•  Bradley will take a break from the conference race to participate in the final Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters Saturday when the Braves visit Illinois-Chicago.

•  Saturday's matchup features two of the “most-improved” teams in the nation as Bradley boasts a +8 win total compared to last year, while the Flames enter with a +7 win total.

•  Saturday's game also features a sort of Bradley reunion as UIC head coach Howard Moore (1999-03) and Flames associate head coach Al Biancalana (1999-05) both were assistant coaches at Bradley under head coaches Jim Molinari and Jim Les.

•  Though separated by just 160 miles, the in-state rivals have met just four times in their basketball history and Bradley owns a 3-1 series lead against the Flames.

•  Participating in the BracketBusters series for a 10th time, Bradley is 7-2 all-time in the first-round, February matchups created in the series and the Braves are 3-1 with a 3-game winning streak in the February road games.

•  Bradley junior guard Walt Lemon, Jr. is emerging as a 1st-Team All-Missouri Valley Conference caliber player.

•  For the season, Lemon is averaging 15.3 ppg, 3.5 apg and 2.2 spg and is shooting 50.2 percent (135-269) from inside the 3-point arc.

•  In the 16 Valley games, Lemon's numbers are even better: 17.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.6 apg, 2.3 spg while shooting 35.8 percent from 3-point range and 50.3 percent from inside the arc.

•  The 6-foot-3 point guard also leads the team lead with 97 defensive rebounds overall and 67 defensive boards in league play.

•  Bradley let a 5-point lead with 26 seconds left in regulation slip away and Drake, which tied the game on two Seth VanDeest free throws with 1.2 seconds left in regulation, made 18-of-20 from the charity stripe in overtime to earn the win.

•  Drake finished the game 38-for-44 (.864) from the free throw line, the second-most free throw makes by a Bradley opponent in program history.

•  Senior center Will Egolf led the Braves with a career-best 21 points and his career-best fourth 3-pointer gave Bradley a 70-65 lead with 26 seconds remaining.

•  Jordan Clarke paced Drake with 20 points and 15 rebounds.

•  Bradley and UIC will meet for just the fifth time Saturday in a game created through participation in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters series.

•  The Braves own a 3-1 lead in the all-time series, though Bradley lost in its only previous trip to the UIC Pavilion.

•  In Bradley's only previous road game against the Flames, UIC rolled to an 84-75 victory in the 2007-08 season-opener.

•  The Braves sandwiched that loss with a pair of home victories in the 3-year, 2-for-1 series, completing the series with a 67-61 win Nov. 14, 2008 at Carver Arena.

•  The UIC coaching staff should appear familiar to Bradley fans.

•  The Flames are led by former Bradley staffer Howard Moore and UIC's associate head coach is another former Bradey assistant, Al Biancalana.

•  Moore and Biancalana both were hired by Jim Molinari for the 1999-2000 season and remained on the staff when Jim Les took over the Braves program in 2002-03.

•  In all, Moore spent four years on the Bradley staff (1999-03), while Biancalana spent six years in Peoria (1999-05).

•  Saturday's game will be Bradley's 18th contest created through its participation in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters series.

•  As this is the final year of the event, Bradley will play 20 games as part of the series once the 2012 and 2013 return games are played.

•  The Braves are 7-2 in the first-round, February games in the series, including a 3-1 record as the February road team.

•  Bradley is 10-7 overall in games created through the BracketBusters series, 6-3 in home games and 4-4 in road games.

•  The Braves have drawn one of the two Chicago Horizon League members for the third time in the final five years of the event after splitting February games versus Loyola-Chicago in 2009 (W, 86-75) and 2012 (L, 44-56).

•  Bradley will return the 2012 Loyola-Chicago game next season, while the Flames will have two seasons to return to Peoria.

•  After going six years without improving its win total from one year to the next, Bradley's current 8-win improvement over last year is sixth-best in the nation through games of Feb. 20.

•  Saturday's opponent, UIC, is tied with Loyola-Chicago for the nation's seventh-best victory improvement through games of Feb. 20.

Bradley            7-25    15-13      +8

•  Through Wednesday, Bradley ranks eighth nationally by averaging 9.79 steals per game.

•  The Braves remain on pace to break the school single-season record for steals, but have fallen off the MVC single-season record pace. 

* based on 9.79 steals per game for 32 games

•  Bradley is two games over .500 despite being outscored by 45 points from 3-point range and 38 points from the free throw line, while being outrebounded by 2.6 boards per game.

•  Bradley still has attempted 112 more field goal attempts than the opposition.

•  The Braves have 107 more steals than the opposition, contributing to a +99 turnover margin.

•  Bradley boasts a 472-354 advantage in points off turnovers, a +4.2 points-per-game margin.

