The Storyline
Bradley will be trying to halt several skids when the Braves visit #14 Creighton Saturday night at CenturyLink Center Omaha ... The Braves have dropped three straight overall, seven straight on the road and 13 straight games in Omaha, while Creighton rides into Saturday's game on a 9-game winning streak ... Saturday's game will feature two of The Valley's top four scorers: Creighton sophomore forward Doug McDermott is the nation's third-leading scorer at 23.5 ppg, while Bradley senior forward Taylor Brown is The Valley's fourth-leading scorer at 16.7 ppg ... The duo combined for 69 points in the season's first meeting Jan. 7 at Carver Arena: McDermott hit the Braves for 44 points, while Brown pumped in 25 in Creighton's 92-83 victory.
Cancer Awareness
Saturday's game will feature two promotions to raise awareness for cancer ... Creighton is promoting Saturday's game as "Creighton vs. Cancer Pink Out:" the Bluejays will be wearing pink shooting tops and uniforms, while pink t-shirts will be distributed to fans, all designed to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research ... Bradley players also will wear pink shooting tops and pink shoe laces ... It is also the annual NABC Coaches vs. Cancer® Suits and Sneakers Awareness Weekend and both coaching staffs will be wearing sneakers during the game ... Bradley University President Joanne Glasser and Theresa McDermott, the wife of Creighton coach Greg McDermott and mother of player Doug McDermott, both are breast cancer survivors.
Cold Januaries
Bradley enters Saturday's game with a 1-7 record this January and the Braves are 1-17 in January games the last two seasons ... In the 2000's, Bradley is just 45-65 (.409) during the month of January and the Braves have not been more than one game over .500 during the calendar year's first month since 2000-01 (7-2).
Favoring February
While the Braves have struggled in January of late, Bradley has fared better in recent Februaries ... Bradley recovered from an 0-10 record in January 2011 to post a 5-3 record last February ... Bradley has won at least four games and posted a .500 record in each of the last six Februaries, racking up a 30-17 (.638) record in February since 2006.
Trendy Numbers
Bradley is 3-2 (.600) when scoring at least 70 points and 0-11 when allowing at least 70 ... Bradley is 6-5 (.545) when it shoots a better field goal percentage than the opposition, but 0-11 when shooting a lower percentage ... Bradley is 3-3 (.500) when leading at halftime, but 1-10 (.091) when trailing at the half ... In an unusual trend, Bradley is 1-7 (.125) when it commits fewer turnovers than the opposition.
For a complete preview of Saturday's game, click the above link for the PDF version of Bradley's complete game notes packages.
