Tag Archives: Bradley

Bradley Arch Madness Preview — 3-3-2018

Posted on March 6, 2018 | By: John C. Thomas | Leave a comment

Saturday, March 3, 2018 2:30 p.m.
Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Mo.

Loyola advances to the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference tournament semifinals with a nerve-wracking 54-50 victory over Northern Iowa. Donte Ingram and Marques Townes were the two offensive stars for the Ramblers, scoring 13 points each on combined 11 for 19 shooting from the field. The win was Loyola’s eighth win in a row, constituting Loyola’s longest winning streak since 1984-85. Loyola has had seven 7-game winning streaks in the past 12 seasons, but hasn’t won eight in a row since their 19-game winning streak was ended by Georgetown in the 1985 Sweet 16.

This is the second time the Ramblers have reached the Arch Madness semifinals, the last time being in 2015, when Northern Iowa knocked the 6th seed Ramblers out of the tournament on the way to a title and a 2nd round NCAA Tournament loss to Louisville. Loyola went on to win the CBI that season.

Loyola will face Bradley, who advanced to the semifinals thanks to a thrilling, last second 63-61 win over Drake. Bradley’s only senior, Donte Thomas, had an offensive rebound and put-back just before time ran out. Thomas has been a similar player to Loyola’s Donte Ingram over his career, and the two have had some fierce battles during the nine games they’ve played over their careers. In their last meeting on Jan. 31, Thomas got the better of the other Donte, getting a win, scoring 12 points, and holding Ingram to a season-low two points. Ingram has scored 91 points against Bradley in the nine games, and Thomas has scored 65. Their tenth meeting will determine whose college basketball career continues, and whose comes to an end.

The Ramblers are 2-0 against the Braves at Arch Madness. Loyola and Bradley are meeting for the 60th time in a series that dates back to 1928. The Braves hold a 34-25 advantage all-time, but the Ramblers have won eight of the last 10 contests.

Last time the two teams met, the Braves survived a furious late comeback attempt by the Ramblers on Jan. 31 at Carver Arena, when Loyola cut an 11-point deficit down to 1 with two minutes to go, but lost 69-67. Bradley freshman Elijah Childs was superb in that game, scoring 18 points and snagging seven rebounds. Three other Bradley players, Donte Thomas, Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, and Nate Kennell, added 12 points apiece. Clayton Custer led Loyola with 23 points.

Since their last meeting, the Braves have struggled to close out the season losing five of their last seven regular season games before their win on Friday. Many Bradley fans feel that they match up well with Loyola, and as one of the three MVC teams that beat Loyola during the conference season and one of two teams all year to beat Loyola with Clayton Custer in the lineup, they have a solid claim.

Arch Madness Tournament Notebook: http://www.mvc-sports.com/sports/2017/8 … ntral.aspx

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/documents … df?id=6898

Bradley game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: CBS Sports Network / https://www.cbssports.com/cbssports

Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=209934

Vegas odds: Loyola by 6.5

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Game Previews

Tagged , , ,

Bradley Preview — 1-31-2018

Posted on January 30, 2018 | By: John C. Thomas | Leave a comment

Wednesday, January 31, 2018 7:00 p.m.
Carver Arena, Peoria, Ill.

Bradley is simply a different team at home than they are on the road. The Braves are 11-0 in the friendly confines of Carver Arena, and the only remaining MVC team that’s undefeated at home. The Braves average 71 points on offense at home, but only 64.6 on the road. That’s a significant difference, but the major difference between the “home” Bradley and the “road” Bradley is on defense—the Braves give up an average of 71.1 points to opponents on the road, but only 54.8 points on average at home. To illustrate the difference, on Jan. 6 Bradley was demolished at Evansville by a score of 68-44. Two weeks later at Carver Arena, the Braves beat the same team by a score of 66-53.

Bradley Braves

Loyola handled Bradley fairly easily in their first matchup of the season, winning 81-65 on Jan. 13 at Gentile Arena in Chicago. Cam Krutwig had a monster game, leading the Ramblers in points (21) and rebounds (13) for the first double-double of his career, and career highs in both categories.

