Any Bradley fan who witnessed the Braves’ 83-63 dismantling of Evansville on the Purple Aces’ home basketball court Saturday probably came away with mixed feelings.
Certainly there were good impressions from the convincing nature of a BU road win, any road win, regardless of the Aces’ 0-13 record. And warm sensations must abound on how well the Braves shot the ball, relentlessly built their second-half lead with tenacity and intelligence and received quality minutes from the almost-forgotten Anthony Thompson.
At the same time, though, there must be other thoughts weighing on Bradley Nation. What if the Braves had channeled this kind of focus and efficiency every game instead of just a handful along with spectacular spurts here and there?
One coveted goal — the Missouri Valley Conference championship — has been squandered amid a pile of defensive breakdowns and blown leads. But Bradley can take solace that much opportunity still lies ahead.
George Eliot’s famous quote, “It is never too late to become what you might have been,” still can mostly be realized on the Hilltop.
“We want to do what we can to gain some momentum heading to St. Louis,” BU guard Andrew Warren said in reference to the MVC tournament. “If we play the way we did today for entire games, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to have that momentum the first week of March.”
Warren, of course, is Exhibit A regarding how the Braves have blended so easily between Jekyll-and-Hyde personalities on the court. Warren’s Mr. Hyde days of late, though, dissolved in a flurry of seven baskets in a row Saturday and his first 20-point game in a month.
Prior to heading to Evansville, he gained great insight from viewing some of his recent game clips.
“I learned I have to do my work early (in setting up for shots),” he said. “There were a couple of games where I wasn’t doing it. The film edit really helped me to see I need to slow down because I was trying to force it. I needed to get back to what I was doing earlier in the season.”
Like during the nine-day stretch from Dec. 29-Jan. 6. Warren had 87 points (21.8) and 27 rebounds (6.8) in those four games. Add the scoring production of Taylor Brown and Sam Maniscalco to the mix and there’s no better three-headed offensive monster in the Valley.
Since Will Egolf has proven to be foul-prone and Sam Singh sometimes doesn’t get the job done as his post backup, Thompson’s play at Roberts Stadium also is especially encouraging for BU.
Egolf and Singh were benched in the first half because of foul trouble and Thompson summoned energy we haven’t seen from him before. The 6-foot-10 redshirt sophomore blocked three shots in less than three minutes and threw down an impressive dunk on a pick and roll.
If the light finally is flickering on for “Sticks” — coupled with all the other positives — this team could be a handful at the MVC tournament if it survives the standings logjam and finishes out of the play-in round.
Bradley is locked in a three-way tie for third place, at 7-6, with Creighton and Illinois State. Then comes a four-way tie for sixth (at 6-7) among Indiana State, Drake and Missouri State. Southern Illinois is alone in ninth, at 5-8.
Wichita State’s amazing comeback victory Saturday over Indiana State (down 15 with nine minutes left) provided a little more definition to the top of the conference. With five games to play, Northern Iowa is 12-1 and the Shockers are 9-4. The Panthers’ magic number is down to two for a repeat title.
Warren said the Braves talk little among themselves about the league standings.
“We focus on one game at a time and what we need to do to improve ourselves,” he said. “Being in this league for four years, everything is usually bunched up until the last week before the tournament.”
Bradley is trying to move up from the tournament’s 4-5 seeded game — 2:30 p.m. on quarterfinal Friday — that has been the Braves’ St. Louis home for four consecutive seasons.
A third-place seed doesn’t provide much, if any, of an advantage in the tournament since the 3-6 contest is the late-night one in the quarterfinal round. And a sixth-place team rarely is much lesser of an opponent than a fifth-place one.
Still, ending up third could break a psychological barrier for this program. Les never has finished higher than fourth in his seven years at BU.
“It’s hard not to,” Brown said about looking ahead. “I just love that tournament. We all know what we have to do to succeed there.”
But with games left against Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Indiana State, Wichita State and Creighton, there’s plenty of hard work ahead first.
Dave Reynolds is a Journal Star sports reporter. He can be reached at dreynolds@pjstar.com or 686-3210.
