The Drake men’s basketball team filled the first half of its Saturday, Jan. 31, matchup against Bradley with excitement: several blocks, a nine-point lead and a whole lot of energy.
But all those highs came crashing down as the Bulldogs failed to keep up with Bradley, which took control at the end of the first half and never let up for an 87-73 win over Drake.
The Bulldogs (12-11, 6-6 MVC) will head on a two-game road trip with hopes of turning things around, once again.
“Unfortunately, the outcome wasn’t what we wanted,” said head coach Eric Henderson. “But we’ll continue. We’ll jump back on the horse, and we’ll keep fighting. You’ve got to tip your cap to those guys, obviously they shot the lights out, and we just needed to do a better job of guarding the arc a little bit there.”
Here are three takeaways from Drake’s loss to Bradley.
Isaiah Carr made an impact coming off the bench for Drake
The 7-foot senior forward made the most of his time coming in off the bench, despite limited contributions on the scoreboard. He tallied three points – and two rebounds – in 16 minutes of playing time, but his biggest contributions were the five blocks he recorded.
And that’s no small feat considering Bradley boasts a dozen players who stand 6-foot-4 or taller.
“The energy that he brings, the blocks, the big rebounds, have been huge for us,” Henderson said. “So, he’s really filling his role so well, and he’s got a great personality out there. He just creates a lot of excitement.”
Drake improved in some margins, despite the loss
The Bulldogs have struggled to stay out of foul trouble this season, but it’s been an area of focus, according to Henderson.
Despite the loss, Drake showed some improvement in the early minutes against Bradley. The Bulldogs weren’t called for a foul until the 10-minute mark of the first half, after Isaiah Carr turned over the ball on a bad pass.
The trend didn’t continue into the second half, though, as it took just 24 seconds for Drake to pick up its first and second fouls. Bradley fouled more overall in Saturday’s matchup, too, and the Bulldogs stayed relatively composed against their opponent’s physicality.
“We did do a good job of keeping them off the foul line,” Henderson said. “Did we sacrifice a little bit, maybe too much of, packing it in the paint and then they’re able to make as many 3s as they did?
“But those margins, that’s one of them…so we are making strides in those areas.”
Drake could not slow down Bradley’s 3-point shooting
For the second game this week, Drake’s perimeter defense did little to stop its opponent from long range. Bradley made 17 of 26 attempts from beyond the arc, and over half of those makes came from one player.
The Bulldogs could not stop Alex Huibregtse, who went 9-of-10 from deep and collected 29 points. He scored just one 3-pointer in the first half before unloading on Drake in the second half, missing just one shot – with all his attempts coming from behind the arc.
“It is something that we have to think about,” Henderson said when asked if there were concerns about his team’s perimeter defense. “We were a little more aggressive on the ball screens than we have been here in the past couple games, and that was to take a little bit of the 3s away.
“Now, it didn’t quite work as we would have hoped today. We were trying to go over some of those screens a little bit more, and we’re just a little bit late.”
Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Defense lacking for Drake basketball in MVC loss to Bradley
Reporting by Alyssa Hertel, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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