If you thought Bradley men’s basketball (16-6, 8-3 MVC) would feel the effects of a heartbreaking overtime loss to Indiana State, think again.
The Braves put last Saturday’s loss behind them to beat Northern Iowa 85-69 at Carver Arena on Wednesday, defeating the Panthers (12-10, 6-5 MVC) for the fourth consecutive time. Sixteen first-half points from junior guard Connor Hickman led Bradley to a 16-point halftime lead, enough to ensure the Braves’ eighth conference win.
“You always gotta have a bounce back game,” Hickman said. “I think the Indiana State game was an emotional loss, it was a really big game at their place, big crowd so we took that loss pretty hard but you gotta move on the next day and you gotta bounce back because you have a game in the next few days.”
Hickman finished with a team-high 22, his fifth time scoring over 20 points this season. Following a 38% shooting effort on Saturday, Hickman put a little something extra into Wednesday night’s performance.
“I came out a little mad, yeah, but just mostly focusing,” Hickman said. “You gotta handle business at home and I thought we did a good job of that today.”
More than anything, Hickman is playing with a new level of confidence, nearly averaging as many points this year as in his last two years combined. Against UNI, that confidence could be attributed to head coach Brian Wardle, who’s pregame speech inspired Hickman on the court.
“Before the game we got a speech about confidence is power in the face of adversity,” Hickman said. “When you have six, seven months of preparation … that’s a lot of time, a lot of time working on your game and I think I put in a lot of work this offseason and you just gotta trust your shot and know that every single one you put up might have a chance to go in.”
Wardle trusts Hickman’s shot as much as Hickman trusts his own, and his staff’s belief in the junior over the past three years is paying dividends.
“When [Hickman]’s aggressive like that for two halves, we’re tougher to guard and he definitely was like that,” Wardle said.
“[Hickman]’s consistent with his work,” graduate senior Malevy Leons said. “He’s always in the gym and the coaches know it will eventually pay off.”
On the first play of the game, Bradley drew up a play for Hickman, freeing him up in the corner for a three and foreshadowing what was to come. Following a pull-up from Trey Campbell, Hickman hit another three, helping the Braves start the contest on a 12-2 run.
“We went to [Hickman] to start this game, get him going faster and it’s always good when you see that first shot go in,” Wardle said. “He was in attack mode and he was in rhythm early.”
Bradley grew their lead to as much as 12 before UNI ripped off a 10-2 run to pull within four with 8:38 to go in the first half. This didn’t deter seniors Duke Deen or Darius Hannah, as they scored on back-to-back possessions to make it 27-19.
With just over six minutes to go in the half, Deen made the extra pass to Hickman for an open three. The next possession, Hickman did it again, knocking down his fourth three of the half to grow the Bradley lead to 11. The junior’s threes were a part of a 12-5 run for the Braves, one where they shot seven of eight from the field.
A couple minutes with no baskets ensued until Deen found freshman Demarion Burch cutting to the basket for an easy layup, making it 41-27. To top it all off, Leons hit a three at the buzzer, giving Bradley a 16-point halftime lead.
“It’s always nice to have a little bit of a cushion,” Wardle said. “It’s always nice, especially when you’re playing a really good team and a well-coached team.”
That cushion ended up being the difference, as the second half was an even 39-39 fight. UNI cut the lead down to nine early on, forcing Bradley into five fouls just five minutes in. A couple Christian Davis threes kept the Panthers at arm’s length, but a layup from Bowen Born cut the lead down to nine once again with 12:41 to play.
Leons lifted the Braves out of their drought, scoring six of the next eight points to grow the lead back to 13. But once again, UNI cut the lead to nine with under eight minutes to go.
“We just gotta do a better job not fouling,” Wardle said. “We have a lot of careless fouls right now where we don’t need them and it’s putting teams to foul lines. You can lose games doing that.”
Nine would be the smallest deficit the Panthers could muster, as Bradley went on a 10-2 run to grow the lead back to 16 and put the game away. The Braves never trailed on their way to victory.
“You always want to win and always want to dominate every game,” Leons said. “You cannot lay back in the Valley. The Valley is a very competitive league.”
Bradley was able to overcome a poor shooting night (8-30 from three) to get back in the win column, with Leons and Hannah putting up 18 and 12 points, respectively. The duo also combined for 17 rebounds, with Hannah contributing a season-high five blocks.
The team was even able to win despite just eight points from Deen, who scored 31 against Indiana State. The senior still got involved, however, dishing out seven assists and swiping three steals.
The Braves also shot 21-24 from the free throw line, a key ingredient to beating a formidable Panthers squad.
“They’re strong, they’re big. They got good post play, they got good guard play,” Wardle said. “I’d be shocked if they’re not at the top of the league and we still gotta go to their place which is always hard to play [at].”
The Braves head to Normal next to take on Illinois State, winners of three of their last four. While Bradley may have the upper hand on the Redbirds in the standings, the War on I-74 takes no prisoners, something the team’s veterans know all too well.
“Every game is a battle,” Hickman said. “You wanna stay in that top four so you’re not playing on Thursday [at Arch Madness].”
