Bradley Braves (8-5, 2-3 MVC)
vs.
Wichita State Shockers (12-4, 3-2 MVC)
Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006 ? 7:05 p.m. ? Peoria, Ill. ? Carver Arena (11,300)
Television: KWCH, Wichita CBS 12 (Bruce Haertl, play-by-play; Craig Steven, analsyst)
Satellite Coordinates: AMC 3, Transponder 18, Dowlink Frequency 12064 vertical
Radio: WMBD AM 1470 (Dave Snell, play-by-play; Joe Stowell, analyst)
Internet: www.bubraves.com (audio and video streams)
Season's First Rematch
? Bradley returns to the friendly confines of Carver Arena for four of its next five games, beginning with its first rematch of the season Wednesday night versus Wichita State.
? The Braves have lost three of their last four games, all on the road, beginning with a 69-67 overtime setback Dec. 30 at Wichita State.
? Bradley owns a 66-51 lead in the all-time series versus Wichita State, including a 48-13 edge at Carver Arena.
? Despite Bradley's overall home dominance in the series, the Shockers have won two of the last three at Carver Arena.
Recapping the First Meeting
at Wichita State 67, Bradley 69 ? Dec. 30
? In its first Valley road game of the season, Bradley overcame a 15-point deficit in the final 14:14 of regulation and forced overtime when Daniel Ruffin threw in a 3-pointer with five-tenths of a second remaining.
? Kyle Wilson put the Shockers ahead for good in the extra session, however, by draining a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 19 seconds left.
? Prior to Ruffin's buzzer-beating 3-pointer, the Braves had been 0-for-18 from 3-point territory and they finished the game 1-for-19.
? Senior forward Marcellus Sommerville equalled his career low with six points on 3-for-20 shooting.
? Sophomore center Patrick O'Bryant scored 14 points and grabbed a career-best 19 rebounds.
Series History
? Bradley owns a 66-51 lead in the all-time series versus Wichita State, dating back to a 72-63 Braves victory March 6, 1948 at the Peoria Armory.
? Wednesday's game will be the 118th meeting in the all-time series and 111 of the previous 117 games have been played as Missouri Valley Conference rivals.
? Bradley owns a 48-13 home record versus the Shockers, including a 17-6 advantage in games played at Carver Arena.
? The Shockers had won two straight at Carver Arena before Bradley snapped the mini-streak with a 74-68 victory Feb. 12, 2005 in the last Peoria matchup.
Native Son Shines in Series
? Bradley senior forward Lawrence Wright is the son of a United States Air Force master sargeant and was born in Wichita, Kan., before moving to bases in Georgia, Alaska and California.
? Wright has averaged 15.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in three games versus Wichita State, highlighted by his breakout performance (26 points) last year in Peoria.
? Prior to Sunday's eight-point outing at Southern Illinois, Wright had scored in double figures 17 times in his previous 18 games, beginning with his career-best 26-point performance Feb. 12, 2005 against the Shockers.
Home Court Advantage
? Bradley is enjoying its 24th season of playing its home games at Carver Arena.
? The Braves are 250-81 (.755) all-time at Carver Arena, including a 143-54 (.726) record in Missouri Valley Conference games.
? The Braves are 6-0 at home this season, which equals the second-longest home winning streak in Jim Les' four years as the head coach.
? In addition to a 15-game home winning streak in between the 2004 and 2005 games versus Drake, Bradley also won six straight games at Carver Arena to start the 2003-04 season.
Home For Four of Five
? After opening the Missouri Valley Conference season by playing three of its first five games on the road, and coming off a pair of road losses last week, Bradley will play four of its next five games at Carver Arena.
? After hosting Wichita State Wednesday night , the Braves will entertain Evansville Saturday afternoon (2:05 p.m.).
? Following a brief visit to Creighton next Wednesday, the Braves will close out the home heavy portion of its schedule by hosting Indiana State Jan. 21 and Missouri State Jan. 25.
