PEORIA, Ill. -- After posting a 7-5 record against a stiff non-conference slate, Bradley will open the Missouri Valley Conference portion of its 2007-08 schedule Saturday afternoon by hosting UNI (8-3) in a 2:05 p.m. contest at Carver Arena.
Saturday's game will mark the third consecutive season the two teams will have faced each other in the league opener and thus far the home team has successfully defended its home court to start the Valley season. Bradley opened the 2005-06 MVC campaign with a 68-60 overtime victory against the Panthers at Carver Arena, while UNI returned the favor with a 76-65 win Dec. 27, 2006 at the McLeod Center. Bradley owns a 24-11 record in the all-time series against UNI, including a 15-2 home record against the Panthers.
Both teams are coming off home losses in the return games of their 2007 O'Reilly/ESPNU BracketBusters matchups. With star point guard Daniel Ruffin limited by an abdominal strain, Bradley has suffered consecutive losses for the first time this season, falling on the road to #16 Butler Dec. 19 and last Saturday at home aganist defending Colonial Athletic Association champion VCU. The Panthers will be trying to avoid their first losing streak of the season as UNI tries to bounce back from last Saturday's 55-52 home loss to Nevada.
Bradley once again will be expecting a full house for Saturday's Valley opener against UNI. After treating District 150 students with perfect attendance to a free ticket for last week's game against VCU, Bradley now is allowing local school teachers the opportunity to attend Saturday's game against the Panthers. For the second year in a row, Bradley is participating in the Mayor's Office “Tickets for Teachers” initiative and has distributed vouchers to the local school districts. The vouchers are redeemable by local teachers at the Carver Arena Box Office on game days only for free tickets to tomorrow's game versus UNI or the Jan. 16 contest versus Drake.
In addition to the “Tickets for Teachers” promotion, all fans may present Saturday's ticket from the UNI game at the Robertson Fieldhouse Box Office for the opportunity to purchase half-priced tickets for the Jan. 16 game versus Drake.
Bradley has averaged 10,033 fans for the first six non-conference home games, which is well ahead of last year's pace when the Braves drew a school record 165,376 fans to Carver Arena. The average attendance number is currently the second-best average in program history, trailing only the norm of 10,178 fans during the 1999-2000 season. Bradley averaged 9,890 fans in five non-conference games during the 1999-2000 season.
Bradley's complete set of game notes for Saturday's game versus UNI are available in pdf format (link below)
