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.)

Bracketbuster Announced - Another Chicago Game

The matchups were announced today for the annual BracketBuster weekend, giving an additional game to help boost the mid- and low-major school profiles for the NCAA tournament. But in a season where Bradley's 13-9 record simply isn't good enough to get an at-large bid, the event doesn't carry as much excitement as usual.

Though the top teams often go all over the country in order to play the featured matchups, many of the games take location more into account than actual record or RPI. If the Braves hadn't already faced them in December, they probably would have gotten Milwaukee (111 RPI - realtimerpi.com). But instead, the Braves drew the next team down in the Horizon League - Loyola (12-11, 150 RPI).

Overall, this doesn't really look like a great draw. Loyola has a 4-7 record in the Horizon League, good for 6th out of 10 teams. For the most part, the Ramblers have beaten the bad teams on their schedule and lost to the rest. They did beat Wisconsin-Green Bay at home, who knocked off nationally-ranked Butler tonight.

But, from a selfish point of view, this is a great development. Now I will get a chance to likely see another Bradley game in person and only have to travel a short distance to get there. Local yokels may complain down in Peoria, but with the amount of alumni that live in the area, this is always a great fit. I'd expect the Bradley fans to be even louder than the Loyola fans, just like last season.

Thinking ahead, this game will also provide a good schedule filler for next season in Peoria. With all of the tough non-conference games planned (at Brigham Young, at Butler, possibly at Iowa State, the Las Vegas tournament with two games against Utah, Oklahoma State or Illinois), a game like this will help round out the schedule to not make it impossible. Sure, Bradley should be better next year with Andrew Warren and Will Egolf returning from injury, but they still will need some easier opponents, too.

So, all you Chicago alumni get excited as the Braves are returning to Chicago. Hopefully they can take care of Loyola, who Bradley should be able to beat.

Other MVC games:

Northern Iowa at Siena

Illinois State at Niagara

George Mason at Creighton

Miami (OH) at Evansville

Austin Peay at Drake

Southern Illinois at Illinois Chicago

Cleveland State at Wichita State

Toledo at Indiana State

Missouri State at Tennessee-Martin

Game Twenty-Two Recap: Bradley @ Illinois State

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Squandering opportunities generally results in road losses.

For as well as Bradley (11-5, 7-4) played during stretches, the Braves couldn't come up with enough big plays to defeat the host Redbirds, falling 69-65. Illinois State (18-4, 7-4) evened the season series with Bradley and kept its home record a perfect 12-0.

Credit the Braves for their usual determination, climbing back even with ISU twice after falling behind by 9-10 points in each half. Forward Theron Wilson exhibited his senior leadership throughout, scoring 17 points, grabbing nine rebounds and making 9-of-9 from the free throw line.

In fact, Bradley had been woeful lately from the free throw line, only making 60.5 percent (23-of-38) during the last two home games. But today the Braves hit 14-of-15, helping keep the game close.

Unfortunately, the only miss came after an aggressive layup by guard Dodie Dunson with 30 seconds left in the game, pulling Bradley within 1 at 64-63. Too bad for the Bloomington native, who scored all 15 of his points in the second half. The miss summed up the day for the Braves, who simply never got any of the bounces to go their way.

Bradley still had a chance to tie or win with 15 seconds to go, trailing ISU 67-65. Guard Sam Maniscalco made a drive through the Redbird defense and had an easy layup bounce off the rim. But don't lay too much blame on Maniscalco, who knocked down two 3-pointers in the last 6:15 of the game. If he doesn't make those, Bradley never has a chance to take the tying shot.

Maniscalco's miss was the final one in a long list of botched close shots, many of which came big men David Collins and Sam Singh. Collins especially had one of his poorer games, missing five shots, all of which were either layups or ill-advised attempts. When Bradley wins, the team gets solid contributions from its big men. Nine points and six rebounds simply isn't enough from this duo on a nightly basis.

Another reason why Bradley managed to stay so close in the game was the lack of turnovers. The Braves only committed five in the game, but also only had nine assists.

For the first time in awhile, both Bradley and Illinois State are good teams. Each were a few points better on its home floor. Hopefully the two will meet up again in St. Louis to break the tie.

Next game:

Bradley's second tough stretch continues as it must host conference-leading Northern Iowa on Tuesday night. The Panthers won its 10th in a row today, beating Indiana State on the road. That makes a perfect 6-0 road record in MVC play for Northern Iowa.

The Panthers now lead the Valley by three games and will be hard to catch with four of its last six at home following the Bradley game. But the Braves need this win to keep pace with Illinois State. According to the league tiebreaker formula (which I plan on releasing the totals in the next couple days), Illinois State holds a pretty wide margin over Bradley in the event the two teams finish the season tied. A victory over the number one team in the MVC would go a long way to closing that gap.

Northern Iowa @ Bradley, 7:05 p.m., Tues. 2/3

Game Twenty-One Recap: Wichita State @ Bradley

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Bradley (13-8, 7-3) took care of business again against another bad Valley team. Even though Wichita State (9-12, 3-7) kept the game close for awhile, at no point did it feel like the Braves were in danger of losing. Beating the cellar dwellers at home is a necessity for any contender for a conference title. But the chances of actually taking that title may very well be decided in the next two games (at Illinois State, vs. Northern Iowa).

The statistics don't lie. Bradley did just about everything better than Wichita State (FG %, 3PT %, rebounding, points in the paint, fast break points, bench points, etc.). If it weren't for some careless turnovers, which still can be expected with how young this team is, Bradley would have won by 20 or more.

