Season's Final Week at Home
? For the first time since the magical 1985-86 season, Bradley will close the regular season with two Missouri Valley Conference home games -- Tuesday night against Northern Iowa and Saturday night against Indiana State.
? Despite playing four of the first five February games away from home, the Braves won four of the five and will take a three-game winning streak into Tuesday's game against UNI.
? Fans may purchase half-priced tickets ($4) for upper bowl Priority IV seats Tuesday night and the first 5,000 fans wearing red will receive mini-megaphones Saturday night against the Sycamores.
? In addition, Bradley's four seniors -- Danny Adams, Zach Andrews, Will Franklin and J.J. Tauai -- will be honored in a pregame ceremony Saturday and will address the crowd after the game against Indiana State.
Three-Mendous
? Daniel Ruffin's transition 3-pointer with 1:37 left in the first half Saturday at VCU was Bradley's 294th of the season, breaking the Missouri Valley Conference single-season record, previously set by Creighton in 2005.
? The Braves, who average 10.3 treys per game, sank five more in the second half to finish with 11 against the Rams and pushing their Valley record to 299 3-pointers this season.
Knocking Off League Leaders
? After earning Saturday's 73-64 win at Colonial Athletic Association leader VCU in the O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters Saturday night, Bradley improved to 3-1 against teams currently leading their conferences this season.
? The Braves also dealt Horizon League leader Wright State an 88-49 defeat Dec. 5 and split their regular-season series against Valley leader Southern Illinois, winning 48-46 Jan. 10.
Trying for a Sweet Repeat
? Last season, Bradley entered its final five games of the regular season with a 13-9 record and a 66 RPI.
? Off the NCAA Tournament bubble radar screen at the time, the Braves won their final five regular-season games, then extended the winning streak to seven games by reaching the championship game of the State Farm MVC Tournament.
? The strong finish vaulted Bradley to 34 in the RPI following the MVC Tournament and the Braves earned an at-large selection to the NCAA Tournament with a 20-10 record.
? With five games remaining in the regular season this year, Bradley was 16-10 and owned a 50 RPI.
? So far, the Braves have won three in a row, including back-to-back road wins, shooting up 20 spots to 30 in the RPI as of Sunday morning.
Strength of Schedule
? Following Saturday's win at VCU, Bradley's strength of schedule improved to a Valley-best 18th nationally.
? Bradley's strength of schedule is second among teams that do not play in one of the six football power conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Pac-10 and SEC) -- Utah is 14th.
? In addition to the team's current 9-7 record in the tough Missouri Valley Conference, Saturday's win at VCU gives Bradley a 10-3 non-conference record.
? The 10 regular-season non-conference wins are the most by Bradley since 1987-88 when the Braves coupled a Missouri Valley Conference championship sweep with an 11-2 regular-season non-conference mark.
Winning Away From Home
? By winning a pair of road games last week at Evansville and VCU, Bradley now owns a 5-7 record in true road games and a 7-8 overall mark in games outside Carver Arena.
? The Braves were 2-1 in their neutral-site games, although two of the neutral sites were closer to true road games -- a 75-71 loss Nov. 25 against Illinois in suburban Chicago and a 76-66 win against Iowa State in Des Moines.
? The seven regular-season wins outside Peoria are the most by the Braves since the 1995-96 Valley champions added a 1-1 neutral record to a 7-4 road mark.
The Crouch Factor
? Junior guard Jeremy Crouch returned to the starting lineup Wednesday at Evansville and he has been the team's leading scorer in each of his two games back as a starter, finishing with 15 points against the Aces and 22 Saturday at VCU.
? Bradley is 12-4 (.750) in the 16 games Crouch has started this year, but a more modest 7-6 in the 13 games Crouch was out of the starting five.
? Averaging 16.4 points per game before his injury, Crouch sprained his right knee late in the game Dec. 30 and missed the next eight contests before playing as a reserve in five games while trying to rebuild his strength and endurance.
? Crouch averaged 18.5 points and made 10-of-16 (.625) 3-point attempts in his two starting assignments last week, pushing his season numbers to 14.4 points per game and 50.7 percent (68-134) accuracy from behind the arc.
Other Injuries
? In addition to the extended absence by Jeremy Crouch, Bradley also has endured injuries to starting point guard Daniel Ruffin and starting four-guard J.J. Tauai.
? A preseason candidate for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award, Ruffin missed three November games with a strained hip flexor, while Tauai has been playing with a broken bone in his left hand since Jan. 2.
Andrews on Track for Record
? Senior center Zach Andrews, who made 9-of-12 field goal attempts last week, now has qualified for Bradley's career field goal percentage record by eclipsing 200 makes in his two seasons on The Hilltop.
? The Valley's active leader in career field goal percentage, Andrews also now owns the school record by making 208-of-335 (.621) attempts.
? Bradley legend Joe Allen had held the school's career field goal percentage record (.602) since 1968.
