Continuing to build, even when results are fairly guaranteed
Bradley spreads minutes across roster in final non-conference game, winning 86-53 against North Central College
Most of the time, the outcome of the game is all that really matters to fans. It’s a massive thing to coaches, but they are looking each game beyond that to the process and how the team is improving each time it takes the court. As every team has these non-Division I games on their schedule now, it’s fairly guaranteed that the bigger school is probably going to win by 30-50 points. The talent gap is just too large.
North Central College didn’t even treat this as a regular season game and have called it an exhibition on their side. They actually played yesterday against North Park University (another non-Div. I) and lost, 95-84.
For the first few minutes of the game, the Cardinals looked fresher while Bradley looked really rusty. It was poor enough that Coach Wardle pulled all of his starters at the 18:01 mark after allowing three straight baskets.
Wardle literally waved off the entire group and talked to the second unit exclusively, with Dietrich Richardson the most visually ready to go.
“I said I’m not letting UMass Lowell happen again,” Wardle said. “I thought we played poorly in that game for 25 minutes.”
He thought the energy was good from the bench guys who entered and then the starters returned later with a better intensity after watching their teammates for a few.
As the game went on, Bradley did the things that have become its identity, forcing 19 steals and turning those into 27 points off turnovers. A 33-point win would have been even larger if Bradley had hit more consistently from three (8-of-29, 27.6%) or at the line (22-of-37, 59.5%).
We’re talking about a glorified exhibition, so I’m not going to belabor this one too long.
Starting Five
3 Alex Huibregtse (G)
0 Demarion Burch (G)
14 Ahmet Jonovic (C)
21 AJ Smith (F)
22 Jaquan Johnson (G)
» The Braves are becoming more consistent in their lineups heading into conference play. Smith, Huibregtse and Johnson have started all 11 games and Burch has basically started whenever he’s been healthy. Jonovic has started all but one as he’s become the true number one post player ahead of Corey Thomas.
The Moments
Follow along with me … (Below are game times, not video times.) Full Video
On Campus
Off the top, it’s important to call out that this game was played on campus at the Renaissance Coliseum where the women’s basketball and volleyball teams play games.
The sentiment around the game appeared mixed from some of the fans who had a level of irritation around it not being included in season ticket holder plans and the timing of it being on a Saturday afternoon up against football games.
For me, this all rings a little a bit hollow. While I’m not local, I’d have been at this game in a second if I could have been. Cold weather, other sports, etc., don’t really matter if you’re a big fan of the team. With as many empty seats as there were, you could have sat closer than most fans generally get to do for a game and it’s still basketball in the end.
Chad Kleine (Bradley color commentator) noted that he’d like to see one game a season on campus but with a better opponent. That’s really where I fall with it, too. In this particular instance, it was a late add to the schedule that allowed the team to not have a week and a half off before conference play started. But, if the place would have been really packed, you could see how big of a home court advantage it could be if the fans got behind it.
I’m continually disappointed in the student turnout, who could have gone for free and Bradley was even offering free pizza:
But, in this case, I can’t really fault Bradley for at least trying to get them to show up. I guess a 5-10 minute walk in the cold across campus was too much for them. At least the band sounded good and functions as our de-facto student section these days.
Freshmen Spirit
18:01-15:43: After Wardle’s hockey line change, we saw some good things from Timoty van der Knapp as well as the freshmen.
It’s a little thing, but I noted this particular sequence when it happened:
Watch Richardson (#1) and Matthew Zobrist (#5). This is the sort of intensity I expected from these guys all season. Richardson moves his feet well and uses his length to irritate the ball handler into making a behind-his-man pass. Zobrist fights hard through the screen, gets the steal and confidently runs the break and draws free throws.
The little thing that got my attention beyond the play itself was Richardson high (low?) fiving Zobrist after the play. The tentativeness has been something that Richardson has to work through if he’s going to increase his minutes. More plays like these are going to make that happen.
Huibregtse Goes on a Run
North Central continued to hang around, somewhat in part to inefficient defense. When the Cardinals knocked down a three with 6:58 to go, Coach Wardle about blew a gasket.
You can understand why, though. This is the end of the possession, where the Braves had defended really well and gotten to under 10 on the shot clock.
But, thankfully for his heart rate, the Braves proceeded to go on a 13-0 run after that. The spark was Johnson, as it often is, getting easily by a defender for a layup.