? Bradley is 6-0 at home this season, including Valley wins versus Northern Iowa (68-60 in OT) and Creighton (86-69).
Central Illinois Road Swing
? Since Illinois State joined the Valley for the 1981-82 season, Wichita State has previously played Illinois State and Bradley in consecutive road games 16 times.
? Coming off Sunday's 56-47 win at Redbird Arena, the Shockers will be trying for their first-ever sweep when visiting the Valley's Central Illinois members in consecutive games.
? Including Creighton's 0-2 trip through Central Illinois Dec. 31 and Jan. 2, 65 teams have tried for the I-74 sweep and only seven have completed it.
? In fact, the Valley visitors have only won 33 of the 131 (.252) games involved, including Wichita State's win Sunday at Redbird Arena.
Year at BU at ILS Sweeps WSU
1981-82 0-3 0-3 0 ---
1982-83 1-2 0-3 0 1-1
1983-84 0-1 0-1 0 0-2
1984-85 2-1 1-2 1-Tulsa 1-1
1985-86 0-2 1-1 0 1-1
1986-87 0-1 0-1 0 0-2
1987-88 0-4 1-3 0 1-1
1988-89 2-2 2-2 0 1-1
1989-90 2-1 0-3 0 0-2
1990-91 3-3 4-2 2-MSU, Tulsa 1-1
1991-92 1-1 1-1 1-Tulsa 0-2
1992-93 0-3 0-3 0 0-2
1993-94 0-5 0-5 0 0-2
1994-95 0-5 1-4 0 0-2
1995-96 1-3 0-4 0 0-2
1996-97 0-4 0-4 0 0-2
1997-98 1-2 0-3 0 ---
1999-00 0-1 1-0 0 ---
2000-01 0-2 0-2 0 ---
2002-03 1-1 1-1 1 ? Creighton ---
2003-04 2-0 2-0 2 -Creighton, SIU ---
2004-05 0-1 1-0 0 1-1
2005-06 0-1 1-1 0 ---
Totals 16-49 17-49 7 7-25
Tough Valley Start
? Bradley's first six Valley games are being played against five teams that now Wednesday with a 55-20 (.733) combined record:
Date Opponent Record Pct. RPI
Dec. 28 UNI 14-2 .875 13
Dec. 30 at Wichita State 12-4 .750 51
Jan. 2 Creighton 9-4 .692 45
Jan. 5 at Drake 9-7 .563 105
Jan. 8 at Southern Illinois 11-3 .786 31
Jan. 11 Wichita State 12-4 .750 51
Cumulative Totals 51-19 .729
? Even after a 2-3 start in league play, Bradley has risen 14 spots in the rankings at www.collegerpi.com from No. 66 on Dec. 27 to No. 52 as of Tuesday morning.
Bradley Playing Defense
? Bradley has held each of its last six opponents to less than 38 percent shooting from the field.
? The Bradley Sports Information Office has a complete archive of box scores going back to the 1971-72 season, and in the last 35 seasons, the Braves had never before held six consecutive opponents to less than 40 percent shooting from the field.
Opponent FG-FGA Pct. 3FG-A Pct.
at Southern Miss 14-47 .298 3-15 .200
Northern Iowa 20-59 .339 9-28 .321
at Wichita State 21-56 .375 6-19 .316
Creighton 23-64 .359 7-24 .292
at Drake 22-58 .379 4-14 .286
at Southern Illinois 18-52 .346 5-19 .263
6-game totals 118-336 .351 34-119 .286
? For the season, Bradley is holding the opposition to 39.7 percent shooting from the field and a league low 29.4 percent from 3-point territory.
Valley Foul Trouble
? Foul trouble in Bradley's first five Valley games have prevented the Braves from taking full advantage of its historic run of defense.
? In the first five league games, the Braves have been whistled for 111 personal fouls, an average of 22.2 per game and 26 more than their five league rivals.
? The result has been a -40 scoring margin at the free throw line in the first five Valley games (61 made free throws by the Braves, compared to 101 by their opponents).
