PEORIA — It was fitting, how the Bradley Braves made the cut for the National Invitation Tournament in part because they got so much out of a grad-year senior who once was cut from his AAU team as a kid.
Alex Huibregtse is enjoying his last hurrah as an NCAA Division-I college basketball player. One more tournament, one more game at least, for a sharp-shooter from Grafton, Wis., whose journey through the game had humble beginnings.
“I didn’t really know basketball was my future until probably sophomore, junior in high school,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to play college basketball because I got cut from my AAU team going into my freshman year.
“I thought I was going to be varsity as a freshman, and instead I got humbled pretty badly. By my junior year I still didn’t know if I’d play in college, D-1 or D-2 even. So I didn’t have a clear picture of what was going on until my senior year.
“I just lived in the gym. I was one of those kids who after school was at the Y all night, all day, playing pickup games, just shooting.”
That shooter transferred from Wright State to Bradley for his final season in 2025-26 and finished as the top 3-point ace in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Over the last 11 games, he is shooting 51% from long distance. And he might be the most improved player on the team defensively. He has no problem identifying the trigger point, something said by Bradley head coach Brian Wardle.
“There was a moment when Coach (before the game against Indiana State in late-January) said ‘You only have 480 minutes guaranteed, 480 left in the season,’ ” Huibregtse said. “That hit home. It gave me that senior urgency. As a senior you know it’s coming to an end here, your college career.
“I just don’t want it to end.”
He’ll try to help Bradley keep its season alive against No. 2 seed Dayton in the NIT first round Wednesday in Carver Arena.
Growing up Grafton
Huibregtse, whose last name is pronounced “Hue-breks,” says he is primarily of Dutch descent “with some German and Irish in there, too.”
The 6-foot-4, 200-pound shooting guard grew up in Grafton, Wis., a town of 12,000 located 20 miles north of Milwaukee.
His mother, Kathy, is a social worker and his father, Tim, is a retired state patrol officer.
He has two brothers, Sam and Adam, and a sister, Maddy.
They grew up Packers, Brewers and Bucks fans. And they played basketball.
Huibregtse said he loved watching Chris Middleton’s mid-range game with the Bucks. He said his favorite NBA player as a kid was Russell Westbrook, noting he had a polar opposite playing style but was a freak athlete he admired.
“My oldest brother started playing basketball, so I started in second grade and it took off quickly from there,” Huibregtse said. “I just love competing. I used to go against my brothers and their friends, was always playing up over my age, but the competing is what made it fun for me and it’s what sparked my love for the game.
“I love everything about basketball, love spending time with friends playing it, love being part of a team. You’re working toward one goal — winning. So that’s the biggest thing for me.”
He started shooting in earnest when he was in middle school. His brother was on the high school varsity team, and the gym would be opened up late at night.
“I’d ride my bike up there and be shooting every day in there,” he said. “That work ethic was created there in that gym, a work ethic and mindset my parents instilled in me, to always keep working.
“I wasn’t getting any contact from colleges, though. I kept battling, and going into my senior year, I got my first offer, from Milwaukee. Then Winona State, Michigan Tech, Division-II schools. Wright State and South Dakota State followed.”
The Wright choice
Huibregtse went to Wright State, where he was a medical redshirt as a sophomore following back surgery.
It was around Thanksgiving of the 2024-25 season when the Braves were in the Myrtle Beach Invitational. They played Wright State in the middle of three games, on the way to a tournament championship. Huibregtse had eight points and two steals in the second half of a losing cause against Bradley.
“I remember when we were doing the scouting, watching the sets they use and their play style,” Huibregtse said of Wright State’s preparation for that game. “They were super-talented with Duke and Zek and CD, Darius, they were a really impressive, talented team. They shot the ball super-well, led the country in 3-point shooting.
“I really liked their playing style.”
When the season ended, Huibregtse entered the transfer portal. There were Power 4 programs interested in him, among them Wisconsin and Iowa State.
But he chose Bradley and the MVC.
“I wanted to take a step up in conference play, I wasn’t necessarily like ‘I’m going to go play Power 4,’ ” Huibregtse said. “I still wanted to get a lot of playing time and have a good role on a team. Those other schools weren’t really offering that. They saw me as an older guy, locker room guy role. I wanted to play and compete for a championship. I wanted to spend my last year as a winner.
“That’s what led me to Bradley. I think Coach Wardle does a great job. I knew I was going to be challenged a lot here. I was going to be pushed to play both ends of the court and that really stood out to me. I wanted to be somewhere that would make me better. A lot of the things Coach Wardle preaches, I believe in.
“I wanted the truth, and he will always tell you the truth.”
The old hand on the roster
Huibregtse was asked three questions, as the veteran of the Bradley roster, about his teammates.
All in good fun.
“I have never really been the oldest guy on a team before,” said Huibregtse, who wants to play as a pro in Europe or move to a job in business management, the latter in which he holds a degree from Wright State. “It’s kind of crazy, this is my sixth year. But I’m embracing it, and the years I’ve played have given me a lot of wisdom I can share, and I’m trying to help the young guys as best I can. These guys are miles ahead of where I was at their age.”
“I want it to be me”
Huibregtse has delivered some memorable moments for Bradley, an array of clutch shots, league honors, national honors.
“This is the time of year where teams can either splinter or stick together,” said in February as Bradley entered its stretch run. “You just have to be prepared and understand that the rest of it could be crazy.
“The beautiful thing about our team is we got a bunch of guys that could take that last shot with a game on the line. As a competitor, I always want that last shot for sure.
“I want it to be me.”
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘I want it to be me’: Senior’s basketball journey is perfect for Bradley
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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