Edgewood College. Van Bree shot 7-7 against St. Joseph’s College. Photo via BradleyBraves.com
The Bradley men’s basketball team played its second and final tune-up game of the 2015-2016 season Monday night. Once again, the Braves weren’t particularly challenged as they trounced St. Joseph’s College 84-65.
For most of the game, the Pumas were within striking distance as they kept the Bradley lead between 8-14 points. However, nearly halfway into the second half, the Braves began to pull away, opening their lead to more than 20 and even 30 at one point later in the half.
Part of the offensive firepower was provided by Luuk van Bree, who opened up the game with 13 points in the first six and a half minutes. The Dutch freshman finished with 18 points on 7-7 shooting, and complemented his scoring with 10 boards.
“My mindset was to be aggressive,” van Bree said. “Obviously, I struggled a little bit last game, but the good thing about that was I was getting good looks and my teammates were setting me up. If the opportunity was there this game I just wanted to take full advantage of it, and it’s just a good feeling.”
According to head coach Brian Wardle and other players, the Braves consider themselves a good jump shooting team, and this game continued their theory, shooting 56 percent from the floor. However, it was their defense that got their offense going in the second half.
“We just kept the ball in front of us,” Wardle said. “That was all we talked about, just one-on-one defense. We really emphasized guarding the three in this game, and I thought we did a really good job of that up until late.”
The Braves’ defense held the Pumas scoreless on 12 straight possessions after the 11:55 mark in the second half, which allowed them to get out in transition and get easier shots.
The game had little flow due to the insanely high number of fouls called, 54 to be exact. The referees aren’t going to allow as much contact this year, and the Braves certainly got a taste for what the gameplay will be like.
“I was very proud of how they fought through adversity,” Wardle said. “I had different lineups that I haven’t played together once in practice. We had guys playing out of position, and it’s hard for players … to come in and out because of foul trouble.”
The Braves committed 29 fouls as a team, and five individuals had three or more fouls. Sophomore Donte Thomas, who got his first action of the season, said it’s just something the team has to adjust to.
“It was pretty tough,” Thomas said. “But last year I think the calls were kind of similar. They called the games pretty close. I think some of them were just touch fouls, but we’ll get used to it.”
There are obvious areas the Braves need to work on. Bradley shot 14-29 from the line and committed 19 turnovers, which aren’t recipes for success. However, according to Wardle, the most important aspect of these exhibition games is learning the routine of game day.
“The guys have found a routine already, and that’s what we wanted,” Wardle said. “Just being in here, getting the pregame meals and shoot around, getting in here at a certain time, getting your ankles taped at a certain time, going out to shoot with the assistants hopefully gets them more and more comfortable.”
The Braves will finally play a game that counts today at home against Ball State at 7 p.m.
