Bradley going north as it heads south

 It has only been 19 days since they last met on the basketball court, but much has happened with the men’s programs of Southern Illinois and Bradley.

For BU (8-9, 3-4), it has been mostly for the better, while for SIU (10-6, 3-4), it has been largely for the worse.

Bradley lost that first meeting, 86-81, blowing a 13-point halftime lead in the game’s final minutes. The Braves’ defensive struggles continued for the next three games as they yielded an average of 85 points during the four-game stretch.

But the Bradley defense and rebounding have vastly improved in the last two outings — a 52-50 loss at league-leading Northern Iowa and a 74-56 thumping of Missouri State. And that’s a great sign heading into Wednesday night’s 7:05 return game at the SIU Arena, where the Braves have not won since 2001.

In these two games, Bradley has averaged just 54 points and held those two opponents to 37 percent shooting while holding a 40-28 average bulge on the boards.

“Particularly in this league, you have to defend and rebound,” BU coach Jim Les said. “We got smacked in the face by realizing we’re not going to be able to outscore people.

“This team is garnering some confidence and they should. They’ve dealt with some adversity and they’ve all come together and said, ‘We’re not going to take it.’ We need to continue to understand that defense and rebounding are going to give us opportunities to be in games.”

BU forward Taylor Brown is convinced the Braves can keep it up.

“I feel a lot of confidence,” he said. “All five of us are on the same page on defense now. It’s not going to stop. It’s going to continue the rest of the season.”

Southern Illinois lost four in a row following its late comeback at Carver Arena before handing last-place Evansville a 65-57 defeat Saturday. Two of those were home defeats to Northern Iowa and Drake.

“We have to establish our home site again,” SIU coach Chris Lowery said. “These freshmen and sophomores have not been able to use the building like we did before. This game is of great importance the way everybody’s jumbled in the middle.”

Indeed, Bradley and SIU are locked in a five-way for fifth place in the Valley, just one game behind third-place Illinois State and Creighton.

Lowery noted that the team’s losing streak was precipitated when guard Tony Freeman broke his nose and lost his shooting touch, hitting just 37 percent of his shots.

“It shook us up a little bit and we started playing a way we hadn’t played,” Lowery said. “Our guard play was not consistent.”

Returning to the Salukis is center Nick Evans, who sat out the Evansville game while serving a one-game suspension for an ejection in the previous contest.

“We respect how good they are, especially at home,” Les said. “It’ll be a tough, physical grind-it-out road game. We’ll have our hands full.”

Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or dreynolds@pjstar.com.