'Punched in the mouth': How Bradley Braves men's NIT run ended with loss to Dayton
What the Bradley Braves men's basketball team said after their season ended with 80-66 loss to the Dayton Flyers on March 18, 2026 at Carver Arena.
PEORIA — The Bradley Braves hoped to launch another National Invitation Tournament run, but they never really got off the ground Wednesday against the Dayton Flyers . The Braves were down by as much as 23 points on the way to being battered, 80-66, by No. 2 seed Dayton in a first-round matchup before 2,436 at Carver Arena.
Bradley 's season ended at 21-13, while Dayton moved on to a second-round NIT game at UNC-Wilmington. "Disappointed," Bradley head coach Brian Wardle said. "A little embarrassed, too, with that effort and how we played.
I knew we might be a little rusty to start because we hadn't played since (March 7), but defensively we were just really, really struggling the whole game. "Their stars were stars. We, other than (departing senior guard) Alex Huibregtse, I don't know if we had a lot of guys even perform to an average level.
It's March. You gotta show up. Everyone's got to play their game.