ST. LOUIS - As one team continues its quest for a perfect regular-season, its visit to the last school to produce an undefeated Missouri Valley Conference championship will be seen by a national television audience. ESPN has notified the MVC that the tipoff of the Wichita State at Bradley men's basketball game Feb. 25 is being moved to 8 p.m. for a national telecast on ESPN2.
Wichita State begins this week ranked as high as No. 2 in the national polls and the Shockers (25-0, 12-0) remain one of just two undefeated teams in the nation. Bradley (11-14, 6-6 MVC), which has won five of its last seven games to climb into a third-place tie in Valley standings, claims the last undefeated regular-season champion in MVC history: led by Hersey Hawkins and Jim Les, the 1985-86 Braves swept through The Valley with a 16-0 league record.
The game was originally slated for airing on ESPN3 -- ESPN's live multi-screen sports network which is available via the WatchESPN app.
“We are in the third year of our current agreement with ESPN, and ESPN3 continues to have both direct and indirect benefit for the Missouri Valley Conference,” said MVC Associate Commissioner Jack R. Watkins. “The transition of an ESPN3 telecast to another ESPN network platform, though, is a first for us. Since this contest was already selected for ESPN3 exclusively, ESPN had the rights to the game, which made the transitional process a smooth one.”
Regardless of Wichita State's results in its next four games, the Shockers will become the first previous-year Final Four team to visit Carver Arena and if Wichita State can successfully navigate its next four games, the Shockers will become the highest-ranked team to ever play at Carver Arena. Bradley has previously hosted one of the nation's top two ranked teams seven times and the Braves are 4-3 in those games. Most-recently, the Braves knocked off #2 Wichita State, 55-47, Jan. 9, 1982 at Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse.
Priced as low as $8, tickets remain for Bradley's regular-season home finale Feb. 25 against #2 Wichita State and may be purchased in advance through the Bradley Athletics Ticket Office in Renaissance Coliseum (309-677-2625), the Carver Arena Box Office, any TicketMaster outlet or online at BradleyBraves.com.
As a result of the time change to the tipoff, the Bradley Braves Club Pregame Party scheduled for Feb. 25 in the Peoria Civic Center Ballroom now will begin at 6 o'clock.
