After a 17-13 regular season and 11-7 record in conference play, Bradley earned the No. 5 seed at Arch Madness, setting them up against the No. 4 seed Loyola Chicago (22-7, 13-5) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in St. Louis.
Both teams missed multiple opportunities to finish higher in the conference standings, but the MVC proved once again that teams can’t afford to feel good (or bad) about themselves for too long.
Bradley endured an agonizing stretch at the start of conference play as Indiana State’s Cooper Neese and Missouri State’s Isiaih Mosley each sunk daggers in the waning seconds of two narrow Braves losses. Shortly after, the Braves let double-digit leads in the second half slip away at Loyola and Illinois State.
The Braves, with two transfers, a freshman and two underclassmen in their starting lineup for most of MVC play, revived themselves in a stretch where they won seven out of eight, which included toppling Drake and exacting their revenge on Loyola.
The Ramblers, who are making their final trip to Arch Madness before joining the Atlantic 10 Conference next season, faced off with Northern Iowa on Feb. 26 in a game that decided the regular season conference champion. Recently-named MVC Player of the Year AJ Green and the Panthers eked out a 102-96 win in overtime. The loss sent Loyola down into the fourth slot heading into the conference tournament, due to losing tiebreakers against Missouri State and Drake.
Let’s take a look at how the Braves and Ramblers match up.
The tale of the tape
Jan. 8 at Loyola: Loyola won 78-71 (OT)
Feb. 9 at Bradley: Bradley won 68-61
The conference foes split the season series, and the scoring differential right down the middle, after Loyola swept Bradley in the past two seasons. Before the Ramblers’ visit to Peoria last month, the Braves last beat Loyola in a 53-51 nailbiter in the second round of the 2019 MVC Tournament.
In Rogers Park, Loyola point guard Lucas Williamson scored 20 points in the second half and overtime after being held scoreless at the half. Physicality from the Ramblers combined with defensive lapses from the Braves in the late stages allowed Loyola to get to the free throw line, where they made 15 of 18 in the last 24 minutes.
“I think we played really well for about 30 minutes and then we started fouling a little bit too much and they started getting to the free throw line and putting their head down and going full speed,” Wardle said after the loss. “We over-helped a couple times, we [double-teamed] a couple times, we fouled a three-point shooter. Mentally, we’ve got to play smarter.”
Just over a month later at Carver Arena, the Braves scored nine unanswered points midway through the second half and answered a late run from LUC to put away the win. Freshman guard Zek Montgomery scored a career-high 12 points to lead a balanced Braves attack.
When Bradley is on offense
The Ramblers possess the second-best scoring defense in the MVC with just under 63 points allowed per contest, largely in part due to seniors Lucas Williamson, who recently earned his second consecutive MVC Defensive Player of the Year award, and Aher Uguak, whose length can present problems.
A key in Bradley’s Feb. 9 win was they committed just 11 turnovers as opposed to 16 in their loss at Gentile Arena. An even bigger contrast is the Braves’ 37 bench points and five players in double figures when they beat the Ramblers, versus 13 bench points and two players in double figures in their loss.
The Braves will rely on their “Big Three” of junior guard and All-MVC first teamer Terry Roberts, sophomore All-MVC third team forward Rienk Mast and junior forward Malevy Leons, but the game’s outcome could be decided on how much output they can get from everyone else.
A potential X-factor candidate in that regard is freshman guard Connor Hickman, who has averaged 14.5 points on 11-16 shooting in Bradley’s last two games.
When Loyola is on offense
The task is no less difficult for the Ramblers, as Bradley’s stout defense ranks third in the Valley in points allowed per game. A look at the stat sheet reveals that it’s an unstoppable force versus an immovable object. LUC ranks first in the MVC in field goal percentage and 3-point field goal percentage, while Bradley is tops in both defensive percentage categories.
Loyola got to the free throw line 29 times, which gave them steam for their second half charge in their triumph over the Braves. While Williamson (14.1 ppg) is the sole Rambler to average over 10.2 points per contest, LUC has seven players who average over six points a game.
One of those players is guard Marquise Kennedy, who will be returning for Friday’s matchup after missing the last eight contests with a [insert injury here] injury. . Kennedy was a non-factor on Jan. 8 against the Braves, but Loyola went 5-3 in his absence, with two of those wins coming rather sloppily.
Keys to the game for Bradley:
This could be an intimidating spot for Bradley as just one of the nine players in their current rotation (Ville Tahvanainen) has played at Arch Madness more than once. Meanwhile, Loyola and their seven seniors have been down the same road much more often.
- Prevent extended runs
What Braves fans saw in their loss against Loyola was a team that didn’t minimize runs as well as they could have. Bradley head coach Brian Wardle has said multiple times that the team’s inexperience has been their Achilles Heel when the going gets tough for the Braves. Loyola is one of the best teams in the country at starting hot stretches on offense and preventing runs on defense, per Evan Miyakawa.
- Don’t let Williamson dominate
Anybody in the Ramblers rotation can hurt the opposition on any given night; Braden Norris, Uguak, Chris Knight and the list goes on. Williamson is undoubtedly the heart and soul of the team though on both ends of the floor. Take away Williamson playing the half of his life on Jan. 8 and Bradley may have very well escaped Chicago with a win. Bradley point guard Terry Roberts is a formidable defender as well, so the matchup between the two first-team picks will be can’t-miss basketball.
- Everyone steps up
The Braves rode Rienk Mast’s 20 points and seven rebounds at Loyola, but it still was not enough. The Rambler’s defense held Bradley starters Jayson Kent and Hickman scoreless the second time around, but Montgomery, graduate guard Mikey Howell and Tahvanainen all scored at least 11 to make up the difference. Good basketball teams are hardly ever a one — or even two — man show and Arch Madness isn’t a forgiving tournament for shallow teams. Those that execute in the first weekend in March, however, will find themselves dancing on into the NCAA Tournament.
They said it
“They’re a very smart team,” Wardle said about Loyola. They don’t beat themselves. They have high basketball IQ’s and obviously age and experience helps with that and I think that’s the biggest thing when you play them. You can’t beat yourself; you have to be very smart and disciplined when you play them.”
“They’re a really good team,” Loyola head coach Drew Valentine said about Bradley. “They’re very well coached. They’ve got some guys that have really improved. They’re definitely one of the most skilled teams in this league too.”
“Our freshmen last year, this is just their second go round,” Wardle said about his young team playing at Arch Madness. “This year is different though.We have fans this year. The COVID year was nothing at all like this year so it’s going to be a learning experience for our guys and they’ll have to really settle in. I think the biggest thing is controlling your emotions and limiting runs; that’s always helped us win this tournament.
“The first time we played [against Roberts], he got into some foul trouble,” Valentine said about containing Bradley’s Terry Roberts. I thought we did a good job of keeping bodies on him. But we’ve just got to do our best to individually guard him with physicality because, if not, he’s so long, he’s got great speed, and he plays with great toughness and intensity.”
“We feel good about our identity,” Wardle said of the Braves’ defense-first mentality. “We’d like to be shooting the 3 a little bit better ourselves too but…the ball does not seem to find the net a ton in March at [the] Enterprise [Center].
“I don’t even know what to say,” Roberts said ahead of Friday’s game. “I’m just ready to play and I know it’ll be a war. We know them very well; they know us very well. They’re about to leave the conference and we want to send them away [with a loss].”
