Thursday, December 29
Peoria, IL
7 PM
Southern Illinois University
7-7, 0-1MVC
51
at
60
Bradley
6-8, 1-0MVC
1
2
F
Southern Illinois
23
28
51
Bradley
23
37
60
Late treys lift Bradley past Men's Basketball, 60-51
12/29/2016 | 10:06:00 | Men's Basketball
PEORIA, Ill. — In a defensive tug-of-war, Bradley busted loose for four 3-pointers during a three-minute stretch to turn a 40-40 tie into a 60-51 win over Southern Illinois on Thursday night in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams.
Nate Kennell hit a pair of treys during the decisive run for the Braves (6-8, 1-0), while Darrell Brown and Luke van Bree also added clutch triples. Neither team led by more than six points until Bradley's late run.
The Salukis (7-7, 0-1), who dropped their conference opener for the sixth time in the last seven years, were the definition of frigid, converting 27 percent from the field — the eight-lowest field goal shooting performance in school history. They were an icy 2-for-26 from 3-point range.
"I've never seen anything like that in all my life," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. "There was only one of those threes that was contested, and it was the last one in the corner. We missed 23 uncontested threes."
Southern's best 3-point shooter all season has been Armon Fletcher, but he was 0-for-9 tonight. Only Leo Vincent, who went 2-for-9, could connect from downtown.
Statistically, SIU did enough other things well to win on the road. The Salukis forced 21 turnovers, while committing only nine. They grabbed 21 offensive rebounds. They just couldn't make shots.
"We guarded, we rebounded, we only made nine turnovers on the road," Hinson said. "We got to go to the free throw line 21 times but we miss eight. We get up 66 shots. It's one stat — seven percent from the three."
Bradley entered the game with a reputation for turning it over, and the Salukis tried to take advantage with heavy ball pressure. It worked early. Bradley started game with turnovers on five of its first six trips down the floor. During crunch time, though, the Braves went the final five minutes without a miscue.
"I thought our young guys really responded to adversity throughout the game and kept plugging away," said Bradley coach Brian Wardle. "Defense kept us in the game and helped us win it. It took us 20-25 minutes to really find that rhythm (on offense). Just really proud of how we made our free throws down the stretch, how we defended. Obviously, we executed pretty well in the last five minutes."
The score was tied, 23-23, at halftime in a shaky offensive performance for both teams. Wardle said the key for his offense at the end of the game was the skip pass across the court to open shooters.
"I told them at halftime, welcome to league play," Wardle said. "They're going to take you out of what you want to do. You have to be able to adapt and adjust in the second half and take what the defense gives you."
In his second season at Bradley, Wardle is continuing a complete overhaul of the program. The team has no seniors and plays four freshmen and four sophomores in it's 10-man rotation. Brown, a freshman point guard had 14 points, four assists and only two turnovers to lead the Braves.
"DB was a rock out there for us for playing so many minutes (35) and only having two turnovers against that kind of pressure and experience," Wardle said.
Said Hinson, "He did not play like a freshman. We were on him all night long, and he outplayed both our point guards."
There were some bright spots for SIU. Sean O'Brien had 10 points and 10 rebounds and became the 45th player in school history to reach 1,000 points in his career. The team's 21 offensive rebounds were a season-high.
In a nip-and-tuck game, Hinson was less demonstrative on the sideline than usual.
"I made my mind up — it was kind of my New Year's Resolution," he explained. "Maybe I need to go back to being the person I used to be and get in their (butt) more."
Nate Kennell hit a pair of treys during the decisive run for the Braves (6-8, 1-0), while Darrell Brown and Luke van Bree also added clutch triples. Neither team led by more than six points until Bradley's late run.
The Salukis (7-7, 0-1), who dropped their conference opener for the sixth time in the last seven years, were the definition of frigid, converting 27 percent from the field — the eight-lowest field goal shooting performance in school history. They were an icy 2-for-26 from 3-point range.
"I've never seen anything like that in all my life," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. "There was only one of those threes that was contested, and it was the last one in the corner. We missed 23 uncontested threes."
Southern's best 3-point shooter all season has been Armon Fletcher, but he was 0-for-9 tonight. Only Leo Vincent, who went 2-for-9, could connect from downtown.
Statistically, SIU did enough other things well to win on the road. The Salukis forced 21 turnovers, while committing only nine. They grabbed 21 offensive rebounds. They just couldn't make shots.
"We guarded, we rebounded, we only made nine turnovers on the road," Hinson said. "We got to go to the free throw line 21 times but we miss eight. We get up 66 shots. It's one stat — seven percent from the three."
Bradley entered the game with a reputation for turning it over, and the Salukis tried to take advantage with heavy ball pressure. It worked early. Bradley started game with turnovers on five of its first six trips down the floor. During crunch time, though, the Braves went the final five minutes without a miscue.
"I thought our young guys really responded to adversity throughout the game and kept plugging away," said Bradley coach Brian Wardle. "Defense kept us in the game and helped us win it. It took us 20-25 minutes to really find that rhythm (on offense). Just really proud of how we made our free throws down the stretch, how we defended. Obviously, we executed pretty well in the last five minutes."
The score was tied, 23-23, at halftime in a shaky offensive performance for both teams. Wardle said the key for his offense at the end of the game was the skip pass across the court to open shooters.
"I told them at halftime, welcome to league play," Wardle said. "They're going to take you out of what you want to do. You have to be able to adapt and adjust in the second half and take what the defense gives you."
In his second season at Bradley, Wardle is continuing a complete overhaul of the program. The team has no seniors and plays four freshmen and four sophomores in it's 10-man rotation. Brown, a freshman point guard had 14 points, four assists and only two turnovers to lead the Braves.
"DB was a rock out there for us for playing so many minutes (35) and only having two turnovers against that kind of pressure and experience," Wardle said.
Said Hinson, "He did not play like a freshman. We were on him all night long, and he outplayed both our point guards."
There were some bright spots for SIU. Sean O'Brien had 10 points and 10 rebounds and became the 45th player in school history to reach 1,000 points in his career. The team's 21 offensive rebounds were a season-high.
In a nip-and-tuck game, Hinson was less demonstrative on the sideline than usual.
"I made my mind up — it was kind of my New Year's Resolution," he explained. "Maybe I need to go back to being the person I used to be and get in their (butt) more."
Team Stats
SIU
BRAD
FG%
.273
.419
3FG%
.077
.476
FT%
.619
.737
RB
39
40
TO
9
21
STL
10
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
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