4 big reasons Bradley dominated Valparaiso and won its first Missouri Valley basketball game

Bradley’s basketball season had a significant turning point when junior guard Connor Hickman went down with an ankle injury against Indiana State on Dec. 2. Without their starting shooting guard, the Braves lost four consecutive games and the absence of his leadership and scoring ability was evident.

On Wednesday night, Hickman showed the reward of his return was greater than the sacrifice, taking over with a career-high 28 points in Bradley’s 86-61 win over Valparaiso.

Turns out a bit of a holiday reset is all the Braves needed to get back on track.

BOX SCORE: Bradley 86, Valpo 61

The win was the third in a row for Bradley (10-5, 1-2), following victories against SIU-Edwardsville and Truman St. before the new year — and their first in MVC play after losses to Murray St. and Indiana State in early December.

“It felt good and it was good for our team as a whole after that five-game losing streak, you win three in a row,” Hickman said. “To come in (and) get that mindset of new year, new season basically and to start off on a good note is huge.”

Bradley got after it on defense

It took Valpo (4-10, 0-3) nearly six minutes to finally score in the first half. Bradley’s defensive unit ended on another remarkable note, shutting out the hosts for the final 6:49 in the second half. The Braves led by double-digits for nearly three-quarters of the game.

“(There was) pretty good execution throughout the game," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said, "and we were able to sustain and hold a pretty big lead for the majority of the game, which is a good step for us."

A heap of confidence was reinstilled among the Braves after the conference win, including within senior point guard Duke Deen

“We haven't really dominated a team for the whole 40 minutes this year," Deen said, "so I think it's a big step for us and it shows us that we can dominate any team once we execute the scout and be disciplined on defense."

The Braves held the Beacons, who were the lowest-ranked team in the MVC shooting percentage-wise and playing without leading scorer Isaiah Stafford, to an 0-for-6 start from the field.

“I looked up at the scoreboard at one point and they were, like, 3 of 16 (from the field),” Hickman said. “Keying in on personnel and guarding our yards, which the coaches call it, I thought we did that very well in that first five, six minutes that really got us started.”

Connor Hickman had a career night

Hickman played limited minutes and scored two points in Bradley’s previous game – a 69-47 win over Truman State on Dec. 28. Against Valpo, he scored six of Bradley’s first eight points on the way to a career-high 28 points and a career-high six 3-pointers.

Hickman got going midway through the first half, hitting his first 3-pointer of the night on a quick catch and shoot to stretch BU's lead to 22-10 with 11:28 left. Valpo closed it 23-15 shortly thereafter, but Hickman took advantage of a Bradley offensive rebound and cashed in a deep ball that followed a similar result from senior guard Christian Davis.

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“I thought I've had a pretty good two days of practice leading up to it and then I also had about four weeks worth of shots built up in that I needed to get out,” Hickman laughed. “Patience, taking my time, letting the sets develop and just getting good shots is what got me going.”

Hickman’s confidence in his shot kept on growing and he made four treys in just over three minutes to boost Bradley to a 38-21 lead with 3:01 left in the first. By that point, Hickman had tied his previous career high of 21 points, which he set earlier in the season against Utah State, on a perfect 5-for-5 mark from deep.

“He felt good in practice the last couple of days,” Wardle added. “You could tell he was getting his bounce back a little bit, starting to get back into his rhythm. It's great to have him back feeling good on the floor. He's a huge difference maker for us.”

The first-half outburst opened things up for many of Hickman’s teammates, including Ahmet Jonovic. The sophomore center from Serbia helped Bradley dominate the outsized Beacons in the paint. He had a career night with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Five Braves ended in double figures, including Davis with 12 points plus Deen and senior forward Darius Hannah scoring 10 apiece.

“Meta was great for us off the bench," Wardle said. "I liked our rotations, I thought we could share and move the ball a little bit better offensively and get some more 3s but overall, just a good team effort defensively, too.”

Bradley worked for extra possessions

Bradley shined on the offensive glass. BU outrebounded the Beacons 14-5 and scored 19 second-chance points, including a 3-pointer from Deen that made it 54-39 Bradley early in the second half and started an 11-2 push.

For the Beacons to steal an upset win in their first year under former University of Illinois star Roger Powell, they would’ve had to score in transition and get to those offensive rebounds. BU made sure that didn’t happen.

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“I thought our hands were really active,” Wardle said. “We were active on the offensive glass, we were active in gaps, we got a lot of steals and we got those extra possessions on the glass which are always huge on the road.”

Graduate forward Malevy Leons helped lead the charge with three offensive rebounds while his defensive prowess also shone in a historic performance in which he became only the second Bradley player with 100 steals and 100 blocks, joining Mitchell "J.J." Anderson.

In the second half, BU forced 15 of Valpo’s 20 turnovers and turned them into 21 points.

“You want to start fast and finish faster,” Wardle said. “It's always good to start fast defensively and finish well defensively and we were able to do that in this game. I thought Malevy was really good in the second half defensively for us (guarding Valparaiso guard Darius DeAveiro) who was playing very well.”

Bradley is back at full strength

Having Hickman back as the calendar flips brings an indelible impact to the Braves, who are looking to climb their way back up to the top of the MVC. As to why he was able to make such an immediate impact in his first full game back, the junior used his time on the sidelines in street clothes as an opportunity to improve his own game.

“I want to be playing but just getting to watch the games and watching the team, you also get to learn a lot,” Hickman said. “I think I've kind of slowed down a little bit as well and pick my spots better.”

Wardle praised Hickman’s maturity both on the court on Wednesday night and off the court in his recovery process. Bradley’s good execution out of timeouts in the win was directly correlated to having his shooting guard back on the floor.

“He's been through a long month of dealing with a pretty serious injury and he's been professional about his approach off the floor and getting extra treatments,” Wardle said. “We've done everything we can to get him back on the court."

A Bloomington, Indiana native, Hickman’s special performance came in front of his father, Ted, who drove the shorter-than-usual distance to watch his son play. Not only was his career-high night a late Christmas gift for him, it was an important one to the Braves as they approach a key stretch with back-to-back home games against Missouri State and Evansville.

“We just got to stack days now, it's one day,” Wardle said. “We got two months left and it's going to go by fast. I told the team I think there's about 64 days or so until March Madness and we just got to take it one day at a time and keep improving because there's still things we got to get better and smarter in.”

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: NCAA basketball: Bradley Braves score, results, analysis at Valparaiso