th place finish will be where the Braves end February. Drake is one of the teams battling for position and Bradley needs this next game even more than the Northern Iowa game (who weren't likely to be caught, even with a Bradley win).

Bradley @ Drake, 7:05 p.m., Sat. 2/7

(Interesting side note: As I wrote this story, I had no prior knowledge of what headline the PJ Star would use for their story. Yet, we both came out with "stunned" as the verb describing this one. I guess that one really sums up this game.)

Game Nineteen Recap: Bradley @ Northern Iowa

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(Sorry for the late post. Another commitment kept me from watching the game live, but I did check the game tonight on archive via BUBraves.tv.)

Some losses make you angry. Others are just disappointing.

Bradley's 66-61 loss to league-leading Northern Iowa (13-6, 7-1) certainly was the latter. The Braves (11-8, 5-3) led most of the game but simply couldn't hit enough shots down the stretch to secure another road win.

As much as people try to avoid mentioning them, the referees were a big story Wednesday night. Both teams were whistled way too closely throughout the game and had the benefit/hindrance of numerous lousy calls.

Unfortunately, the biggest call of the game went against Bradley with 22 seconds left in the game. The Braves trailed by only two points and were attempting to defend Northern Iowa's inbounds pass. Bradley's Dodie Dunson got called for an intentional foul before the ball was put into play, apparently holding up a Panther player from moving toward the baseline.

These sorts of decisions are really unfortunate, because both Northern Iowa and Bradley had battled so hard through the tightly contested game. There's no way a game should be decided on a call like that. UNI's Kwadzo Ahelegbe made both free throws, putting the Braves down by two possessions and effectively ending any hope for a comeback.

But, the focus can't entirely sit on the men in stripes. After a Dunson 3-pointer, Bradley held a 50-40 lead with 10 minutes to play in the game. How did the Braves get so far ahead on the road?

Hot shooting put Bradley ahead 10-0 and 15-5 in the first half of the game. The Braves hit 5-of-9 attempts from beyond the arc and shot 50 percent overall for the first 20 minutes. Team defense was also really good, forcing the Panthers into many bad turnovers and holding a good shooting team to just 7-of-21 shooting.

As the game wore on though, the shots started falling for UNI and not for the visitors. Bradley still held a 50-45 lead when forward/center Sam Singh, who had been having a pretty good game, missed an easy layup. UNI quickly countered with a layup by forward Adam Koch.

Things only got worse from that point forward as the Braves committed three turnovers during their next three possessions. Bradley looked as if it were just holding on for dear life.

Guard Sam Maniscalco had a very good game coming off the bench with 16 points. The sophomore had hit his first 22 free throw attempts in conference play, but missed with the score tied at 53 and about 3 minutes left.

A phantom foul call on guard Eddren McCain allowed Ahelegbe to make two free throws and give the Panthers the lead for good.

Individual observations:

To think Bradley had a chance to beat the UNI when leading scorer Theron Wilson got shutout is almost amazing. But, the Panthers did focus their attention on Wilson and really prevented him from getting many offensive looks at the basket. Wilson did contribute eight rebounds and a remarkable hustling play that resulted in a Bradley steal.

Dunson had another big game scoring, putting in 20 and making five 3-pointers. He hit a few important shots and helped Bradley have a chance.

It's a little worrisome how tentative McCain has been on the offensive side of the floor. He's shown the ability to knock down jump shots and slash to the hoop. Yet he passed on a couple wide open looks that he certainly could have made. He's still doing a good job of running the Bradley offense, but he (along with Maniscalco) needs to shoot more.

Forward Taylor Brown continues to show signs of why he'll be a starter by his sophomore or junior year at Bradley. His minutes have been limited because he plays Wilson's position, but his athleticism alone resulted in a great rebound basket. Given the opportunity, Brown continues to look like he'll be a great player at Bradley.

Next game:

The intense part of the schedule finally ends for the Braves. After a rigorous stretch (five of seven on the road with Creighton and Illinois State sandwiched in the middle at home), Bradley needs to get healthy on its next two opponents, Indiana State and Wichita State.

Both of these teams are clear bottom feeders in the league and Bradley has already beaten both on the road this season. To lose to either team at home would be inexcusable.

Indiana State at Bradley, Sat. 1/24, 6:05 p.m.