The last time Bradley (15-3, 6-1 MVC) and Indiana State (9-9, 3-4 MVC) played each other, the Braves won 90-89 on the road via a last-second layup, courtesy of senior guard Duke Deen.
The Sycamores traveled to Carver Arena on Wednesday, but the game was much different than their previous matchup. Bradley did a better job defending, spreading the ball around and playing with pace, en route to a 118-65 win.
The 118-point mark was the most in a Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) game in Bradley’s history and the seventh-highest point total in Braves history for any game.
“I don’t think it mattered who we were playing today; I thought we were pretty dialed in and playing the right way,” head coach Brian Wardle said. “They caught us on a night. On the road in this league, this can happen if you let a team get going and you don’t have it. We were rolling tonight.”
Reserves right the ship
Bradley was led by its bench, which had been outscored in three straight games heading into Wednesday night and ranked in the 46th percentile in points per game. The Braves reserves were due for a big scoring night and poured in 59 points to nearly match Indiana State’s point total.
Senior guard Connor Dillon and freshman guard Jaquan Johnson were pivotal. The duo combined for 37 points, four assists and nine rebounds.
“They’re in the gym shooting all the time in the morning,” Wardle said of the duo’s work ethic. “It’s good to see Quan and Dil with active hands. I like seeing those steal numbers for us. We’re going to need that defensively moving forward.”
Johnson has continued to find his footing in his first year. As the season has progressed, the Milwaukee native has become more decisive with the ball and made fewer mistakes. The guard is using his feel, change of pace and vision to diagnose pick-and-roll coverages to get a bucket or get his teammates involved.
Wednesday, he brought everything together, finishing with 17 points, four rebounds and three assists. Johnson also knocked down two three’s for the first time this season and seems to be gaining more confidence in his jump shot.
“I’m ready for anything, honestly,” Johnson said. “Put me out there, and I will be ready to hoop. The coaches, they’ve told me to be the same Quan I was in high school. They’re a good coaching staff. They’ll be honest with you and won’t tell you anything that they’re not going to do. I felt like coming here, I could have a role like this.”
Johnson’s performance was no shock to Wardle and the Braves coaching staff.
“I thought he would be an impactful freshman, even though he’s behind some vets,” Wardle said. “He gets to his spots. He’s physical, and the physicality of this game doesn’t bother him. You get a feel of a guy’s desire when you get him for a few months. We knew he had feel, but his basketball IQ is really high, too. Quany is going to get better and better because he has great IQ and great feel.”
Dillon has also begun to play to his potential after a back injury hampered his start to the season. The Peoria native has given Bradley’s medical staff a lot of credit in the past for working to get him as healthy as possible this season, but he is still playing through injury.
“I feel good right now,” Dillon said. “I am definitely a lot more in shape. I had a herniated disc, so I would have to get surgery if I really wanted to fix it, but these injections have helped me survive the season.”
The Winona State transfer is averaging seven points across his last seven games after starting the season averaging under three points per game.
“Coach’s recruiting pitch to me was to come here and do what I did at Winona,” Dillon said. “I came here to be another scoring piece and another shooter and the coaches have instilled confidence in me every day.”
Regression to the mean
The Braves were due for an offensive performance after struggling to knock down shots over the past five contests. Bradley scored 66 points in the first half, the most since 2009, and shot 57.9 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three.
“That’s Bradley basketball right there,” senior guard Zek Montgomery said. “We got back to our old ways.”
“Coach told us after that UIC game in those final ten minutes when we fought hard, that it would benefit us towards the rest of the season,” Dillon added. We knew coming into this game that our offense would be clicking. It’s kind of just how we felt.”
The Braves also came to play defensively, holding the Sycamores 31 percent from the field and 29 percent from the three-point line. Wardle and his team gave a lot of credit to the scout team for preparing the Braves for the dribble handoff and pocket passing actions that Indiana State runs to generate offense.
“I thought we had a couple of good days of prep and practice,” Wardle said. “I thought our competition in practice was great. The scout team was really good. That’s the key to not getting comfortable. That’s the key to getting better, too, that competition in practice. The competition from our scout team won us this game with what they brought preparing us for this game.”
Dillon and Johnson, often considered offensive players, combined for eight steals versus Indiana State.
“We knew exactly where they were going to be passing,” Dillon said. “We were just reading their offense. We’re there to create energy and think that’s what we did.”
“We adjusted our defense a bit,” Johnson added. I feel like we definitely improved our ball pressure a lot, and our gap help.”
Bradley has a gauntlet ahead. The Braves’ next three games are against Belmont, Murray State and familiar foe Illinois State. After a few close games, the preseason MVC favorites needed a dominant performance to gain momentum for a grueling conference stretch.
“It instilled confidence in us going into the next game and the rest of the year,” Montgomery said. “Just having the offensive power and defensive power to pull through games is the main part.”
