Northern Iowa (10-8, 4-2 MVC)
at
Bradley (7-12, 2-4 MVC)

When: Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014 | 7:00 p.m.
Where: Peoria, Ill. | Carver Arena (11,094)

Game Coverage
TV: N/A
Radio: 1470 WMBD | Dave Snell (play-by-play), Chad Kleine (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (Braves Plus pregame)
Video Streaming: Bradley All-Access (subscription)
Audio Streaming: Bradley All-Access (free)
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com
Twitter: @BradleySIDLive | #BRADvUNI

Bradley Pregame Notes (PDF) | UNI Pregame Notes (PDF)

Coaches
Bradley: Geno Ford | 32-54 in 3rd year at Bradley; 151-123 in 9th year overall
UNI: Ben Jacobson | 160-94 in 8th year at UNI and overall

Series History
Bradley leads overall 27-24 | Bradley leads in Peoria, 17-6
Streak: UNI has won five straight against Bradley for the first time in series history

Tip-Off
Bradley will face its first Missouri Valley Conference return game of the season Wednesday when the Braves host Northern Iowa in a 7 p.m. tip at Carver Arena ... The two teams met in the 2013-14 Valley opener and the host Panthers cruised to an 80-46 win Jan. 1 in Cedar Falls ... A Bradley win would result in a minimum 35-point turnaround from the season's first meeting ... The Braves are looking to win consecutive games for the first time since opening the season with a 4-0 record ... Bradley has not won consecutive MVC games since following up its last home win versus Southern Illinois Jan. 15, 2013 with a 69-66 win against Missouri State Jan. 19, 2013 ... UNI has won five straight against Bradley for the first time in series history and the Panthers have won five of the last seven at Carver Arena.

Promotions
The popular magic act Quick Change will perform at halftime Wednesday night ... Wednesday's game will be the first with the Bradley students back on campus for the start of the 2014 Spring semester

Series Notes
Bradley and Northern Iowa will meet for the 52nd time Wednesday when the Panthers visit Carver Arena ... Though Bradley owns a 27-24 lead in the all-time series, UNI has won each of the last five for its longest winning streak in series history ... The Braves are 17-6 all-time at home against UNI, but the Panthers have won five of the last seven on Bradley's home court ... In his eighth year as head coach at Northern Iowa, Ben Jacobson boasts a 15-4 record against Bradley, including a 5-1 edge against third-year Bradley head coach Geno Ford.

Turnaround Results
If Bradley is able to earn a regular-season split against Northern Iowa, it would result in one of the biggest regular-season turnaround results in program history ... After suffering an 80-46 loss Jan. 1 in Cedar Falls, a win Wednesday would represent at least a 35-point swing during the two regular-season meetings between the Panthers and Braves ... Bradley has never bounced back with a win against a team that won the same season's previous meeting by at least 30 points.
Top 10 Single-Season Turnarounds

^ IIAC regular-season series
* MVC regular-season series

Tough Five-Game Start
Bradley easily drew the toughest 5-game start to the MVC season, facing five teams that now boast a 65-26 (.714) overall record ... Three of Bradley's first five Valley games were played on the road against the league's three remaining unbeaten home teams - at UNI, Indiana State and Wichita State (26-0 combined home record).

January's Final Four
After enduring the The Valley's toughest 5-game start, Bradley's league schedule has softened for the remainder of the month ... Bradley will close out the month of January with four games against teams with a combined 36-38 (.486) overall record ... Bradley is playing three of its final four January games at home against a trio of teams that have combined for a 5-17 (.227) road record ... The fourth game of the month is Jan. 26 at Evansville (8-10), which is 6-4 at home.

Lineup Shuffle
Bradley has used eight different starting lineups through the season's first 19 games ... The lineup of Auston Barnes (F), Tyshon Pickett (F), Chris Blake (C), Omari Grier (G) and Walt Lemon, Jr. (G) has started eight games (3-5), but no other lineup has been together for more than four games ... The Braves had used a different starting lineup in six straight games before the quintet of Barnes, Pickett, Xzavier Taylor (C), Grier and Lemon (1-3) started together for each of the last four games.

