The Bradley men’s basketball team sought to get back on track and snap a two-game losing streak in a Missouri Valley Conference rematch against I-74 rival Illinois State.
In their earlier matchup at Redbird arena, the Braves offense shot 50 percent from the field and racked up 72 points against the Redbirds. However, Bradley’s defense allowed ISU to shoot 52 percent from beyond the arc and 51 percent from the field in a 82-72 loss.
In part two of the War on 74, the Braves’ offense was missing-in-action as they shot 29 percent from the field for the entire game as Illinois State won 60-47, which was their first victory at Carver Arena since the 2011-2012 season.
“If you watch that tape, and you’re any rational, unbiased person in America, you would think they have way better players than us,” head coach Geno Ford. “I don’t think they have way better guys than we do. I really don’t. But we aren’t playing offensively with any confidence.”
The Braves’ offensive output the last two games has been lacking to say the least. While Bradley shot 35 and 37 percent the last two games against Drake and Loyola, finishing with 29 percent shooting from the floor was the worst offensive output since the game against Northern Iowa in January.
In fact, the Braves have shot under 30 percent five times this season. All of those games have resulted in losses.
Junior guard Omari Grier, who led the team in scoring with 10 points, said the offensive play often affects the team on the other side of the court.
“A lot of the times as a team we allow our offense to dictate how we play,” Grier said. “I feel like that we allowed that to dictate how we play defensively.”
The Braves’ offensive issues began early when they went on a nearly 10-minute scoring drought that Warren Jones eventually snapped, but not before the Redbirds found their way to a 14-6 lead.
The offensive discord continued into the second half, where the Braves did not score a field goal until the 12:57 mark in the second half.
While Bradley had plenty of offensive struggles against ISU, the Redbirds’ zone defense was a major problem for the Braves.
“A lot of the times, in the course of the zone, we just didn’t pass the ball in the middle of the floor and just explore our options,” Grier said. “I would definitely say that the zone that they played was tough, but at the same time we didn’t play aggressive enough to break that down.”
While the Redbirds defense stifled the Braves into 13 turnovers and blocked eight shots, Ford said the lack of confidence offensively is the biggest issue.
“Confidence is something that is internal,” Ford said. “You’ve got to have confidence in yourself, and it’s not something that can be just given to you.”
The Braves go back on to the road for the week and play Saturday against Northern Iowa and Feb. 25 against Missouri State.
