photo via Scout Archives
The Bradley men’s basketball team got its first look of the season at Carver Arena last Sunday as it defeated University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 83-66 in its only exhibition game of the season.
The exhibition allowed the Braves to have somewhat of a dress rehearsal before the season opens tonight.
Bradley was led by sophomore guards Antoine Pittman and Ronnie Suggs, who put up 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Braves got off to a great start Sunday, shooting 50 percent from the floor in the opening eight minutes as Suggs got into a good rhythm from behind the three-point arch.
“The ball movement was definitely quick,” Suggs said. “We have this little twirl motion that we run, which is meant for us to be able to skip the ball and get a lot of good movement. My teammates saw me on a lot of open plays, and I was able to make the shots.”
Freshman center Koch Bar provided protection around the basket throughout the whole game, which is something Bradley struggled with last season.
“When he plays with discipline and jumps vertically, even if he doesn’t block shots, he makes people change the projection of [their shot], double pump or kick it out,” Wardle said. “Overall, when Koch is in there, there’s no doubt that cylinder is a lot harder to score on with his long arms and his ability to alter shots.”
Toward the end of the first half, the Braves started to lose a little bit of integrity on the defensive end, but the team went into the locker room with a 41-30 lead.
“Defensively, I feel like we challenged a lot of shots, and we forced them to drive the ball a lot more,” Suggs said. “They only had three [three-pointers] made the entire game, so I think we played really well on the perimeter. We’ve gotta work on being able to keep them from getting too close to the paint. We want to make them shoot mid-range jumpers.”
In the second half, the Braves looked more confident as a team. Freshman point guard Darrell Brown led the offense as he showed his ability to facilitate and score.
“I think he let the game come to him,” Wardle said. “I think the first 10 minutes he really tried to playmake and get others shots. Overall, he tried to run the show, and he picked his spots to score when we needed it in that second half. [Brown] and Jayden [Hodgson] are still learning. For freshmen to come out and play out there like they did and have the ball in their hand the whole game, I was happy.”
Wardle said Pittman and sophomore guard Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye also provided strong leadership throughout the game.
“I think they’re our two most vocal guys consistently every day,” Wardle said. “They’re both strong, physical guards that love contact. I think that when you’ve got guys like that and you can surround them with some guys that can knock some shots down, it’s a good combination.”
Overall, Wardle said the exhibition gave the team a good opportunity to and get more experience playing together as a unit play in front of the home crowd at Carver.
[I’m] proud of the team’s effort and attitude,” Wardle said. “I think we had some real bright spots. I got to play a lot of different guys and different lineups together. If we can play at the pace I want to play at, we’ll go 9-10 deep for sure. I think we can go big with a lineup or small, but I definitely like when we’re out there and playing fast.”
After the game, team members invited all the children in attendance to come down to the floor and shoot around with them in an effort to introduce themselves and continue their involvement in the Peoria community.
“I was once a little kid like that, loving to watch the older guys play basketball,” Suggs said. “It’s always good giving kids a little experience and just to have fun. You only get these days so many times. I just love being able to hang out with them and just help make their day because they look up to us. We’re role models to them, and it’s just good to see them come out to the games and support us.”
The Braves officially open their season at 7 p.m. tonight at Carver Arena against University of Illinois-Springfield.
