Bradley Men's Basketball 2020-2021 Season

 Coming off two back-to-back conference tournament title runs and what should've been two straight NCAA tournament appearances, confidence was at an all time high for the Bradley Braves Men's Basketball program coming into the 2020-2021 season. It would be a tough test for the Braves who were losing their best player, team leader, and all-time Bradley great Darrell Brown, knockdown 3-point marksman Nate Kennell, and the other half of their twin towers in 7 footer Koch Bar. Despite all that this Bradley team had key players returning such as Elijah Childs, Ville Tahvanainen, Danya Kingsby, Ari Boya, and JaShon Henry who all were key in last year's team having the success it did. Perhaps most exciting were the fresh new faces on campus; transfers Terry Nolan Jr, Kevin McAdoo, and Sean East II gave the Braves much needed playmaking and guard depth, Rienk Mast, the Freshman forward who redshirted last season, was an exciting all around forward, and new recruits Connor Linke, Da...

Bradley tipped off their season at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio for the Xavier Invitational. Bradley came away with the victory in Game 1 against a tough Toledo team 61-59 on a buzzer beating layup by Terry Nolan Jr, that was featured on SportsCenter. The Braves would lose at the free throw line in the second game against Xavier 51-50 after Nolan Jr was unable to convert a one-and-one that would have tied the game and given Bradley a chance to secure the victory. Bradley rebounded nicely in the next game against Oakland with a 74-60 victory that would send the Braves back to Peoria with a 2-1 record.  Bradley would then open up a 5 game home stand, in which they would go a very impressive 4-1. They opened things up with a game against Division 3 Judson University and the Braves rolled to a 105-32 victory, a game that saw 5 Bradley players finish in double figures. The lone home loss would come next against a young and talented South Dakota State team who would go 17-26 fro...

 For the first time in two seasons the Bradley Braves taste defeat at Arch Madness after they were bounced Thursday by the Southern Illinois Salukis at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Fresh off their big win against Drake in the season finale with only 6 scholarship players on the roster, the Braves were happy to get both Ville Tahvanainen and Kevin McAdoo back healthy for this game. When the action finally got underway, SIU's Lance Jones opened up the scoring with a 3-pointer but Bradley responded with a jump shot by Darrius Hannah to make the score 3-2 early. After both teams began exchanging baskets Rienk Mast would bury a 3-pointer to tie the game at 11 all with 15:03 left to play. Coming out of the media timeout Bradley would take its first and only lead of the first half when Ville Tahvanainen's triple found the bottom of the net to put the Braves out in front 14-11. The Salukis would quickly respond with an 11-2 run spanning the next 3 minutes to take a 22-...

 The Drake Bulldogs came into Carver Arena needing two wins to secure the MVC Regular Season Title. Bradley was looking to play the role of spoiler this weekend and it looked as through Friday would be a big upset for the Braves. The games first basket was a layup by Ville Tahvanainen to put Bradley up 2-0 before Tremell Murphy scored 7 straight points for Drake to put them out in front 7-4. The Braves would battle right back and a Rienk Mast triple would give Bradley a 4 point advantage with 15:33 left in the first half. Bradley would continue to extend its lead over the next 6 minutes and after Ja'Shon Henry went 2 for 2 at the free throw line Bradley found themselves up 23-14, which would be the largest lead of the day for the Braves. But Drake would show why they were one of the two best teams in the Valley this season as they quickly ripped off an 11-0 run capped off by a Joseph Yesufu 3-pointer that put Drake back out in front 25-23. After buckets by Sean East II and Ja'S...