Exclusive Club
Senior guard Walt Lemon, Jr. has joined an exclusive Bradley Basketball club, sharing the company of just five other players in program history ... Lemon has became the sixth player in program history to eclipse both 1,400 career points and 300 assists ... He currently boasts 1,465 career points and 318 career assists assists and is on pace to join Hersey Hawkins and Anthony Parker as the only Bradley players with 1,500 career points and 300 assists.

Chart Climber
Senior guard Walt Lemon, Jr. has climbed to 15th on Bradley's all-time scoring list with 1,465 career points, the most among The Valley's active players ... Currently averaging 16.8 ppg, Lemon is on pace to climb to a tie for ninth with Anthony Parker (1,683 points) on the school's all-time scoring list by season's end ... If he maintains his current average for at least 13 more games, he will equal Parker as the second-highest scoring Brave since Hersey Hawkins graduated in 1988, just six points shy of Phillip Gilbert (1,689 points from 2000-04) ... Lemon also has moved into a tie for seventh in school history with 184 career steals ... Currently with 318 career assists, if Lemon can produce 46 more assists and 156 more points, he will join Hawkins as the only players in program history to rank among the career top 10 for both points and assists.

Newcomer Contributions
Bradley's lineup includes seven eligible newcomers and all seven have played in at least 15 of Bradley's first 19 games ... Sophomore guard Omari Grier, a transfer from Florida Atlantic, is Bradley's third-leading scorer at 11.4 ppg and junior forward Auston Barnes (Odessa College) adds 8.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

Window Cleaners
Bradley begins the week boasting two of The Valley's top six rebounders ... Senior forward Tyshon Pickett is third in The Valley by averaging 7.6 boards per game, while junior forward Auston Barnes is sixth with 5.9 rebounds per game ... Both players have been particularly effective on the offensive end: Pickett leads The Valley with 2.8 offensive rebounds per game, while Barnes is third with 2.3.

Top Four at the Stripe
Bradley ranks eighth in The Valley by shooting .699 from the free throw line ... Bradley's top four scorers, though, have combined to shoot .795 (194-244) from the stripe: Walt Lemon Jr. (16.8 ppg, .753), Tyshon Pickett (11.8, .750), Omari Grier (11.4, .881) and Auston Barnes (8.4, .797) ... The other 10 Braves have combined to shoot just .500 (61-122) from the line and Ka'Darryl Bell (.618) is the only other Brave shooting better than 56.3 percent from the stripe ... Grier has been hovering around 90 percent at the stripe most of the season and currently leads The Valley at .881, putting him in position to challenge Aaron Zobrist's 1996-97 single-season school record (.906).

Big Media Numbers
Dave Snell has served as the radio Voice of the Braves the last 34 seasons and has worked on 1,070 Bradley Basketball game broadcasts, all in succession, on 1470 WMBD since taking over play-by-play duties for the 1979-80 season ... Peoria Journal Star beat writer Dave Reynolds has covered 734 consecutive Bradley games since taking over the beat for the start of the 1990-91 season ... In his 38th season, public address announcer Paul Herzog has been at the mic for 552 Bradley Basketball home games.

Looking Ahead
Bradley will play its final road game of January Sunday when the Braves visit Evansville for a 1 p.m. game to be televised by the MVC-TV Network ... The Braves will be looking for their first road win of the season and first Valley road victory since Jan. 2, 2013 at Southern Illinois, an 11-game drought ... Following Sunday afternoon's game at Evansville, Bradley will return home to host Illinois State in the first round of the Interstate 74 Rivalry Jan. 29 at Carver Arena.

Early Signees
Bradley signed two players during the November early-signing period:
Tramique Sutherland | G | 5-11 | 175 | Toronto, Ont. | Fr. Henry Carr Secondary | Hill College
Has helped Hill College to a 17-3 record by averaging 20.2 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 8.2 apg and 3.0 spg ... Currently ranks third in NJCAA Division I by averaging 8.2 assists per game ... Shooting 52.8 percent from the field, 45.8 percent from 3-point range and 83.0 percent at the free throw line ... Boasts five double-doubles on the season, three with points and assists and two with points and rebounds ... Has scored in double-figures in all 20 games to date, including two games with at least 30.

Donte Thomas | F | 6-6 | 205 | Calumet City, Ill. | Thornwood H.S.
Averaged 15 points and 8 rebounds as a junior.