PEORIA, Ill. -- The Bradley men's basketball team will play its final home game before final exams when the Braves (4-3) host Utah (4-2) in the second annual Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge Series Saturday night at Carver Arena.
Central Illinois PBS affiliate WTVP will be the weekend home of Bradley Basketball. The 2010-11 season of The Jim Les Show will air each Saturday during the remainder of the season at 8:30 a.m. on WTVP, beginning with this week's season premier. Hosted by Bradley Athletics Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Dave Snell, this week's show will recap Bradley's last two games versus Eastern Illinois and Western Carolina, an interview with senior guard Dodie Dunson and a look ahead to Saturday night's game versus Utah and Wednesday's trip to defending national champion Duke.
Saturday night's Utah game will be televised on WTVP World (Channel 47.2 over the air, 218 on Comcast digital cable systems and 121 on Mediacom digital cable systems). Bradley Athletics Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Frank Bussone will provide the play-by-play call and will be joined on the broadcast by former Braves player Chad Kleine.
In addition to the traditional online streaming of video, audio and live stats feeds through Bradley' official athletic department home page, BradleyBraves.com, Bradley also will debut a mobile platform for live stats from Carver Arena Saturday night at BravesMobile.com. Working in partnership with live statistics provider BCS Stats Systems, BravesMobile.com provides live statistics on Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Palm and Windows mobile platforms.
2010-11 Bradley Basketball Game Notes
Game 8 - Utah Utes (4-2) at Bradley Braves (4-3)
Saturday, Dec. 4 - 7:07 p.m. CST - Peoria, Ill. - Carver Arena (11,164)
Series History - Utah leads 3-2
Television: WTVP World (47.2) - Frank Bussone (play-by-play) and Chad Kleine analyst
Radio: 1470 AM WMBD -- Dave Snell (play-by-play), Danny Adams (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (pregame host)
Online: BradleyBraves.com - subscription video streams, free audio streams, live stats
Mobile: BravesMobile.com - live stats
Tickets: $8-20 General Public; $4-10 BU faculty/staff; $1 BU students -- available at Carver Arena Box Office, Renaissance Coliseum Box Office, all TicketMaster outlets or online at www.BradleyBraves.com.
The Storyline
Bradley will participate in the second annual Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge Series Saturday when Utah visits Carver Arena ... After startig the season with four straight wins, the Braves will be trying to avoid a four-game losing streak for the first time since Jan. 31-Feb. 11, 2008.
Long Rest Coming
Bradley's game Wednesday at #1 Duke will be its ninth game of the season, equalling the most games the Braves have ever played by Dec. 10 (2006-07 and 2007-08) ... The Braves will not play again until Dec. 20 versus Jackson State, however ... The 11 days in between games will be Bradley's longest in-season break since a 14-day gap in 2000 between wins Dec. 5 versus UAB and Dec. 20 against Western Illinois ... The Braves also benefitted from 11-day breaks between the 2006 MVC Tournament championship game March 5 and their first round NCAA Tournament upset of #12 Kansas March 17, as well as the 2008 MVC Tournament and their first-round win against Cincinnati in the inaugural CBI.
Fouls & Turnovers Key
In Bradley's four wins to start the season, the Braves shot only .388 from the field, .305 from 3-point range, .636 from the free throw line and were outrebounded by 9.8 boards per game ... In the last three losses, Bradley has shot .413 from the field, .370 from 3-point range, .759 from the stripe and outrebounded the opposition by 0.7 boards per game ... So why the difference in the results? ... In the four wins, Bradley's defense forced 21.0 turnovers per game, benefitted from a +7.0 turnover margin and made one more free throw (56) than the opposition attempted (55) ... In the three losses, the Braves have forced only 13.3 turnovers per game, have been hurt by a -3.7 turnover margin and have attempted only three more free throws (54) than the opposition has made (51).
Warren Heating Up
The Valley's leading scorer at 17.9 points per game, Bradley senior guard Andrew Warren has scored at least 22 points in each of the last three games ... Warren is the first Brave to score at least 20 points in three straight games since current Director of Operations Jeremy Crouch enjoyed a five-game streak from Feb. 16-March 1, 2008 ... Warren is the first Brave to score at least 22 points in three straight games since Phillip Gilbert enjoyed a four-game streak with at least 22 points in each game from Nov. 30-Dec. 14, 2002.
Looking Ahead
Bradley heads back to the Tar Heel State for the second time in three games to face defending national champion #1 Duke Wednesday night ... Wednesday's game will tip off at 8 p.m. (CST) and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 ... Bradley is 2-9 all-time in games against the defending national champion, most-recently knocking off Villanova, 58-56 in overtime, in the second round of the 1985 Rainbow Classic.
