2010-11 Bradley Basketball Game Notes
Game 15 - Bradley (6-8, 0-3 MVC) at Drake (6-8, 1-2 MVC)
Friday, Jan. 7 - 7:05 p.m. CST - Des Moines, Iowa - Drake Knapp Center (7,152)
Series History - Bradley leads 41-37
Television: MVC-TV (FS Midwest, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, FS Indiana, FS Kansas City, Fox College Sports) - Tom Ackerman (play-by-play) and Mac McCausland (analyst)
Radio: 1470 AM WMBD -- Dave Snell (play-by-play), Danny Adams (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (in studio pregame host)
Online: BradleyBraves.com -- free audio streams and live stats
Tickets: $5-25 based on location -- available at Drake Knapp Center Box Office (515-271-3647) or online at www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com.
THE STORYLINE
Bradley will be searching for its first Missouri Valley Conference win of the season Friday when the Braves start their Iowa road swing at Drake ... Friday's game, which will be followed by a Sunday night affair at UNI, starts a road-heavy stretch for Bradley that will see the Braves play 7-of-11 games away from home ... Senior guard Andrew Warren leads The Valley in scoring at 18.9 points per game and needs 17 points to become the 20th player in Bradley Basketball history to score 1,300 career points.
WITH A WIN
Bradley will ... Earn its 1,600th all-time victory ... Pick up its fourth win in five tries at the Knapp Center and win its fourth straight game overall against the Bulldogs ... Earn its first Valley win of the season and its first victory of 2011 ... Snap a five-game road losing streak.
Drake will ... Even its Missouri Valley Conference record at 2-2 ... Improve to 5-2 at home with its third straight home victory ... Earn its first win of 2011.
SHOOTING FOR 1,600
Bradley enter's Friday's game at Drake with a 1,599-1,029 record in its 107th season ... The 1,599 wins are the most in Valley history and rank 26th among all NCAA Division I teams.
AGAINST THE BULLDOGS
Bradley has played no team more often than Drake and Friday night's game will be the 128th in the all-time series ... Bradley owns a 75-52 record against the Bulldogs and the Braves have won seven of the last nine meetings ... Ninth-year Bradley head coach Jim Les is 9-7 all-time against Drake, 4-4 at Drake, 3-1 head-to-head against third-year Bulldogs head coach Mark Phelps and 1-1 on the road against Phelps.
WARREN TOPS THE MVC
Bradley senior guard Andrew Warren leads The Valley in scoring at 18.9 points per game ... Warren's 264 points through 14 games represent 29.9 percent of Bradley's overall offensive output (882 points), the largest individual scoring ratio in the MVC ... Warren's individual scoring ratio ranks as the largest by a Brave since Curtis Stuckey (25.1 ppg) scored 34.5 percent of Bradley's points during the 1990-91 season and currently ranks as the eighth-greatest ratio at Bradley since World War II.
WARREN AT THE LINE
Not only does Bradley senior guard Andrew Warren lead The Valley in free throw percentage (.904), he also leads the league in free throw attempts (83) ... In fact, Warren has made 75 free throws while no other player in The Valley has attempted more than 68 charity shots ... Warren's streak of consecutive free throws made ended at 40 when he missed his third attempt of Tuesday's game against Southern Illinois ... The 40 straight makes is the second-longest streak in Bradley history and eighth-longest in Valley annals.
MORE THAN A SCORER
Not only is Andrew Warren leading The Valley in scoring, but the 6-foot-6 senior guard also leads the Braves in rebounding (5.9 rpg) and steals (1.4 spg) ... Currently third with 1.4 steals per game, Warren has a chance to become the first player to lead The Valley in both scoring and steals since Drake's Curt Smith in 1992-93 ... Warren owns both of Bradley's point-rebound double-doubles this season ... In the Nov. 30 game at Western Carolina, Warren led the Braves in points (22), rebounds (8), assists (4) and steals (2) ... In the Dec. 4 game versus Utah, Warren led the Braves across the board -- points (27), rebounds (10), assists (2), blocked shots (2) and steals (4).
LOCALS START MVC HOT
Bradley's two local products have started the Valley season with some hot shooting ... Sophomore guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards (Peoria, Ill./Washington H.S.) is averaging 15.3 ppg on 61.5 percent (16-26) shooting from the field in the first three league games ... Redshirt freshman center Jordan Prosser (Goodfield, Ill./Eureka H.S.) is shooting 72.7 percent (8-11) from the field in the first three league games while averaging 6.0 rebounds per game.
DUNSON STEPS UP
With the season's top two point guards, Sam Maniscalco and Dyricus Simms-Edwards, unavailable, senior Dodie Dunson had just one day to prepare to handle the point guard duties Dec. 8 at #1 Duke ... Dunson was up to the challenge, finishing with eight points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals and, perhaps most notably, zero turnovers in 38 minutes at Cameron Indoor Stadium ... In five games as the starting point guard, Dunson has averaged 7.8 ppg, 5.8 apg, 4.2 rpg and 1.4 spg ... Although he has played little at the point in his three years at Bradley, Dunson was a point guard in high school and handled the position at times during his freshman season at Iowa State (2006-07) and throughout his sophomore year at Vincennes (2007-08).
RECOVERY HISTORY
The last three times Bradley started the conference season with an 0-3 record, the Braves recovered with a strong finish ... In 2007-08, the Braves battled back from an 0-4 start to finish tied for fifth with a 9-9 league mark ... In 2002-03, the Braves recovered from an 0-3 start to also tie for fifth in the final standings with at 8-10 ... And in 1996-97, Bradley bounced back from an 0-3 start to tie for second with a 12-6 league record.
FEWER THREES
Following the early departure of 7-foot center Patrick O'Bryant to the NBA following the 2005-06 season, Bradley changed up its style of play and became one of the nation's top 3-point shooting teams ... While the 3-point shooting took a dip last season, Bradley has become far less reliant on the trifecta this season ... Senior guard Andrew Warren remains one of the league's top 3-point threats, though, by shooting 43.2 percent from behind the arc and averages 2.5 treys per game ... The rest of the team, however, is shooting just 28.6 percent (39-136) from behind the arc and averaging only 2.8 3-pointers per game ... Through three rounds of league play, Warren is 7-for-16 (.438) from behind the arc, while the rest of the team is only 4-for-13 (.308).
THE TURNOVER STORY
Turnovers have been a telling statistic in Bradley's outcomes this season ... Bradley is 6-2 when it commits fewer turnovers than the opposition ... The Braves are 0-6 when they commit more turnovers than the opposition this year ... In Bradley's six wins, the Braves have averaged just 13.0 turnovers per game, while forcing an average of 19.0 turnovers by the opposition ... In the eight losses, however, Bradley has averaged 15.6 turnovers and forced only 12.1 miscues.
FOUL TROUBLE
Bradley is 6-4 this year when it does not commit more fouls than the opposition, but 0-4 when it commits more fouls ... In the six wins, Bradley has been called for only 16.3 fouls per game, leading to just 14.3 free throw attempts per game by the opposition ... In the eight losses, Bradley has been whistled for an average of 20.0 fouls per game, sending the opposition to the free throw line for 23.9 charity attempts per game.
BIG MEDIA NUMBERS
In his 32nd year as the radio Voice of the Braves, Dave Snell has participated in 966 Bradley Basketball game broadcasts, all in succession, on 1470 WMBD since taking over play-by-play duties for the 1979-80 season ... Snell was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame Jan. 23, 2010 ... Peoria Journal Star beat writer Dave Reynolds has covered 629 consecutive Bradley games since taking over the beat for the start of the 1990-91 season.