It was Huibregtse that really made the run happen, though. First he got fouled after a van der Knapp steal and made both free throws. Then he had a steal of his own that he took coast-to-coast:
Then, he capped off his solo seven straight points with a three. (Wheeler, who I feel like I don’t give enough credit to at times, just probes the defense patiently, finding the right pass.)
Huibregtse doesn’t get enough credit for the little things he does on defense. You watch him and you see his activity, how he talks to his teammates. Maybe this doesn’t make him a lockdown guy who you put on the other team’s best scorer, but he contributes plenty on the defensive side that might not show up in the box score.
Clipping the Cardinals
11:30 - Give North Central credit for hanging in there awhile, but eventually the talent of the Braves just won out.
Wheeler has had this knack of having games where he just extends or even takes over the offense for periods of time. The Braves went on another big run from the 15:51 mark outscoring the Cardinals 15-4 in that stretch. Wheeler had 11 of those points and when he gets going, he really shoots with a ton of confidence.
“His energy was high. He was aggressive,” Wardle said. “Played very well.”
0:00 - No reason to go too much further on this one. Bradley took care of business and nobody got hurt. The entire roster saw time and limiting everyone’s minutes to 26 or less was good to see.
The Observations
JUST KEEP SWIM…SHOOTING: I’ve talked regularly that early success/failure often affects quite a bit of the Bradley roster. It doesn’t matter if it’s a veteran like Smith or a freshman like Richardson or Wheeler. The good and the bad seem to snowball for them.
One person whose game is clinically not affected by early results is Huibregtse. After his big run in the first half, he proceeded to miss all of his other seven 3-pointers of the game.
“Alex, he goes 1-of-8 and never hangs his head once,” Wardle said.
It’s an indicator that more of the guys on the team need to emulate and trust what they can do in practice and bring it to games.
PHILOSPHICAL COACH: Many of us parents feel like our kids our too coddled these days. Coach Wardle leaned into this in the postgame.
Sometimes I’m going to get on a player if they’re making mental mistakes, but I got on them today about their body language, ” Wardle said. “Who cares? Chest out. Chin up. Big deal. Next play.”
He went further to say that it starts early with kids and that emotions and failure is okay.
“Don’t get sad. Get mad, if anything.” Wardle said. “We take emotions out of kids lives, not letting them feel sad. We take all emotion away because we don’t want them to feel anything. And then they get to our level and they feel it out here. This is an emotional game where you’re going to have highs and lows.”
This kind of stuff is why Coach Wardle is great. He’s more than a coach and he realizes, in many ways like Phil Jackson did with the Bulls in the 90s that being a head coach is often as much a psychologist and manager of personalities than it is an Xs and Os guy.
PUTTING HIM ON ICE: We’re not talking about Steph Curry here, #30 for the Cardinals was their leading scorer, Alejando Diaz. Going up against a huge step up in competition, Diaz regularly was guarded by Jaquan Johnson. What was the final stat line? Diaz shot 0-4 from the field, no points, two assists and three turnovers. Credit him for grabbing eight rebounds, but beyond that, the Braves did a number on a limiting his opportunities.
Player of the Game
Jaquan Johnson (19 points, 7-of-11 shooting, 2-of-5 three pointers, 3-of-5 free throws, three rebounds, two assists, six steals, no turnovers)
Montana Wheeler got the player of the game on the broadcast and his 13 points, three assists and no turnovers are a really solid performance. But, let’s not start finding ways to not give Bully player of the game just because he’s so essential to Bradley’s success.
The steals were bound to happen as he does this every night, even against Div. I schools. The 19 steals would be a huge number in general, but with him grabbing another six it just continues to solidify how good his season has been on both ends of the floor.
Up Next
Conference play has arrived and it still feels so early to me having games before Christmas. But, with twenty conference games, teams need to get at least one or two in before the holidays. Indiana State in Terre Haute is the first test for the Braves.
I plan to have a lot more to say about the Sycamores in the coming days, but with no truly amazing or bad teams in the league this season, Bradley’s going to have to bring it every single game. Indiana State also played today and knocked off Milwaukee on the road, 70-68.
(Note: I will be publishing some conference-specific articles in the coming days, so look forward to these as I finally reveal my post-non-conference predictions for the league season.)
Postgame quotes from Coach Wardle were from the WMBD broadcast.