After the Loyola game, Coach Brian Wardle removed 6’11” sophomore Koch Bar from the starting lineup and replaced him with 6’7” freshman forward Elijah Childs. The rest of the starters are the same: 5’10” sophomore point guard Darrell Brown, 6’4” junior guard Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, 6’3” sophomore guard Jayden Hodgson, and 6’7” senior forward Donte Thomas. The new starters have won three of their last four games, including three in a row, and their first road conference game last time out.

Donte Thomas is the lone senior on the Bradley roster, and averages 10.3 points and a team-leading 6.9 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game. He’s really picked up his game since playing Loyola, averaging 11.8 points and recording two double-doubles. Elijah Childs has thrived since joining the starting lineup; he went for 12 points and 12 boards against Missouri State last Wednesday, and now averages 8.5 points and 6.2 rebounds. The defense of Childs and Thomas helped to hold MSU’s Alize Johnson to only seven points and five rebounds in Bradley’s 72-52 win.

Darrell Brown is the sparkplug for Bradley; the 5’11” guard leads the team in minutes, field goal attempts, free throw attempts, assists, turnovers, and points per game (13.4). He is a dangerous three-point shooter (39.4%), and he adds some energy and emotion to a Bradley team that is often reserved. Joining him in the backcourt are Hodgson, a three-point threat who averages 4.7 points per game, and one of the original Wardle recruits Lautier-Ogunleye, a tenacious defender who averages 6.3 points and 4.9 rebounds.

Coming off the bench, Koch Bar is a good rim protector—he averages 5.1 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. He contributes some blocks, but is prone to fouls. Six-six sophomore guard Nate Kinnell is from nearby Metamora, Ill., and leads the team in made threes while averaging 9.3 points per game. Kinnell was 7 for 9 behind the arc and had a game-high 25 points in Bradley’s last outing, an 81-73 win at Indiana State. Luuk van Bree, the 6’9” junior forward, adds 5.3 points and shoots 46.5% from behind the arc.

At 16-7 overall and 6-3 in conference with eight regular-season games to go, Bradley is on pace for their best season since at least 2008-09. Fans are starting to make their way back to Carver Arena, where Bradley leads the league in home attendance with an average of 5126 per game. There were 6285 at BU’s game against Evansville, the third largest home crowd in the league this year after the Illinois State home game against the nearby Braves and 6355 when UNI hosted #8 Xavier.

The Ramblers have also surged since they last faced the Braves. Loyola has won all four games since their meeting with Bradley, winning the last four games by an average of 19 points. Four different players have led the team in scoring in the last five games as Loyola’s win streak has stretched to seven—the longest conference winning streak for the Ramblers since 1984-85. Loyola’s 6’1” junior point guard Clayton Custer, the MVC’s reigning Player of the Week, has surged to the forefront of MVC Player of the Year conversation during that stretch.

With Loyola in first place and Bradley tied for second, expect the Peoria media to call erstwhile Bradley fans out to Carver Arena. The Braves and Ramblers have a long history, beginning in the 1927-28 season and including 58 contests over 91 seasons, with Bradley holding a 33-25 advantage. The Ramblers are 8-3 against the Braves since joining the MVC, and 3-1 at Carver Arena, including the last three trips to Peoria. On Nov. 27, 1982, Bradley beat Loyola 90-82 in the inaugural game in Carver Arena. Loyola freshman guard Lucas Williamson won a state title on that floor last March, and Donte Ingram was a junior on the 2013 Simeon state title won there.

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/documents … df?id=5827

Bradley game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago / http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3245467/ … basketball

Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/bradley/mbball/

Vegas odds: Pending

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Game Previews

Tagged , ,

Bradley Preview — 01-13-2018

Posted on January 12, 2018 | By: John C. Thomas | Leave a comment

Saturday, January 13, 2018 3:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Bradley University hired Coach Brian Wardle in April 2015 to bring competence and stability to a program in chaos as legal issues and losing seasons were piling up in Peoria. Loyola fans knew of Wardle from his days at Green Bay, where he led the Phoenix rebound to the top of the Horizon League. After two seasons of struggle to right the ship, the program seems to be coming together for the Braves in 2017-18 with a stingy defense and just enough offensive ability to enter the top half of a Missouri Valley landscape characterized by parity.

