Bradley Basketball Postgame Notes
Jan. 3, 2016 – Wichita State

Final Score (W-L)              1   2   F
Wichita State (8-5, 2-0 MVC)  48  37  85
Bradley (2-13, 0-2 MVC)       24  34  58
Attendance: 6,597 (Bradley season high)

Final Lead Change
Bradley had taken a 13-11 lead on six straight points from Donte Thomas, an old-fashioned 3-point play at 13:11 and a 3-pointer with 12:46 left, before Wichita State used a 7-0 run to take the lead for good. Wichita State outscored Bradley 37-11 after the Thomas outburst and the Shockers took a 48-24 lead into the locker room after Evan Wessel buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Second Half Numbers
Bradley played the Shockers to a 37-34 score in the second half. Although Bradley's field goal percentage dropped from .421 in the first half to .346 in the second, the Braves equaled Wichita State with 21 points from the field and outrebounded their visitors, 19-12, after the intermission. Bradley finished with a 31-28 rebounds advantage for the game.

Single-Digit Balance
Bradley did not have a double-digit scorer for the second straight game, but nine different Braves scored at least four points. Freshman guard Duane Lautier-Ogunleye, The Valley's top scoring freshman on the season, led the Braves with nine points, while fellow freshmen Antoine Pittman and Scottie James each chipped in eight points. Bradley season rebounding leader, Donte Thomas, improved his average by pulling down a game-high eight rebounds.

Wichita State reserve freshman Markis McDuffie scored a game-high 14 points and led the Shockers with six rebounds. All-American senior guard Fred VanVleet added 13 points and center Shaquille Morris completed the double-digit scoring with 11 points.

Freshman Minutes
Bradley played all 10 of its 10 freshmen a total of 162 minutes (81.0 percent of the 200 available minutes), the 15th time in as many games Bradley's freshman class logged at least as many as 149 minutes.

Wichita State played a trio of freshmen at total of 34 minutes, the 14th time in 15 games Bradley's opponent played freshmen fewer than 40 combined minutes.

First-Half Shooting
Wichita State shot 60.7 percent (17-28) from the field in the first half, the second straight game Bradley's opponent hit at least 60 percent of its first-half field goal attempts. UNI made 16-of-23 (.696) first-half field goal attempts in Wednesday's Valley opener.

Auburn Reunion
Sunday's game featured a matchup of former Rockford (IL) Auburn High School teammates: Wichita State All-America senior guard Fred VanVleet and Bradley freshman guard Antoine Pittman.  VanVleet finished with 13 points and five assists, while Pittman turned in eight points and three rebounds.

Scoring Drought
Bradley pulled to within 20-18 on a Luuk van Bree 3-pointer with 9:31 left in the first half, then suffered through a 5-minutes, 26-seconds scoring drought before a Scottie James driving dunk with 4:05 left pulled the Braves within 39-20. Bradley was 0-for-2 from the field with seven turnovers during the drought. Wichita State was 6-for-8 from the floor during its 19-0 run.

Technical Foul
Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall was hit with a technical foul after Bradley forward Donte Thomas was whistled for an offensive foul with 2:14 left in the first half. Luuk van Bree made both of the resulting free throws to pull Bradley within 41-22.

Turnovers and Free Throws
Bradley committed 14 first-half turnovers and the Shockers converted the miscues into a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers. The final stats showed 23 Bradley turnovers against just 11 for Wichita State and the Shockers turned the advantage into a 29-9 score in points off turnovers.

Bradley, which started 8-for-8 at the line in the second half, made 12 consecutive free throw attempts through the middle of the game. At the time Joel Okafor snapped the streak by going 0-for-2 at the line with 8:30 left in the second half, the teams had combined to score as many points from the free throw line (17) as from the field.

First Career Points
One of Bradley's two non-scholarship freshmen, D'Angelo McBride, snared two offensive rebounds on the same possession and scored his first career points by making two free throws after the second board with 2:28 left in the game. McBride finished with three offensive rebounds and knocked down all four of his free throw attempts resulting from his board work.

Co-Leaders Up Next
Bradley will host Missouri Valley Conference co-leader Southern Illinois (13-2, 2-0 MVC) Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST at Carver Arena. The Braves will visit the other Valley co-leader, Evansville (13-2, 2-0 MVC), Saturday at 3 o'clock. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Wichita State will host Evansville (13-2, 2-0 MVC) Wednesday at 7 p.m. CST, then will visit Southern Illinois Saturday night. Both games also will be shown on ESPN3.