Turnovers Proving Costly, Too
? Bradley has gone 6-2 in the eight non-conference games to date and assist-to-turnover ratio and turnover margin were big keys to its non-conference success.
? In those eight games, the Braves enjoyed a 1.05-to-1 assists-to-turnover ratio and a +3.1 turnover margin.
? In the first five Valley games, the Braves own a 0.84-to-1 assists-to-turnover ratio and a -2.8 turnover margin.
Frontline Struggles
? While Patrick O'Bryant was dominant in his first three games back for the Braves -- 16.7 ppg, 13.0 rpg and 3.3 bpg -- he had plenty of support from his front line teammates.
? In the season's first three Valley games, the starting trio of O'Bryant (center), Marcellus Sommerville (power forward) and Lawrence Wright (small forward) combined to average 43.0 points and 29.7 rebounds.
? By contrast, the first three opposing front lines combined to average 29.3 points and 19.7 rebounds.
? During the two-game slide at Drake and Southern Illinois, however, O'Bryant has been limited to 3-of-6 shooting from the field.
? In turn, the trio has averaged 26.5 points and 18.5 rebounds per game in the last two games.
Get Back on the Glass
? Bradley had won the battle of the boards in eight consecutive games (by an average of +10.3 rpg) until Drake outboarded the Braves Thursday night.
? Bradley is 6-2 when it wins the rebound battle this season.
? Drake (35-34) and Southern Illinois (40-39) both won the rebound battles in Bradley's last two games.
Defending The Three
? Bradley has allowed its first 13 opponents just 5.2
3-point field goals per game while limiting those teams to 29.4 percent accuracy from behind the arc, the best 3-point field goal percentage defense in the Valley.
Let Me Assist You
? Led by Daniel Ruffin's 13-assist effort, Bradley equalled its season-high with 22 assists in its last home game Jan. 2 versus Creighton.
? Bradley, which ranks third in the Valley in assists per game at 15.5, has recorded at least 20 assists on four different occassions this season.
? Bradley reached 20 assists in a game only one time last year (20 Dec. 21 versus Samford), while averaging only 13.5 assists per contest.
2-Point Defense Improving
? In contrast to Bradley's defense of the 3-point line in the early going, the Braves struggled inside the arc without the presence of 7-foot sophomore center Patrick O'Bryant.
? Through the first eight games, the opposition had made 37-of-127 (.291) 3-point attempts, but 142-of-296 (.480) 2-point field goal attempts.
? The 189-point discrepency between 3-point field goal defense and 2-point field goal defense was the largest in the Valley.
? In O'Bryant's first five games in the lineup, however, Bradley's Valley rivals have combined to shoot 29.8 percent (31-104) from 3-point land and a much cooler 39.5 percent (73-185) from inside the arc, a difference of only 97 percentage points.
Valley Holding at No. 5 in RPI
? According to the numbers published at www.collegerpi.com, the Missouri Valley Conference continues to hold at No. 5 among the 31 NCAA Division I leagues.
Conference RPI (Through Jan. 9)
DI Non-Con Record
Rk. Conference W L Pct. RPI
1 Big Ten 103 24 .8110 .5971
2 Atlantic Coast 110 27 .8029 .5853
3 Big East 143 40 .7814 .5785
4 Southeastern 112 35 .7619 .5779
5 Missouri Valley 61 22 .7349 .5673
6 Big XII 101 32 .7593 .5617
7 Pac-10 71 28 .7172 .5495
Rk. School W L Pct. RPI
13 Northern Iowa 12 2 .8571 .6417
21 Missouri State 10 3 .7692 .6225
31 Southern Illinois 11 2 .8462 .6020
45 Creighton 9 4 .6923 .5915
51 Wichita State 11 4 .7333 .5852
52 Bradley 8 5 .6154 .5843
105 Drake 7 7 .5000 .5424
116 Indiana State 7 5 .5833 .5306
179 Illinois State 5 7 .4167 .4884
185 Evansville 5 7 .4167 .4848
