Evansville vs. Bradley Feb. 5 Free Pick
Evansville and Bradley get together Tuesday night, both looking to get back on track after falling on the road over the weekend. Evansville went down in a heart-breaking one point loss at Missouri State on Saturday, while Bradley was blown out at the hands of conference-leader Creighton. Bradley is opening as a slight favorite on their home court despite being a game behind the Purple Aces in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
Free Pick
Bradley has lost three of their last four games after Walt Lemon Jr.’s half-court buzzer beater to shock Missouri State. The Braves’ threelosses during that stretch have all come by double-digits. Bradley knows how to defend Carver Arena, however. They are 4-1 at home in the Missouri Valley and won their last home fixture as a ‘dog against Illinois State.
Bradley will likely have a rare advantage on the inside in this one, as Evansville does not feature much more physicality than Will Egolf or Tyshon Pickett will be able to handle down low. Bradley has run into trouble in matchups where they are unable to body up with the opponents’ bigs. This game will almost undoubtedly be very perimeter oriented where both Walt Lemon Jr. and Dyricus Simms-Edwards are both double-digit scorers and are asked to carry Bradley on both ends of the floor. Despite having some pretty nice size, both Pickett and Egolf like to stay on the outside. Pickett prefers to slash while Egolf has a nice stroke from the mid-range all the way out to the three-point arch. His ability to get hot early and stretch the defense early will leave slashing lanes for Lemon Jr., Simms-Edwards and Pickett. All three of the leading-scorers prefer to slash and drive to the basket rather than score with the jump shot.
For Evansville, their offense is all about senior Colt Ryan, who averages a shade under 18 points per game and has averaged 23.5 points over his last two games. Ryan was able to put up 19 points when these teams got together in Evansville despite just utilizing 15 possessions. He was the lone player on the Purple Aces to reach double-figures, even with Simms-Edwards chasing him around for the majority of the game. Ryan will get his numbers but expect him to be a little less effective on the road with Simms-Edwards, who is one of the best defenders in the Missouri Valley. Point guard Ned Cox will try to continue to provide some help to his backcourt partner. He has been able to provide double-digit scoring with 11 points per game with 42 percent accuracy from beyond three-point land.
Evansville was able to get the best of Bradley on their own home floor but expect the Braves to be sharp in a revenge spot in Carver Arena. Look for Simms-Edwards to be the key defensively for the Braves and limit Ryan on the offensive end. Evansville will not role over but expect Bradley to take a highly-contested game and get back to .500 in the Missouri Valley.
Free Pick: Bradley Moneyline -130