Wardle started off by bringing along a few recruits he discovered at Green Bay and signing up just about anyone else who could dribble and follow directions. Ten freshmen were on his first squad at Bradley, and while some developed and some washed out, he’s added several recruits since who have some high quality talent. Five of the original ten are still on the team, and while some no longer start, they add experience, familiarity with the system, and a work ethic that helps guide the talented newcomers.

The Braves defense is formidable. KenPom.com ranks Bradley’s defensive efficiency at 35th in the country, just below Kansas and Ohio State, and a notch better than New Mexico State and Oklahoma. That’s some impressive company. The package comes together best at Carver Arena, where growing crowds enthusiastically cheer on their team’s tight defense and Bradley opponents are averaging just 53.3 points per game. Away from home, however, confidence levels and whistles are less predictable; the Braves give up an average of 69.3 points in road games and 66 at neutral sites.

Bradley has settled on a starting five of 5’10” sophomore point guard Darrell Brown, 6’4” junior guard Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, 6’3” sophomore guard Jayden Hodgson, 6’11” sophomore center Koch Bar, and 6’7” senior forward Donte Thomas. These are the players that have earned starting spots over a very deep and experienced bench, and they did so primarily by playing hard defense.

Donte Thomas would likely start on just about any MVC team, and is the only starter who shoots better than 44% from the field. Thomas, the Chicago-area native and lone senior on the roster, has been a thorn in Loyola’s side since the Geno Ford regime at Bradley. In seven career games against the Ramblers, Thomas has had a game-winning shot at Gentile Arena and two double-doubles against the Ramblers while averaging 6.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. This year, he’s averaging 10.0 points and a team-leading 6.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.

Darrell Brown is what makes the Braves go offensively. The diminutive but solidly-built point guard leads the team in minutes, field goal attempts, free throw attempts, assists, turnovers, and points per game (13.2). He is a better three-point shooter (40%) than from two (36.8%), but he gets to the line quite a bit and adds a lot on defense. Joining him in the backcourt are Hodgson, a three-point threat who averages 4.8 points per game, and one of the original Wardle recruits Lautier-Ogunleye, who averages 5.6 points and 5.1 rebounds.

Center Koch Bar is a very good rim protector, and averages 5.7 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. He contributes some blocks, but is prone to fouls. Thomas and Bar get a lot of frontcourt support from the bench in the person of 6’7” freshman forward Elijah Childs, who might be the most promising and athletic recruit at Bradley since the early Geno years. Childs leads the team in blocks and ranks second in field goal percentage while averaging 8.1 points and 5.9 rebounds in an average of 18.4 minutes per game.

Six-six sophomore guard Nate Kinnell leads the team in three point attempts off the bench, and averages 8.9 points per game. Luuk van Bree, the 6’9” junior forward, adds 6.1 points and provides a surprising outside shot threat—he leads the team in three-point percentage.

Don’t expect a very pretty game against Bradley. The Braves have shot below 40% from the field in all but one of their five losses. They’re not great free throw shooters, but getting to the line is a big part of their offense—so keeping them away from the foul line is important. Bradley averages 14.6 free throw attempts in their five losses, but 22.5 attempts in their 13 wins. Only one team has beaten Bradley while shooting less than 43% from the field, but the best any team this season has performed against Bradley is Evansville’s 49% last Saturday.

The Ramblers know a little something about defense, too. Since conference play began, Loyola is holding their opponents to 59 points per game. On Wednesday, the Ramblers held Illinois State to their lowest point total of the season on their home court, and that was three days after holding UNI to their lowest point total of the season on their home court. Points will be hard to come by on Saturday, even with the Ramblers’ usually efficient offense.

Loyola game notes: http://www.loyolaramblers.com/documents … df?id=4798

Bradley game notes: https://bradleybraves.com/documents/201 … df?id=7049

TV/Streaming video: NBC Sports Chicago / http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3244986/ … basketball (Outside IL-MO-IN-IA)

Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=189599

Vegas odds: Pending

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Game Previews

Tagged