Bradley men’s basketball (18-4, 9-2 MVC) took a brutal blow on the chin against UIC (14-7, 7-4) in their 93-70 loss at Carver Arena on Wednesday night.
The Braves entered the evening on a five-game win streak, which had them in first place in the Missouri Valley Conference at the halfway point of league play. UIC was in the middle of the pack, but the team had proven that it could be a formidable opponent on any given night.
The Flames again proved their fortitude by winning their seventh conference road game of the season, the most by any team in the Valley this season.
“They’re a good team,” head coach Brian Wardle said about UIC. “I’m just disappointed in myself, number one, for not having them ready to go. I had key players not ready to play. I got to read the room better, and I got to do a better job motivating my guys.”
“I thought we had a great practice yesterday,” Wardle added. “It was a good shoot around, but we got relaxed. I don’t know why we relaxed. I don’t know why we didn’t want to compete defensively. I’m not sure why we didn’t want to execute offensively.”
A complete ‘180’
On Jan. 11, Bradley went to Chicago to play UIC after suffering a tough loss to Drake the prior game. Desperately needing to bounce back, the Braves clawed their way to a 61-60 win after senior guard Duke Deen hit the game-winning shot.
Wednesday night saw the tide turn as UIC entered Peoria after a close loss to Southern Illinois, and the Flames bounced back in big fashion over the Braves. After that heartbreaking loss to Bradley earlier this month, UIC played as if they had a chip on their shoulder.
“We had 15 turnovers. They had seven. I don’t know how you expect to win a game like that,” senior guard Zek Montgomery said.
Montgomery was the leading scorer for the Braves, recording 16 points after he shot seven-for-14 across the field, which included two three-pointers.
It wasn’t just the two games that had results flipped; this game featured a gigantic turn of events in the first half. Bradley was incredibly efficient opening the game as they shot 91.7% from the field, creating a 22-9 lead in the first seven minutes.
That was when the Flames started hitting shots from the three-point range, and it catapulted them ahead 29-27 with 8:55 remaining in the first half. UIC ended the half on a 26-12 run and went into the halftime break with a 16-point lead.
“We got pretty much dominated by [UIC] in the last ten minutes of the first half and then a majority of the second half,” Wardle said.
“We didn’t do our job on defense,” Montgomery added. “[We] let them do whatever they wanted. They took advantage of it … They just wanted it more.”
Defense gave up too much
Overall, it was a rough night for the Braves’ defense. They allowed 55 points in the first half, the first time they’ve given up 50 points in one half since Feb. 18, 2021.
The Braves’ defense did not force a single turnover in the first half. Points off turnovers can be critical for a team to generate runs, and Bradley failed to do that in the first 20 minutes of the game.
“We lacked effort defensively,” Wardle said. “We were struggling to find the right lineup to get stops. But really give UIC credit, they came out on a mission and played really well and their guards were tremendous.”
Javon Jackson was the Flames’ leading scorer with 25 points; he only scored two points in the first meeting. Jordan Mason also scored 22 points, and Ahmad Henderson II rounded out the starting guards in scoring with 17.
“Just gave up too many threes,” Deen said. “14 threes is not going to cut it. They had ten in the first half. You give a team ten threes in the half, their confidence goes through the roof.”
The Flames shot 53.1% from the field, including 14 of 27 from behind the arch. The Braves shot 48.3% from the field but only made six three-point shots on their 24 attempts.
“We couldn’t keep them in front, and they were hitting threes,” Wardle added in regard to UIC’s guards. “We couldn’t switch on to them because they drove our bigs and or hit a three on our bigs, so they made it really tough tonight.”
One step forward, two steps back
It looked like Bradley put together a small but good sequence at different points in the game. Usually, that creates a good run, especially in moments when a comeback is needed. The Braves found small plays here and there but could never get over the hump to fight back in this one.
“We would go on a little bit of a run and then we stopped guarding,” Wardle said. “We had no weak side help for a majority of the second half of the game. We tried different defenses. They weren’t working, so it comes down to discipline, effort, competitive spirit we didn’t have.”
At the 10:40 mark in the second half, sophomore forward Almar Atlason hit a three-point shot, followed by a forced turnover from the Braves, which led to another Atlason three-pointer. It cut the lead down to 11 before UIC strung a few baskets together to go back up by 15.
Two minutes later, with the score at 73-57, Hannah converted on an and-one attempt and UIC’s Henderson II got charged with an intentional foul. Hannah made the additional free throw for the four-point play. Because of the intentional foul, the Braves got the ball back again and Montgomery knocked down a floater.
The quick six-point possession for Bradley made it 73-63 with 8:26 remaining. The Braves didn’t score again until the 4:13 mark with UIC leading 80-65 as the Carver Arena crowd began to empty out.
Moving forward, Bradley needs to have a short-term memory after this game as they get ready to face Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers are another quality team in the Valley that looks to upset Bradley.
“Can’t take no game for granted,” Montgomery said. “Gotta play every game like it’s our last.”
Be First to Comment