Bradley Basketball Pregame Notes
Game 17 - Missouri State Bears (13-4, 3-3 MVC) at Bradley Braves (7-9, 2-4 MVC)
Saturday, Jan. 16 - 2:05 p.m. CST - Peoria, Ill. - Carver Arena (11,164)
Series History - Missouri State leads 26-16
Television: Comcast Spotlight (Peoria 74, Chicago 102) - Frank Bussone (play-by-play), Dick Versace (analyst) and Danny Adams (sideline)
Radio: 1470 AM WMBD -- Dave Snell (play-by-play), Chuck Buescher (analyst), Joe Stowell (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (pregame show host)
Online: BradleyBraves.com - subscription video streams, free audio streams and live stats
Quick Turnaround
Just a week after their first meeting of the season, Bradley and Missouri State will complete their regular-season series Saturday afternoon at Carver Arena...Powered by Kyle Weems' first-half explosion -- 24 of Missouri State's first 29 points -- the Bears cruised to an 88-69 last Saturday afternoon versus Bradley at JQH Arena...Missouri State remains the only Valley team with a winning record against Bradley, but the Braves will be shooting for their third straight home win against the Bears.
Hall of Fame Weekend
Three individuals will be inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame during a halftime ceremony Saturday afternoon...Nelson Correa (Baseball, 1996-99) -- school records for career home runs (42), RBI's (170) and total bases (450); second in hits (251); three-time Kirby Puckett Gold Glove winner...Jim Rasmussen (Soccer, 1993-96) -- the second, first-team All-MVC player in program history and ended career as the third-leading scorer in program history...Dave Snell (Voice of the Braves) -- In the middle of his 31st season calling the action for 1470 WMBD, Snell has been a part of 937 consecutive Bradley Basketball radio broadcasts.
Zooperstars
The popular act Zooperstars will entertain the crowd during Saturday's game versus Missouri State...Among the characters scheduled to attend are "LeBronco James" and "Mackerel Jordan"
With A Win...
Bradley will snap a two-game losing streak...Bradley could climb from a three-way tie for seventh into a three-way tie for fourth in The Valley standings by the end of the day....Bradley will equal its longest home winning streak in the series history against Missouri State -- three games.
With A Loss...
Bradley will extend its losing streak to three games for a second time this season...Bradley will have suffered its fourth home loss of the season...The Braves could fall to as low as alone in ninth in the league standings by the end of the day.
Carver Arena
Saturday's game will be Bradley's 401st at Carver Arena...Bradley's 91-85 overtime win against Indiana State Jan. 6 came in the 400th game at Carver Arena...Bradley is 302-98 (.755) at Carver Arena since moving its home games to the Peoria Civic Center to start the 1982-83 season...Included in that record, Bradley is 168-65 (.721) in Missouri Valley Conference games at Carver Arena.
Strength of Schedule
According to the RPI information provided by CBSSportsline.com Jan. 14, Bradley owns the nation's No. 18 Strength of Schedule rating...The next toughest SOS in The Valley is UNI's No. 100 ranking and the other nine teams in the league have a 162.4 average SOS ranking...Out of conference, Bradley's non-conference strength of schedule also easily paces The Valley at No. 52, 58 places better than second place Indiana State...The average non-conference SOS for the other nine teams in the league is 258.2.
Strength of Schedule II
Bradley has played five teams that currently sit atop their current league standings...Through games of Jan. 13: BYU (Nov. 13) is tied for first in the Mountain West Conference; Illinois (Nov. 28) is tied for first in the Big 10; Northern Illinois (Dec. 2) is tied for first in the Mid-American Conference West Division; Northern Iowa (Jan. 12) is The Valley's only unbeaten team in league play; and Western Carolina (Dec. 7) is tied for first in the Southern Conference North Division.
Road Weary
The only Valley team to play four of its first six league games on the road, Bradley will be playing just its third Valley home game Saturday...Not only has Bradley played the most league road games, but the Braves already have visited the three teams with the best overall and home records in the MVC: UNI (15-1, 7-0), Wichita State (16-2, 11-0) and Missouri State (13-4, 9-1) are a combined 44-7 overall and 27-1 at home...To date, Bradley has played nine games away from home and only seven at Carver Arena.
Looking Ahead
Following Saturday afternoon's game versus Missouri State, Bradley will visit Southern Illinois Wednesday night, its fifth road contest in the first eight league games...The flip side to Bradley's road-heavy start in the league: six of its final 10 Valley games will be played at home...Bradley also will host its BracketBusters game Feb. 20, meaning seven of its final 11 overall regular-season games will be played at Carver Arena.
Free Throw Defense
Bradley's opponents have combined to shoot 76.9 percent from the free throw line this season...Only five teams nationally have shot a better free throw percentage than Bradley's opponents...Among Bradley's first 16 opponents, BYU (.786) leads the nation in free throw percentage, while Wichita State (.763) is eighth, Indiana State (.760) is 11th and Missouri State (.759) is 12th.
Percentages Tell Story
The team that has shot at a more efficient clip from the field has won 15 of Bradley's first 16 game...Bradley is 7-1 when it shoots a better field goal percentage than its opponent and 0-8 when the opponent has a better field goal percentage.
High-Scoring Trio
Bradley boasts three of the league's top six scorers in conference action...Junior guard Andrew Warren paces the loop with 18.8 ppg in the first six Valley games...Junior guard Sam Maniscalco is fifth at 14.5 ppg, while sophomore forward Taylor Brown follows in the sixth spot with 14.4 ppg...The trio has been particularly effective from the free throw line, where they have combined to make 68-of-74 (.919) free throw attempts in conference play: Warren (26-28), Maniscalco (17-19), Brown (25-27).
Closing In On 1,000
Bradley junior guards Sam Maniscalco and Andrew Warren both are on pace to join the school's 1,000-Point Club this season...Maniscalco enters the weekend with 920 career points, while Warren owns 824 points...At his current average of 10.9 ppg, Maniscalco needs eight more games to join the club -- Feb. 9 versus Illinois State...At his current average of 15.6 ppg, Warren needs 12 more games to hit the 1,000-point mark -- Feb.20 in the BracketBusters game...Bradley currently boasts 42 members of the 1,000-Point Club.
Brown's Improvement
Bradley sophomore forward Taylor Brown ranks among the nation's leaders in improved scoring from 2008-09 to this season...After averaging 3.4 ppg as a freshman last year, Brown currently is The Valley's sixth-leading scorer at 14.1 ppg...His increase of 10.7 ppg is the best in the MVC and tied for the 13th-best jump in the nation.
Big Media Numbers
Now in his 31st year as the radio Voice of the Braves, Dave Snell has participated in 937 Bradley Basketball game broadcasts, all in succession, on WMBD AM 1470 since taking over play-by-play duties for the 1979-80 season...Snell will be inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday...Snell's longtime radio sidekick, Joe Stowell, has been witness to 1,534 Bradley Basketball games in his various roles as player (103, 1947-50); assistant coach (250, 1956-65); head coach (344, 1965-78); assistant athletic director (107, 1978-85); and radio analyst (730, 1985-present)...Peoria Journal Star beat writer Dave Reynolds has covered 600 consecutive Bradley Basketball games since taking over the beat for the start of the 1990-91 season.
