Rolling Into Omaha
? Bradley will shoot for its fourth straight win overall and third consecutive road victory Thursday when the Braves visit Missouri Valley Conference rival Creighton.
? The Braves are coming off a 76-59 win Saturday at Indiana State, handing the Sycamores their first home loss of the season and now head to Qwest Center OMAHA, where the host Bluejays are a perfect 7-0 this year.
? Bradley's eight-game road losing streak at Creighton is the third-longest the Braves have ever experienced against another Valley rival, trailing an 11-game road skid against Louisville from 1964-65 through 1974-75 and the 9-game drought at Evansville that ended with last year's 79-76 overtime victory.
Home Against the Shockers
? Bradley will play its first return game of the season Saturday when the Braves host Wichita State in a 7:05 p.m. tip at Carver Arena.
? Wichita State was the only team to beat Bradley at Carver Arena last season, dumping the Braves, 86-76, Jan. 11, 2006 and the Shockers also won this year's first meeting, 84-63, Jan. 4 in Wichita.
? The 2006-07 Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame Class will be inducted during a halftime ceremony Saturday and the first 5,000 fans wearing red will receive mini megaphones, sponsored by Verizon Wireless.
Not Bad After 19 Games
? Despite the heavy personnel losses from last year's NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 squad, the current Bradley squad has a slightly better record through 19 games than last year's veteran team.
? Bradley is 13-6 through 19 games this year, compared to a 12-7 start through 19 games last year.
Player Losses, NO Problem
? In addition to the heavy losses to graduation and the NBA, Bradley also has endured substantial injuries this year.
? Junior point guard Daniel Ruffin (three games), a preseason candidate for the Bob Cousy Award, and junior guard Jeremy Crouch (five games) have missed eight games due to injury this season.
? Bradley was 3-0 without Ruffin and the Braves have improved to 3-2 without Crouch, giving them a 6-2 mark in the eight games without two of their top three scorers.
Crouch Remains Sidelined
? For the sixth straight game Thursday at Creighton, Bradley is expected to be without the services of team scoring leader Jeremy Crouch, who sprained his right knee Dec. 30 against Evansville and is out for an indefinite period of time.
? The 6-foot-5 junior is The Valley's third-best scorer at 16.4 points per game and leads the league with 3.4 3-pointers per contest.
Correcting the Road Woes
? Bradley ended a program worst 14-game Valley road losing streak Jan. 28, 2006 by pulling out a 79-76 overtime victory at Evansville.
? Including that win against the Aces, the Braves now are 5-4 in their last nine Valley road games and have won two straight on the Valley road.
? Bradley has not won three consecutive Valley road games since the final three road contests of the 1996-97 season.
? That streak ended with road wins at Indiana State and Drake, the sites of Bradley's two wins in the current road winning streak.
Getting Defensive
? Bradley has ranked among The Valley leaders in forcing turnovers and steals all season, but the Braves often have struggled with their field goal percentage defense and points allowed this year.
? In the two games last week, however, the Braves downed Southern Illinois, 48-46, and Indiana State, 76-59, by allowing an average of 52.5 points on 37.9 percent shooting from the floor.
? Holding Southern Illinois scoreless over the game's final 3:37, senior guard Will Franklin banked home the winning basket with an off-balanced leaner with five-tenths of a second remaining.
More than 200 treys
? For the second time in the history of the 3-point line, Bradley has made more than 200 3-point field goals in a season.
? Currently fourth nationally by averaging 10.7 treys per game, Bradley has run its season total to 204, just 20 shy of the single-season school record 224 3-pointers during the 1987-88 season.
? Bradley is on pace to make 344 treys in 32 scheduled games, which would shatter Creighton's 2005 MVC record of 293 3-pointers.
