'12-hour rule': How Bradley Braves will get over Arkansas and get ready for Stonehill
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PEORIA — The Bradley Braves won't have long to reflect on their 76-57 loss to No. 10 Arkansas as they get right back on the court Monday.
BU hosts Stonehill College at Carver Arena, then concludes its nonconference schedule with a home game against Akron on Thursday.
"It's the 12-hour rule," Bradley coach Brian Wardle said Saturday night after the Braves loss to Arkansas. "You have 12 hours to feel sorry for yourself or angry or whatever it is because you lost. Then you have to move on and get ready for the next game.
"You have to learn something from this, because if you don't learn something from these games then there is no point in playing them."
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Henry is back
Bradley fifth-year senior forward Ja'Shon Henry made it back from a concussion Saturday that sidelined him six games and 29 days. He got on the court in the game's fourth minute, joined the starting group to begin the second half, and played 25 minutes against Arkansas.
"It was awesome," Henry said. "I'm just grateful to be able to get out there with my teammates again. It's a struggle to be sitting on the sidelines, watching them compete.
"I'm just grateful that I can be back on this court."
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Wardle was grateful to have Henry out there, too. He brings maturity and confidence to the team and makes teammates better around him.
"It's great to have him on the floor," Wardle said. "He has that tough physicality that we need. Him and Rienk Mast are our most physical, tough guys. They screen, they hit, they rebound.
"We have to have that physicality … J-Hen brought that, he just struggled to finish at the rim (at Arkansas). That's timing, that's reps. It was great to have him back."
Moving on from Arkansas
Wardle thought there were too many portions of the Arkansas game where his team didn't display enough toughness. In particular on offense.
"Getting open, chinning the ball, squeezing the ball," Wardle said. "I thought we would be ready for this game, put on a good show and compete with this team, but it's hard to simulate Arkansas' length and speed. They are an extremely aggressive, very handsy team. They are very long and very fast in the open floor and we just gave them way too many easy baskets with our turnovers.
"These games expose you. It definitely exposed some things we continue to work on, and I know what we have to get better at and we're going to continue to just work on it."
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The Deen Machine
Wardle noted that Rienk Mast did deliver some physical presence at Arkansas, and said "We've got to have some other guys step up."
The coach liked point guard Duke Deen's effort, which included 11 points, a pair of 3s and four assists. It's what the Braves are looking for as they approach the Missouri Valley Conference season.
"I thought Duke Deen, he wasn't scared," Wardle said. "He was in attack mode. There were maybe a couple passes he'd like back. But he was aggressive and confident and we need more guys to feed off that."
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Bravely Speaking
In honor of the World Cup soccer tournament, all kids wearing a soccer jersey at the Civic Center box office at Monday's game against Stonehill get a free ticket to that game. … Bradley is 3-1 all-time vs Northeast Conference, including an 83-41 win over Merrimack earlier this season. … Bradley forward Malevy Leons had a career-high 32 points against Merrimack, a Northeast Conference rival of Stonehill. ... Stonehill was an NCAA Division II program that re-classified to Division I last July. Under NCAA rules, the program is not eligible to play in the NCAA tournament or the NIT until 2026-27.
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 Twitter @icetimecleve.
Stonehill College at Bradley
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: 7 p.m. Carver Arena, Peoria
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: WMBD-AM 1470, FM 100.3
Records: Stonehill, 4-8, 4th in Northeast Conf. Bradley, 7-4, 1st in MVC.
All-time series: First meeting.
NET ranking: Stonehill, No. 278. Bradley, No. 78.
KenPom ranking: Stonehill, No. 329. Bradley, No. 101.
Head coaches: Stonehill, Chris Kraus (8th season). Bradley, Brian Wardle (8th season).
Players to watch: Stonehill: F Andrew Sims leads the team at 17.2 ppg and 4.5 rpg and shoots 50.4% from the field. Fellow F Max Zegarowski at 12.8 ppg. Fifth-year G Shamir Johnson has 25 made 3s (50%). Bradley: Led by center Rienk Mast 13.8 ppg and 7.4 rpg; F Malevy Leons 11.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg and team-best 19 blocks and 21 steals; F Ja'Shon Henry 11.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg; G Connor Hickman 39.2% from 3.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Bradley basketball: What to watch in game vs. Stonehill