Give head coach Jim Les credit. He's had this team well exceed any fans' hopes coming into conference play considering the injuries to Andrew Warren and Will Egolf. Sure the team has lapses (see: the first three minutes when the Shockers led 6-0), but an overall commitment to team basketball has really allowed this team to thrive.

He's also doing a better job of spacing out the minutes. All nine guys who were in the regular rotation played at least 17 minutes. These splits will help the team grow for the rest of this season, be much more ready for next year and also allow everyone to be a bit fresher as the grind of conference play continues.

Bradley hung not one, but two lengthy scoring droughts on Wichita State (zero points for six minutes in the first half, two points for five and a half minutes in the second). The second of these proved to be the most pivotal sequence of the game.

The Braves led 36-34 with just under 15 minutes to go when a steal by guard Sam Maniscalco ignited the run. The play ended in guard Chris Roberts going to the line and missing both free throws. But senior leader Theron Wilson grabbed a pivotal rebound and scored to put Bradley up four.

The next five possessions included four scores: a 3-pointer by guard Dodie Dunson, a great Sam-to-Sam assist (Maniscalco to Sam Singh), a transition hoop by guard Eddren McCain and another 3-pointer, this one by Maniscalco (who had been having a really tough game from the floor). Bradley also had three steals in that stretch and suddenly the lead was up to 48-36.

The Shockers had one last run in them, cutting the score to 53-44 on a J.T. Durley layup with 5:40 left. But the Braves quickly answered on the next possession with another huge 3-pointer from Dunson. Wilson iced the game by taking a charge and then throwing down a huge tip slam dunk at 4:12.

Dunson, who finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, had another impressive game. Wilson's 11 points and six rebounds also helped in securing the win. But others may have had almost as important of an influence on the outcome.

Maniscalco needs to be recognized, as he had an awful game shooting (2-12 from the floor) but didn't let it affect the rest of his performance. His four assists and no turnovers were especially important because McCain had one of his worst games in awhile. Not only was the Bradley freshman making more inexperienced turnovers, but he also was playing the game too fast and didn't help the Braves get in sync early. Maniscalco helped settle down the team and show more leadership even though he hasn't been starting lately.

Freshmen Taylor Brown and Darian Norris continue to earn more minutes with their athleticism and work ethic. They also make their share of mistakes, but this can be expected at their age. Unless Bradley gets a junior college forward, nothing should stop Brown from having a good chance at being a starter next year.

Next game:

The last two wins have certainly helped to build some confidence going into two of the biggest games of the season. First up: Illinois State. Not only will the Redbirds be out for revenge in round two of the War on 74, but a disappointing loss at Northern Iowa tonight will have the 'Birds extra angry. Instead of moving one game out of first place, now Illinois State could possibly fall into fourth or fifth place in the Valley.

Even though Bradley beat ISU once, don't expect this game to be any easier — not that records matter in the rivalry. These games are generally close, especially at Redbird Arena. And for once, the ISU fans will actually fill the arena, so expect about the usual hostile environment (especially with all the profanity thrown around inside).

The next two will prove how much of a contender Bradley can really be. A split should be a reasonable expectation, but who knows how far the overachieving Braves can go?

Bradley at Illinois State, 3:05 p.m., Sat. 1/31

Game Twenty Recap: Indiana State @ Bradley

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This year's Bradley team doesn't resemble the 1985-86 squad in talent or success. But it did do exactly what the 32-3 Braves did throughout conference play — win.

Bradley (12-8, 6-3) finished a season sweep of Indiana State (4-16, 2-7) with a 68-56 victory at Carver Arena on Saturday night. Freshman guard Eddren McCain led a balanced attack with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Overall, the Braves shot 56.8 percent from the floor (25-of-44) including 7-of-15 from beyond the arc.

The formula for Bradley's success this season was followed again: make jump shots, play good defense and get to the free throw line. The Sycamores only shot 40 percent from the floor and had to settle for tossing up too many 3-pointers (9-of-31).

The last part of the equation was poor again by percentage, as Bradley only hit 11-of-20 free throws (55 percent). But, the Braves still hit eight more than Indiana State. If Bradley hits an average percentage, this game may have been a rout.

Credit the Sycamores for hanging with Bradley for awhile. Indiana State led 14-10 with 11 minutes to go in the first half when the Braves went on a 10-2 run to take a lead for good.

The game might have been within a few points at halftime though if it weren't for guard Sam Maniscalco. He knocked down two 3-pointers in the final minute, the last of which coming with just a few seconds on the clock. The dramatic finish gave Bradley a 32-24 advantage.

The Braves led stayed around 8 to 10 points until the 9:30 mark of the second half. The home squad went on a 9-0 run for the next four minutes, making the score 59-42.

The exclamation point on the game may have came with 8 minutes to go when forward Theron Wilson stole the ball and ran it down for a thundering dunk. This was just one of 15 steals Bradley had in the game, using its quickness to disrupt Indiana State all night.

Trying to single out a player of the game might be tough, as six different players had at least seven points. Bradley certainly wasn't perfect — the poor free throw shooting and 16 turnovers still need improvement. But the Braves also did what you need to do be a contender in the Valley — win your home games, especially against the bottom of the league.

Note: Maniscalco left the game after stepping on an Indiana State player's foot during a botched alley-oop play near the end of regulation. Hopefully this will just be a little soreness and he'll be good for the next game Wednesday.

Next game:

Bradley has another game it must win coming up Wednesday night against Wichita State. The Shockers have won three in a row, but all of these have been at home. They haven't won a road game all season and the Braves must keep it that way. Just like Indiana State, if you can beat someone on the road, you can certainly win on your home court against them as well.

Wichita State @ Bradley, Wed. 1/28, 7:05 p.m.