•  The advantage in points off turnovers more than cancels out Bradley's 3.0 points per game disadvantage in 3-pointers and free throws.

•  Through Monday's action, Bradley was tied for third nationally with a 0.81 steals/turnover ratio.

•  Bradley has committed no more than 10 turnovers 10 times this season, including six times in the first 15 Valley games.

•  Bradley junior point guard Walt Lemon, Jr. leads the Braves in scoring (15.3 ppg) and assists (3.5 apg).

•  Lemon is trying to be the first Bradley player since Jerome Robinson in 2000-01 (16.9 ppg, 2.6 apg) to lead the Braves in both categories.

•  The same player has led the team in both scoring and assists just three times since Bradley began tracking assists in the mid-60's.

•  Walt Lemon, Jr. enters Saturday's game with 427 points, 109 rebounds, 99 assists and 62 steals.

•  Lemon needs to dish one more assist, record eight more steals and average 18.3 ppg in Bradley's four guaranteed remaining games to join Hersey Hawkins (1987-88) as the only players in school and MVC history to score 500 points, snare 100 boards, dish out 100 assists and make off with 70 steals in a season.

•  Not only do Bradley guards Walt Lemon, Jr. and Dyricus Simms-Edwards combine for 27.9 points per game, they rank among The Valley's top four backcourt combos in rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots.

•  In the chart below, the Valley backcourts (top two guards by minutes played for each team) are comparatively ranked by combined points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots per game, then listed in rank order according to the average of their combined rankings.

•  The Bradley duo averages a 2.3 ranking and is no worse than tied for third in any of the five categories.

•  Senior guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards ranks second nationally with 80 total steals this year.

•  Simms-Edwards has become the third player in program history to record at least 80 steals in a season and he needs just four more to break Chicago native Willie Scott's 1982-83 single-season school record.

•  He has become the 12th player in Valley history to record at least 80 steals in a season.

•  Many of Simms-Edwards' 78 steals to date have happened by simply ripping the ball away from the player he has been guarding, a play described as an “hombre play” by head coach Geno Ford.

•  While Dyricus Simms-Edwards ranks second nationally with 80 steals, he also is second by averaging 1.90 steals per turnover.

•  Simms-Edwards boasts 80 steals against just 42 turnovers, easily the best ratio among Bradley players since steal and turnover records were routinely kept starting in 1980-81.

•  The last Brave to play at least 10 minutes per game with more steals than turnovers was Chris Roberts in 2009-10 (47 steals, 44 turnovers).

•  Not only is Dyricus Simms-Edwards rank second nationally with 80 steals, but he has been harassing without fouling.

•  At 1.95 steals per personal foul, Simms-Edwards is the only player in the country averaging more than 1.50 steals per foul (Miami's Shane Larkin is second with 1.50 steals for every personal foul). 

•  Simms-Edwards has been whistled for just 41 fouls in 28 games, 1.5 per game, helping him remain on the floor for 33.9 minutes per game.

•  The Bradley backcourt combo of Dyricus Simms-Edwards (2.86) and Walt Lemon, Jr. (2.21) ranks second nationally by combining to average 5.07 steals per game.

•  The duo needs just two more steals to set the school mark for combined steals (143 by Rob Dye {79} and Eric Roberson {64} in 1998-99).

•  The MVC record for steals in a season by a pair of teammates is 155 in 33 games by the Tulsa duo of Paul Pressey (96) and Mike Anderson (59) in 1980-81.

•  Senior guard Dyricus Simms-Edwards ranks 31st in school history with 1,076 career points.

•  Junior guard Walt Lemon Jr. joined the club last Saturday and now ranks 46th in school history with 1,028 career points.

•  Bradley leads The Valley by forcing 15.6 turnovers per game.

•  Though being outrebounded by 2.6 boards per game, Bradley has attempted 112 more field goals than the opposition (1604-1492) this season.

•  Bradley is averaging 16.9 points per game off turnovers and 13.6 points per game in transition.

•  Though Bradley's top two scorers are guards, the Braves outscore the opposition by 7.5 points per game in the paint.

•  The Braves have at least doubled-up the opposition in paint points nine times this season, most-recently with a 44-22 edge last Saturday.

•  Bradley is 14-2 when it outscores the opposition in the paint and 1-11 when the opponents own the paint scoring advantage.

•  Bradley will close the regular-season with two more Missouri Valley Conference games.

•  The Braves will host league preseason favorite Creighton in a 7 p.m. game Wednesday at Carver Arena - the final regular-season home game in the careers of Bradley seniors Jake Eastman, Will Egolf, Milos Knezevic and Dyricus Simms-Edwards.

•  Fans are encouraged to arrive early Wednesday night as the quartet will be honored in a pregame ceremony at approximately 6:50.