Bradley’s Bully Is Leading the Way

Jaquan Johnson Is Turning Heads

(St. Louis, MO) – Bradley has won four of its last five games and Jaquan Johnson is the Missouri Valley Conference’s leading scorer and its most prolific thief. Bradley’s bully is averaging 3.4 steals and he enforces his will on other teams. Johnson is having an MVP type of year.

Tuesday night, his alleyoop pass to Ahmet Jonovic sealed the Braves’ victory over Wasghingon State. While he tallied a rather pedestrian ten points, he collected three assists and five steals. After being named to the Valley’s all-freshman team last season, he needed to take on a larger role on this year’s team. Graduation hit the Bradley program hard and Johnson felt the need to take the lead.

Bradley’s bully is helping his teammates learn the ropes of Division 1 basketball. First we had to settle a burning question. Is is his name pronounced ‘juh-quan’ or ‘jay-quan’? It is definitively the latter. Announcers out there, it is time to get it right!

He’s such a nice and well-mannered young man. Where did he get that “Bully” nickname?

Johnson has grabbed ahold of the leadership reigns passed down from former Brave Duke Deen. He says his leadership role takes several forms, but he has to lead by example.

 

Bradley’s Keys to Success

Coach Brian Wardle’s teams routinely get better as the season progresses. The last three Bradley teams have won at least twenty games and have posted winning records seven of the last eight (covid) seasons. Johnson says Wardle (286-216) demands accountability and has the rare ability to listen to his players.

Johnson is one of eight Bradley players seeing at least seventeen minutes of action per game. Seven of the eight have started multiple games. This Braves team is young, but it is deep and talented. While Johnson leads the team scoring (17.9 ppg), assists (3.5) and steals, he is not the team’s only weapon.

Junior guard Demarion Burch (12.6) and Alex Huibregtse (11.0) are Bradley’s other double digit scorers. Huibregtse leads the Braves with twenty-seven three-pointers. A.J. Smith (9.2 ppg) is the team’s top rebounder (5.2) and is a front court matchup nightmare.

Johnson says Bradley’s key to success is paying attention to the ‘little stuff’ and staying consistent. The 5’11 guard says Montana Wheeler, Corey Thomas and Timothy van Der Knapp are players that get less publicity, but will fill big roles on this year’s team.

Bradley hosts Northern Illinois this Saturday and North Central College the following weekend before opening the MVC season at Indiana State.

You can watch our entire interview with Bradley’s bully here on YouTube. An audio only version can be found at Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts.

Bradley’s bully is going to have a lot to say about how this season turns out. Don’t be surprised if the Braves are battling for a top spot in the Valley standings. The soft-spoken Johnson is a driving force on this Braves’ roster.

Do Good

 

Editor: Cover photo of Jaquan Johnson, courtesy of bradleybraves.com.

 

 

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