Braves bounce back with complete performance against Liberty
Burch leads four Bradley players in double figures to third place victory at Terry's Chocolate Invitational
I was traveling for the first half of this one. In fact, I was traveling until the score was 41-20 Bradley in the first half. While nobody expects a team to continue on a pace like that, it almost felt like that sports fan’s worst nightmare where you change something up in your watching routine and the team falters immediately because of you.
Obviously, this isn’t really a thing and the thing I can say off the top is that while the Liberty Flames didn’t have their best shooting game, this was at least partially a result of a really complete performance from Bradley.
The excitement you can gather from a game like this one isn’t just the result alone and the team playing the way it should for nearly the whole game. But, it’s more the fact that you can start to see the high end ability of this team if it keeps improving defensively.
The three-game tournament in Florida should be considered a fairly significant success because of the ups and downs and the overall good games turned in while going 2-1.
While it may have not shown in my articles recently, I was starting to worry a little that the top end for this team wasn’t as high as I hoped to begin the season, we’re seeing some players turn the corner a bit and that helps with more optimism surrounding a 4-4 team.
It was a quick turnaround from Tuesday night for the players, fans and even me.
Starting Five
3 Alex Huibregtse (G)
10 Timoty van der Knapp (F) 0 Demarion Burch (G)
14 Ahmet Jonovic (C)
21 AJ Smith (F)
22 Jaquan Johnson (G)
» This spot continues to rotate and Coach Wardle noted that he felt like this was a matchup Burch could exploit. Burch made him look really good in this one.
The Moments
Follow along with me … (Below are game times, not video times.)
This link will likely expire eventually, but for now, if you have ESPN+ you can watch the game here: Full Video
16:45 - Lately, it seems like there’s been a concerted effort to get both Huibregtse and Smith going early. Huibregtse knocks down two early ones. I’d say that he’s proving to be better than just a rhythm 3-point shooter, but if he gets going early, it definitely seems to translate into a bigger game by him.
Smith hitting one of two as well seems to get him better engaged. It’s one of those things that isn’t too measurable but you can just see it with his effort level.
15:35 - One player that Bradley fans have been looking to see more out of this season is Corey Thomas. He had a pretty good game against St. Bonaventure but he’s needed to be a bigger contributor than we’ve seen most of the other games. In some ways, even though he’s experienced, he’s another guy that needs to have something good happen and then it’s a springboard for the rest of the game for him.
It was great to see him being active on defense, where’s got the size to be a bigger rim protector than he sometimes shows. Notice how he gets his hand in as the drive begins just to cause the offensive player to pay attention, then gets down by the basket for what looked like it might be an easy basket:
And while occasionally when he brings something negative from offense/defense, he is all over the glass on the ensuing offensive possession for his first points of the game:
He, like the rest of the team, is in it, early. (BU 13-5)
11:08 - Coach Wardle must have felt like deja vu as Huibregtse gets called for a foul on the break. Total foul count: Bradley 6, Liberty 1
The challenge Wardle had on this one is that Huibregtse wrapped his arm around the driving player but that would have really been impossible to see from the bench:
Regardless, he was giving the referees an earful after this one.
9:27 - One more Corey Thomas comment. I know big guys like to shoot from the outside. Heck, even Meta shot a three in the last game. But with the need for size on this roster, Thomas needs to be parked much more often on the inside. In back-to-back possessions he first makes a great turnaround jumper from the post, then he tosses up a rainbow 3-pointer and misses. I know he can make threes, but we need him for other things on the team.
5:12 - Back-to-back threes force Liberty into a timeout. Sandwiched in between was a wide open miss on a three by the Flames. While the defensive effort has been solid to this point, there have been multiple shots that the Flames were open and just didn’t make. Maybe they were tired with three games in three days, but Liberty was definitely cold and that made the Braves defense look even better.
4:01 - More good Corey! Watch how he subtly moves away from his defender to give a better passing lane to the basket. Then he uses his athleticism to finish a challenged shot near the hoop:
3:28 - The “O” show - Burch scores in transition on a layup. He’s up to 11 points already and he hasn’t commanded the ball. He’s at his best when doesn’t force the game. We know he’s got the ability to create at will and he’s a great shooter off the dribble. But when he’s doing other things (putback hoops, rebounding, etc.) he’s incredibly valuable. (BU up 41-20)
00:00 - Rough finish to the half as Johnson commits multiple turnovers and Liberty chops the lead in half. It doesn’t unravel a first 17 minutes of a great play, but it was a bit worrisome after how well the Braves had played going into that point and Liberty had shot so poorly. (BU 43-33)
Stemming the Tide
17:51 - The Flames run off five more to start the half and the lead has dwindled to five. Huibregtse hits a contested three to finally stop the run. This would be a theme of the second half, with Liberty trying to punch and Bradley never really surrendering each time it happened.
11:45 - Liberty is still hanging around and Burch makes another huge play. He’s got great hands defensively, almost a Bully-lite out there and pokes the ball away for a steal. Then gets moving on the break and has a nice basket at the other end:
3:39 - Liberty was trying to make one more run and trimmed it back to eight again on a preposterously long three. But, just as the Braves had done all day, it was time to turn back to “O”. Burch drops a three right back on the next possession and while there was still a little time left, it felt like there was no way Liberty was going to come all the way back.
00:00 - The second half was neat and tidy in such a way that it almost warrants less discussion because Bradley just maintained its lead and never allowed any sustained run to put the game in danger.
The Observations
DECISIVE VICTORY: Look up and down the box score and this is one time the stats do really tell the tale.
Bradley rebounded better than they have all season (36-20). Yes, you get more rebounds when the other team shoots poorly, but even limiting the Flames to just five offensive rebounds was noticeable.
Overall shooting was great: 50.9% from the field, 44.4% on threes, 85% from the line.
Balance: Eight different guys scored in the game. All of them had at least two rebounds. This is a team effort that was so synonymous with the 2024-25 team. More games like these put so much less pressure on Johnson, who had one of his quieter games lately while still scoring 12.
OLD MENACE: I never get a great feeling having to see Ritchie McKay. For those who don’t know the story, he stole away Bradley’s best player in the early 2000s, Danny Granger when he was at New Mexico after leaving BU. He publicly denied doing it, then just a month later admitted it. These sorts of stories were the ugly side of college basketball that didn’t happen as often, so it was a major story. Being a student at the school at the time, I directed a lot of anger at Granger at the time for deserting Bradley, but in retrospect I’ve gotten to understand what college athletes go through and generally will cast the blame on the adults who are supposedly guiding these young men in college.
Player of the Game
Demarion Burch (21 points, 8-of-10 shooting, 1-of-2 three pointers, 4-of-6 free throws, eight rebounds, two steals, two assists, one turnover)
He was everywhere in this game and showed that he’s fully healthy after missing some time early in the season with injury. He’s that secondary scorer Bradley needs, especially if Johnson is off (or in foul trouble). Burch brings many intangibles to the team and I hope we see even more games like this one.
Honorable mention: The rest of the team had many good moments, which is indicative of a team win. Jonovic had three blocks and was an annoying presence inside for the Liberty players. Huibregtse hit 4-of-5 three pointers. Thomas had his best game of the year as I talked about in the prior section.
Up Next
Bradley gets Thanksgiving and the long weekend off until returning home to play Washington State Tuesday night. This is not the same team that beat up the Braves last season. They are struggling after dropping two of three in Maui and trailing for much of the game against Chaminade.