To say Bradley’s defense has been middling this season would be quite accurate.
The team has surrendered 72.4 points per game, ranking sixth in the Missouri Valley and has struggled to find consistency on that side of the ball all season.
Their struggles all came to a head on Jan. 24, when the Illinois-Chicago Flames traveled to Carver Arena, blew out the Braves in their home stadium and hung 85 points on the board.
Since that game, though, Bradley has begun to click on defense. In the five games that followed the disaster against the Flames, the Braves have held three of those opponents to 65 points or less.
With a matchup against Southern Illinois, which ranked first in the country in percentage of points scored off two-pointers, Bradley was going to need to buckle down defensively if they wanted to shut down the Saluki offense.
In an attempt to close off the paint, head coach Brian Wardle opted to go big and start the duo of Corey Thomas and Ahmet Jonovic in Sunday’s matchup against Southern Illinois.
“I’ve been saying after that UIC game, we wanted to play longer and bigger at the three, four and five,” Wardle said. “That’s how we feel. If we’re going to have any chance to win this thing, it’s that way. Our defensive numbers were not good, but they have improved over the last two weeks, and we made some big jumps, so we have got to continue to build off that.”
Mirrored Halves
The Braves continuously rotated Thomas and Jonovic with AJ Smith, Timoty van der Knapp and Kai Yu, providing multiple tough defensive looks that the Salukis struggled to break. With their combination of veterans and younger players, they had held Southern Illinois to just 28 points at halftime.
However, Bradley didn’t match their defensive acumen with offensive execution, and after taking an 18-6 lead, they went scoreless for nearly seven minutes, allowing the Salukis to scratch and claw their way back into the game.
The second half was strikingly similar to the first. Bradley jumped out to a hot start, propelled by four three-point makes to jump out to a 51-39 lead with 10:09 to play.
“I just think we came out in the second half and really defended well,” Wardle said. “You’ve got to build a wall in transition defense, make them play against your half-court and you’ve got to guard the three-point line. And we were able to do that for the majority of the game today.”
But just as they had in the first half, Southern Illinois would not go down without a fight.
The Braves hit a three-point attempt to make their lead twelve, then the switch flipped, and the Salukis, led by sophomore guard Quel’Ron House, embarked on a 13-2 run to cut Bradley’s lead to one.
With Bradley’s offense having gone stagnant yet again, they turned to a familiar name to try to close out their eighth win in a row over Southern Illinois.
Bully takes over…again
To that point, sophomore point guard Jaquan Johnson was having a solid outing — 12 points and three assists put him well on his way towards his averages — but the Braves needed more.
Johnson delivered.
Across the final six minutes, Johnson bullied the Saluki defense, doubling his point total and restoring the Braves’ grasp on the game.
“The guys in the locker room just give me confidence,” Johnson said. “I love guys like Jackson [Seastrunk]. He’s giving me a lot of confidence and hyping me up, telling me that guys can’t guard me and things like that. Coming into the second half, I was just knowing that I’ve got to do anything to win.”
Johnson layed in a shot with 2:44 to play to put Bradley ahead by six, but a quick layup and-1 from Southern Illinois’ top scorer Quel’Ron House brought the lead back down to three. In a crucial possession, the Braves turned to yet another scorer to ice the game.
Graduate guard Alex Huibregtse, who had knocked down a late-game-tying three just six days prior against Belmont, hit yet another clutch shot from beyond the arc to restore the six-point advantage. Johnson followed that up with a layup and two free throws to ice out a 70-60 victory.
“We just knew they were a very scrappy, well-coached team,” Huibregtse said. “They’re not going to go away. House is making plays down the stretch and getting to the line. And we knew they were not going to go away at home, so we felt them there.”
Milestone moment
The win on Sunday marked a key milestone for Brian Wardle. It was his 111th all-time win in the Missouri Valley Conference, making him the winningest Brave coach in conference history since the school joined the MVC in 1948.
“It’s something I’ll reflect on when the season is over, for sure,” Wardle said. “But anytime there’s individual accolades, you just think of the team effort that has helped you get to where you are, and you’re in gratitude towards the administration, your staff and your players that you’ve coached.”
“This is a total team game, even for a head coach,” Wardle added. “So I’m just grateful for everyone that I’ve been surrounded with and keep trying to add on to that, but it’s something I’ll think about more and reflect on when the season is done.”
As Wardle gained another accolade in his tenure, the Braves lost a member of their family. Sunday evening it was announced by Bradley Athletics that former Brave player and coach Joe Stowell passed away at the age of 99.
Stowell began his time at Bradley first as a player from 1947-50, and was a part of the first Braves squad that competed in the Missouri Valley Conference.
In 1965, Stowell was named head coach of the men’s basketball program, leading the team until 1978. By the end of his tenure, Stowell was the second-winningest coach in Bradley history. He then led the women’s basketball team from 1981-83 as they transitioned into Division I play.
After the game, Wardle gave his condolences and reflected on Stowell’s legacy.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the Stowell family,” Wardle said. “What a life, what a legacy. You talk about leaving a legacy of making places better than when they were. You always want to leave a place better than it was when you got there, and coach Stowell and his family can be so proud of what he did for Bradley University, Bradley Athletics and basketball in general.”
“It was an honor to meet him and get to know him a little bit,” Wardle added. “Some older Bradley fans tell me I have a little coach Stowell in me, so I take that with a badge of honor.”
Wardle will look to add to his conference win total next on Wednesday, when the Braves travel to Valparaiso to take on the Beacons. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
