The ice-cold Chicago weather couldn’t stop the red-hot Braves men’s basketball team (12-5, 4-2 MVC) from winning their sixth straight game on Saturday, and a familiar duo helped them extinguish the UIC Flames (8-9, 1-5 MVC).
Guards Duke Deen and Connor Hickman scored 26 and 22, respectively, to lead a 77-59 onslaught of Bradley’s in-state foe. The two combined to shoot 65% from the field and knocked down nine threes.
“They’re our two leaders,” Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. “Vocal by example too and they feed off each other. I love when they’re both going like that because it opens up a lot of stuff and you need your guards to put up some numbers when teams are switching like that, and they were able to do that and it was fun to watch.”
Hickman has now scored over 20 points in three of the last four contests, while Deen fell just one point short of matching his career high set earlier this year against SIUE. Deen’s also been known to terrorize the Flames, adding his recent performance to a 21-point effort in their arena last season.
“I think I just like Chicago,” Deen said with a laugh.
The two guards have taken a leap in their performance this season, as both are averaging career highs in scoring at a time when the Braves really need it. With two guards leaving the program this season, their consistent play has been a key to the team’s recent success.
“Me and Hick[man] know our spots pretty well,” Deen said. “We work every day, every morning we’re in the gym. I think our confidence is just going higher and higher every time we play.”
Their connection on the court as starting guards is important as well, and both guys know they can rely on each other when needed.
“It’s just building trust, you know, doing things for each other on the court [and] off the court,” Hickman said. “Like when I give the ball to Duke and he’s running a play I know something good’s gonna happen.”
The game was billed as a defensive battle, as both teams came into the game ranked in the top three in the MVC in scoring defense. The Flames also led the league in opponent field goal percentage (39.3) with the Braves right behind them in second (40.2).
Yet, the Braves got the last laugh, holding UIC to 32% shooting from three and forcing 13 turnovers. Over their six-game winning streak, Bradley is allowing just 56.8 PPG, and Saturday was the next chapter in what has been a stout defense during this stretch.
“They haven’t lost like this I don’t think in the league really, and definitely not at home,” Wardle said. “Proud of how we kept the lead and held it even though I didn’t think we played well in the second half and I give UIC credit there.”
Bradley took the lead early in this one and never looked back, with Hickman’s first three of the game topping off a 10-1 start for the Braves. This ballooned into a 19-3 lead just eight minutes in, as UIC shot 1-11 and their first field goal came with 13:35 left on the clock.
A brief Flames scoring run brought the lead down to seven with three and a half minutes to go, but that was when Deen turned things up a notch. The senior rattled off the last 13 points of the half for the Braves, finishing the period with 18 and four threes to send Bradley into the locker room with a 39-26 lead.
“I feel like it’s just work honestly,” Deen said. “Once I just trust my shot, don’t double clutch… and just do what I know I can do, they’ll fall.”
With Deen dominating the first half, Hickman wanted to let people know he’s still here, scoring eight of the Braves’ first 10 points of the second half off a three, a layup and three free throws to make it 49-30 in the visitors’ favor. Following that, he found Hannah in the lane for an and-one layup, part of a 5-5 start from the field for Bradley.
UIC once again cut into the Bradley lead, bringing the deficit to as little as 12 while the Braves were in an 0-8 slump. The slump didn’t matter to Deen or Hickman, as they went on a 10-3 run by themselves to stifle the Flames’ momentum and all but put the game away. For good measure, Deen hit one last three with 2:35 to go to end things for good.
“When the shot clock’s running down and you need a shot, you can go to Duke and I,” Hickman said. “We work on those shots and you gotta be able to hit those shots as the lead guards. Taking care of the ball and then finding our spots and then when the time comes hitting those tough shots is part of our job.”
This marks a fourth straight game the Braves never trailed in, adding on to what has become a recipe for success over their six-game winning streak.
“Fast starts, good first halves, have a lead, we can control the tempo in the second half like we did today,” Wardle said.
A recipe the Braves sometimes struggle to follow is in the turnover department, but on Saturday they threw away a season-low six which, along with out-rebounding their opponent for a seventh consecutive game, proved to be crucial to their victory.
“Taking care of the ball on the road is always big,” Wardle said. “Even though our defense wasn’t very good in the second half, we took care of the ball on offense and we got shots up at the rim and created extra possessions for ourselves and we ended up winning the rebounding war so that was big.”
Bradley’s next stretch is a tough one, as they take on four teams that are all in the top half of the Valley. Traveling to Carbondale, the Braves take on Southern Illinois on Wednesday before battling Belmont and Murray State at home and rematching Indiana State in Terre Haute.
But the team’s not afraid, and their leading scorer knows they just need to stay level-headed. After all, it’s what’s led them to six straight.
“They’re gonna make runs, they’re gonna hit shots, it’s just basketball,” Hickman said. “Just keeping ourselves in the middle, staying connected and just wavering through runs and droughts.”
