A week removed from a disturbing home loss to last place Drake University, the men’s basketball team found themselves against No. 15 ranked Wichita State.
After one half of play, the Braves trailed the reigning Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) champion Shockers 35-22 as the result of shooting 30 percent from the field, seven turnovers and a non-effective defense. Another blowout loss seemed imminent.
“We were down for a good reason,” head coach Geno Ford said. “[Wichita State is] not a good team, they’re a great team.”
The Braves, however, opened the second half with a fast 8-0 spurt, which gave the team some much-needed momentum.
“The first run gave us confidence,” senior forward Auston Barnes said. “Me and Tramique [Sutherland] were talking, and he’s like, ‘Hey man we can do this, [but] we need everyone on board.’”
After the Shockers countered with a run of their own, Ford made an executive decision to switch things up defensively.
Initially, the Braves started and played out the first half in a two-three zone scheme, but in the second half, Ford changed to a man-to-man defense.
“We hard hedged,” Ford said. “[We] fought over and X’ed out the post guys to keep big-on-big and guard-on-guard.”
That change resulted in one of the best defensive performances of the year for the Braves, against one of the best offensive teams in the MVC.
The Braves held the Shockers to 62 points, which is 8 points below their 70 points per game season average. Bradley held the Shockers without a made field goal for the final 12:38 of the game.
That allowed the Braves to go on a 23-12 run to finish the game, which was keyed by nine of Barnes’ 13 points, and 10 of junior Traumatique Sutherland’s 18 points.
Wichita State’s head coach, Gregg Marshall, noted how different the game would have been if the Shockers could have capitalized on their missed opportunities.
“That game could’ve easily opened up,” Marshall said. “[Bradley] just continued to fight and had a chance to win the game.”
That chance came with 42 seconds left.
Wichita State had the ball coming out of a timeout, and Marshall put the ball in the hands of guard Ron Baker, who was fouled by junior Jermaine Morgan to send Baker to the free throw stripe.
“Everyone in the building knew Ron Baker was going to get it,” Ford said in praise of the Shocker guard. “Baker’s an NBA player for sure.”
Baker, who finished with 14 points on the night, split his free throws, putting Sutherland on the fast break drive. Sutherland beat his defender to the basket and got fouled, but could not make the basket to complete the three-point play.
“I was actually thinking about calling time out,” Ford said. “When I was watching it unfold, [Tramique] had a step advantage. He’s going right down the lane, [and] you’re not going to stop that.”
The Braves fouled Shocker guard Fred Van Fleet after Sutherland made his two free throws, and Van Fleet countered with two of his own.
However, on the ensuing inbounds play, guard Donte Thomas’ half court pass was intercepted by the Shockers, which took away any chance at a final shot.
“That’s a hard pass,” Ford said. “We wanted to take a chance getting it up the sideline instead of having it congested and getting guys trapped.”
The Braves lost to the Shockers 62-59, but the team has come a long way since their home game against the Bulldogs last week.
Ford said that the differences seen in the past week can be attributed to the change in leadership in the locker room.
“Early in the year, we had too many new guys, not enough leadership and too much immaturity to be any good,” Ford said. “Now, what’s happening is guys have emerged [with] leadership a little better.”
The Braves’ played the top team in the MVC to the wire, despite a rough showing by the Shockers. Ford noted that even though the Shockers did not play to their potential, they are still a force to be reckoned with.
“They stepped up and made All-American plays,” Ford said. “I wish our good games were their bad games.”
