PEORIA, Ill. -- Both Bradley and Missouri State will be looking for their first Missouri Valley Conference victory of the season Saturday when the two teams meet for a 2 p.m. game at Renaissance Coliseum. Saturday's game is the second of a season-long, three-game home stand for the Braves.
Bradley (6-8 overall, 0-3 MVC) looks to rebound from a 62-58 loss to Wichita State Thursday in the conference home opener for the Braves. The four-point loss was Bradley's second in three games by four points or fewer and third in the last six games decided by four points or less.
The defending regular-season conference champion, Missouri State (8-6 overall, 0-2 MVC) is also winless in the MVC, following a 75-52 loss at Northern Iowa Thursday. The Bears will conclude a three-game road swing to open league play and will be playing on the road for the fifth time in six outings Saturday.
The matchup features the top two scoring teams in the Missouri Valley Conference. Bradley is scoring a Valley best 71.7 points per game, but has averaged just 59.0 points in three league games. Missouri State is second in the MVC in scoring behind Bradley at 70.4 points per game and like BU, has managed just 58.0 points per game in conference action.
A subscription video stream will be available at BradleyBraves.com, in addition to live stats and a free audio stream of the WIRL 1290 AM broadcast. The WIRL pre-game show will begin at 1:40 p.m.
Missouri State holds a 44-22 lead in the all-time series with Bradley after winning two of three matchups in 2011-12, including a 58-54 victory at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament in St. Charles, Mo. The road team has won each of the last four regular-season matchups and the squads have split the regular-season series each of the last three years. The Braves are 5-4 in the last nine games overall against Missouri State and the Braves are 8-6 against the Bears over the last six years.
Bradley has limited its last four home opponents to 64 points or fewer and foes are scoring just 61.8 points per game against the Braves at Renaissance Coliseum this season. Opposing teams have shot 38.4 percent from the field and BU has forced 18 turnovers in home games this season compared to 78.6 points on 43.7 percent shooting and committing 16.5 turnovers per game in eight road games.
Junior Kelsey Budd (Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie) has led Bradley in scoring in three of the last four games and is averaging 16.5 points per game during that stretch after an 18-point effort Thursday against Wichita State. She is shooting 42.9 percent from three-point range during her recent run to go with averages of 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.7 steals over the last four outings.
Senior Brooke Bisping (Morton, Ill./Morton) returned to the starting lineup Thursday against Wichita State after coming off the bench for the previous nine games and collected 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals against the Shockers. Bisping is averaging 8.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in the last two contests.
Bradley will close out the season-long, three-game home stand next Friday with a 6 p.m. game against Northern Iowa.
