Bradley Basketball Pregame Notes
Game 22 - Drake Bulldogs (11-12, 6-5 MVC) at Bradley Braves (10-11, 5-6 MVC)
Tuesday, Feb. 2 - 7:05 p.m. CST - Peoria, Ill. - Carver Arena (11,164)
Series History - Bradley leads 76-52
Television: WTVP (47.2) - Kurt Pegler (play-by-play) and Chad Kleine (analyst). Satellite Coordinates TBA.
Radio: 1470 AM WMBD -- Dave Snell (play-by-play), Chuck Buescher (analyst), Joe Stowell (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (pregame host)
Online: BradleyBraves.com - Subscription video steams; free audio streams and live stats.
Shooting For A Sweep
Bradley will get its first shot at a Missouri Valley Conference series sweep this season when the Braves host Drake Tuesday night at Carver Arena...Bradley opened The Valley season with a 67-59 road victory Dec. 29 versus the Bulldogs, the first game in Drake's season-opening, four-game MVC losing streak...The last seven times the Braves beat a Valley rival on the road before hosting the same team, Bradley has completed the sweep with a home win -- a streak that dates back to the Missouri State series in 2001-02...The Bulldogs have recovered by winning six of their last seven games to move past Bradley and into a three-way tie for third in The Valley standings, one game ahead of the Braves.
Major Valley Logjam
Although the Bradley-Drake matchup is the only Tuesday game on The Valley docket, the league could be facing a major logjam in the middle of the standings by Thursday morning...Bradley enters Tuesday's game in a three-way tie for sixth in the league standings, one game back of a similar three-way tie for third...If Bradley beats Drake, the two teams could find themselves in a six-way tie for third by the end of Wednesday night's action, and at worst a multiple-team tie for fifth with six games to go.
The Bradley-Drake Series
Tuesday's game will be the 129th all-time men's basketball game between Bradley and Drake...The series against Drake is the most-frequently contested in Bradley Basketball history...Bradley owns a 76-52 lead in the series against the Bulldogs, which dates back to a 31-30 Drake victory in a non-conference game Dec. 19, 1942 at Peoria Woodruff High School...The teams represent the two winningest programs in Missouri Valley Conference play in the history of the league: Drake has won 518 Valley games in 98 years of league membership, while Bradley is second with 506 Valley victories in 56 years of league membership.
With A Win...
Bradley will snap a two-game losing streak...The Braves will even their overall and conference records...Bradley will temporarily move into sole possession of fifth place in The Valley standings and could end up in a six-way tie for third by the end of Wednesday's action...The Braves will improve to 46-17 all-time at home versus Drake, including 23-6 at Carver Arena.
With A Loss...
Bradley will suffer its third consecutive loss for the second time this season...The Braves will suffer their second consecutive home loss...Bradley will suffer its 100th all-time loss at Carver Arena...Bradley temporarily will drop into sole possession of eighth place in the league standings and will be no better than tied for sixth by the end of Wednesday's action.
Carver Arena
Tuesday's game will be Bradley's 404th at Carver Arena...Bradley is 304-99 (.754) 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 170-66 (.720) in Missouri Valley Conference games at Carver Arena...Bradley is 72-21 (.774) at Carver Arena since the start of the 2004-05 season.
The Sweep Streak
Since Missouri State answered a 64-60 home loss to Bradley with a 51-49 victory Feb. 20, 2002, Bradley has won seven road games in the first matchup of a season against its Valley rivals...Following each of those seven first-round road wins, Bradley has followed up with a home victory against the same team to complete the regular-season sweep.
Year Opponent Road Win Home Win
'02-03 Indiana State 1/22 (63-45) 2/5 (63-51)
'03-04 Illinois State 1/31 (57-54) 2/18 (65-46)
'06-07 Drake 1/6 (89-86) 2/10 (100-85)
'06-07 Indiana State 1/13 (76-59) 2/24 (74-58)
'08-09 Wichita State 12/31 (60-58) 1/28 (65-50)
'08-09 Missouri State 1/3 (63-57) 2/17 (71-60)
'08-09 Indiana State 1/13 (63-52) 1/24 (68-56)
Home Stretch
As Bradley enters into the final month of the regular season, the Braves will play five of their last eight games at home...The 2009-10 season marks the first time the Braves have played as many as five February home games since 1993-94...In his eighth year as Bradley's head coach, Jim Les owns a 21-6 (.778) February home record, including perfect 4-0 marks in 2003-04 and 2005-06...The Braves have not finished below .500 at home in the month of February since 2001-02, when the Braves dropped 2-of-3 at Carver Arena.
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 needs just seven points to become the 43rd player in Bradley Basketball history to reach 1,000 career points...Warren enters Wednesday's game with 880 career points and at his current average of 14.6 ppg, he is on schedule to become the 44th 1,000-Point Club member during Bradley's first game of the 2010 State Farm MVC Tournament.
Percentages Tell Story
The team that has shot at a more efficient clip from the field has won 20 of Bradley's first 21 games...Bradley is 10-1 when it shoots a better field goal percentage than its opponent and 0-10 when the opponent has a better field goal percentage.
Strength of Schedule
According to the RPI information provided by CBSSportsline.com Monday, Bradley owns the nation's No. 45 Strength of Schedule rating...The next toughest SOS in The Valley is Creighton at No. 67 and the other nine teams in the MVC have a 129.4 average SOS ranking...Bradley's non-conference strength of schedule easily paces The Valley at No. 67, 69 spots better than second place Indiana State (136), while the average non-conference SOS for the other nine teams in the league is 262.1.
One-Two Punch
Bradley junior guards Andrew Warren and Sam Maniscalco are the highest-scoring teammate tandem in Valley action through the first 11 rounds of league play...Warren is second by averaging 15.4 ppg against Valley competition, while Maniscalco is tied for fourth at 14.5 ppg against the league for a combined average of 29.9 ppg...Evansville's combo of Colt Ryan (14.2) and Denver Holmes (14.2) are second at a combined 28.4 ppg...The 6-foot Maniscalco is shooting 51.0 percent from the field through 11 Valley games, while Warren leads the league by making 93.5 percent of his Valley free throw attempts and ranks second in 3-point field goal percentage (.453).
Maniscalco's Accuracy
As mentioned, Bradley junior guard Sam Maniscalco is shooting 51.0 percent from the field in the first 11 Valley games...The 6-foot Maniscalco currently is tied for sixth in the league in field goal percentage in conference play...Maniscalco is the only player standing less than 6-foot-6 inches to rank among the league's top eight most accurate shooters in league play.
Power Of The Post
Bradley is 9-3 this season when the quartet of sophomore forward Taylor Brown, sophomore center Will Egolf and reserve centers Sam Singh and Anthony Thompson combine for at least 20 points and 10 rebounds...The Braves are 1-8 when the post quartet falls below the 20-10 standard.
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 eighth-leading scorer at 13.4 ppg...His increase of 10.0 ppg is the best in The Valley and ranks 10th nationally among the players that played last season.
Big Media Numbers
Now in his 31st year as the radio Voice of the Braves, Dave Snell has participated in 942 Bradley Basketball game broadcasts, all in succession, on WMBD AM 1470 since taking over play-by-play duties for the 1979-80 season...Snell was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame Jan. 23...Snell's longtime radio sidekick, Joe Stowell, has been witness to 1,538 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 (734, 1985-present)...Peoria Journal Star beat writer Dave Reynolds has covered 605 consecutive Bradley Basketball games since taking over the beat for the start of the 1990-91 season...Reynolds was recently selected the 2009 Illinois co-Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, making him just the third "downstate" winner in the award's 51-year history.
