Bad shooting can often spell disaster in college basketball. It’s hard to win when you don’t make your shots, but there’s usually three keys that help teams win regardless of their percentages: rebounding, defending and taking care of the ball.
Bradley men’s basketball (8-5) did all three of those things on their way to a 69-47 win over D-II Truman State on Thursday night.
The Braves shot just 39% from the field in their first game in a week, but they gave up their lowest point total this season while grabbing a season-high 17 offensive rebounds. They also committed a season-low seven turnovers to help lead them to victory despite their worst shooting performance of the year.
“We guarded the 3-point line well and I thought that was the number one key to the game for us,” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. “Rebounding numbers were good, turnovers were great. There’s a lot of positive numbers, we just didn’t shoot the ball real well.”
Shooting over 40 percent from beyond the arc coming into the game, the Bulldogs only made four treys at a 21% clip, their lowest percentage this season. It was also the only game where Truman shot less than 20 threes.
On the Braves’ side, their poor shooting helped Truman stay in the game until midway through the second half. Bradley couldn’t muster a double-digit lead for the first 30 minutes of the contest, and it led to the Bulldogs pulling within three with 11:30 to play.
Luckily for the Braves and the Carver Arena crazies, the home team went on a 24-5 run to end the game, holding Truman scoreless for the final seven minutes.
“It was a good test for us coming out of break to have to guard and stay disciplined,” Wardle said. “I thought we were a little bit more physical, a little bit tougher in the second half defensively and that helped us open the game up.”
Bradley started the game 2-14 and missed their first seven threes, but a 10-0 run midway through the first half helped them take an 18-12 lead. That lead was never relinquished, despite Truman making it close on multiple occasions.
“I think we just consistently kept playing defense,” senior forward Malevy Leons said. “They’re gonna make some tough shots but we just got to do our job and keep playing defense and eventually they will miss.”
Leons turned in a team-high 15 points to go along with eight boards, while senior guard Duke Deen followed up his 27-point onslaught on Dec. 21 with a 13-point, four-rebound, five-assist performance one week later.
The Braves were also aided by the return of junior guard Connor Hickman, who rejoined the lineup after missing the past four games with an ankle injury. He put up two points and three assists in 17 minutes of action, and his teammates were glad to have him back on the court.
“We were just happy to see him out there, happy to hear his voice out there talking,” Deen said. “We’re very excited [and] I feel like his confidence will come back very soon.”
Hickman did get tripped up driving to the hoop towards the end of the first half of Thursday’s game, causing him to stay on the ground for a short period of time. While Bradley fans held their breath, Hickman limped back up to his feet before the medical staff even reached him and shot his free throws, showing he’ll be okay going forward.
“Everytime he goes down now everybody’s gonna be quiet,” Leons said.
Hickman was only scheduled 15 to 20 minutes from Wardle coming into the game, which gave more playing opportunity to junior guard Cade Hardtke and sophomore forward Kyle Thomas, the latter of which scored his first points as a Brave on Thursday after earning his first meaningful minutes of the season.
“He’s been working his tail off in practice, been practicing really good so we’re happy for him,” Deen said. “I think he’s gonna get a lot more minutes.”
The Eastern Illinois transfer finished with five points, four rebounds and a block in eight minutes of action, providing a boost off the bench for Wardle’s squad. His hook shot during the final stretch of play accentuated the Braves’ lead and his size on defense helped keep the Bulldogs scoreless to end the game.
“I wasn’t real happy with our energy off the bench in the first half, so I went with Kyle,” Wardle said. “He’s been practicing better, he’s been improving and I thought he brought a lot of energy for us.”
All the positives of the game aside, Bradley knows they can’t shoot like they did on Thursday if they hope to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“We just gotta get our rhythm back,” Deen said. “We are a very capable 3-point shooting team, I think the best 3-point shooting team I’ve been on, and I think we’re ready to display that in Valley play.”
With the non-conference schedule wrapped up and the rust from a week off of games behind them, the Braves will now look towards the Valley, which they head into sitting at 0-2.
“You just gotta get back on the court and find your rhythm … but that’s kinda the Christmas rust,” Wardle said. “I’m proud that we had this game tonight and hopefully we got some of that rust off so we can come out and play better at Valpo.”
The Braves will take on the Beacons on Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.
