After freshman walk-on Sean Houpt made a 3-pointer before the first half buzzer to put Bradley within one Saturday night at Loyola, the Braves had momentum.
When the Ramblers went on a 10-3 run and held Bradley scoreless for the first 6:23 of the second half, they turned the tables to down the Braves 62-51 in front of a raucous sold-out crowd at Gentile arena.
“They just out-competed us in the second half,” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. “Guys got frustrated, started going too much one-on-one, ball stopped moving. We could never get in a flow.”
That flow was disrupted thanks in part to 12 Loyola steals and 17 total Bradley turnovers, which led to 24 points.
“Points off turnovers killed us,” Wardle said. “Turnovers are really, really burning us.”
Bradley found itself in foul trouble early in the game, with four players picking up two fouls before halftime. That led to Wardle pulling Houpt off the bench for the final four minutes of the first half, in which he scored eight points.
The Braves weren’t as lucky after the break, as the Ramblers capitalized on the Bradley fouls by making 21 of their 30 free throws and Houpt was shutout the rest of the night.
“We would’ve liked to play better in the second half,” Houpt said. “They’re a good team. We just didn’t play our best game.”
The Braves were bullied in the paint, as they were outscored 24-16 and outrebounded 34-23. Loyola was especially dominant on the offensive glass, snagging 12 rebounds which resulted in 16 second-chance points. Bradley had just four offensive boards and five second-chance points.
“We wanted to match their physicality, especially on the glass,” Loyola head coach Porter Moser said. “One of the first stats we looked at in the locker room was [Bradley’s] four offensive rebounds, that was such a key for us.”
Much of the Ramblers’ bully-ball down low came at the hands of junior center Cameron Krutwig, who scored 19 points and pulled down seven rebounds.
“They were sending a lot of double-teams and stuff.” Krutwig said. “That’s just a good way to get offense. If they send two guys at me, they’re going to have to leave somebody open. I kind of looked to be more aggressive tonight a little more than I had in past games.”
The double-team opened up the scoring for junior guards Tate Hall and Keith Clemons, who contributed 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Braves on the other hand, didn’t have a player in double-digits in the scoring column. Houpt, redshirt junior Danya Kingsby and senior Darrell Brown all finished with eight points apiece to lead the Braves.
“We didn’t have a lot of key guys show up tonight and play well, that’s for sure and you’re gonna need everybody to show up and play well to win at Loyola,” Wardle said.
Brown and senior Nate Kennell were a main focus of the Loyola gameplan, and it showed. Brown was 3-9 on field goals while Kennell went 2-8.
“They’re obviously two really good players, two all-league players, so obviously we’re gonna key in on them,” Hall said.
The crowd of 4,963 was booming all evening long, especially in the second half. It stood out so much, Moser started his press conference by thanking the fans.
“I can’t thank the students enough,” said Moser, who could be seen waving his arms to fire up the crowd at multiple points. “[It was] the best student energy that I’ve had since I’ve been the head coach at Loyola.”
Bradley has now lost four straight games at Loyola, a streak that dates back to Jan. 13, 2016.
With the loss, the Braves fall to 6-4 in Missouri Valley conference play and into a fourth place tie with Indiana State.
Bradley will face another tough crowd when it heads to Des Moines to play Drake on Wednesday. The Bulldogs are 11-1 at the Knapp Center this season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m..
