Bradley Hosts UT Arlington on Friday Night

Bradley University Marketing

Men's Basketball 12/15/2016 10:59:00 AM

Bradley (5-5, 0-0 MVC) vs. UT Arlington (8-3, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Game Details	Friday, Dec. 16 • 7 p.m. • Peoria, Ill. • Carver Arena
Television	ESPN3
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| UT Arlington
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb
Tickets	Ticketmaster \| (309) 677-2625

The Bradley men's basketball hosts its final home non-conference game of the season on Friday night with a contest against UT Arlington. The schools are set to meet at Carver Arena, beginning at 7 p.m.

PROMOTIONS
• Every home game includes Kaboom!'s Korner in the Great Hall lobby. Friday's contest features the Basketball Jam Bounce House and The Unique Twist Balloon Artist.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley put together its most complete game of the season last Saturday to earn an 83-48 victory against Chicago State.
• The win improved the Braves to 5-5 on the season, matching the team's win total from a year ago.
• Freshman Darrell Brown leads BU with 13.2 points per game, making 46.7 percent of his shots, including a 51.3 percent clip from 3-point range.
• Junior JoJo McGlaston and sophomore Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye rank second and third on the team, averaging 9.8 and 9.2 points per game, respectively.
• Brown also leads the Braves with 28 total assists, while classmate Koch Bar has a team-leading 6.2 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Braves and Mavericks have split six all-time meetings in a series that dates back to 1969.
• Bradley won the first three games in the series but UT Arlington has responded with three-straight victories of its own.
• The schools are meeting for the third-straight season with the Mavericks winning in each of the last two years.
• Last season, UT Arlington topped the Braves, 97-61, in the schools' first meeting in Arlington. Antoine Pittman and Ronnie Suggs led BU with 10 points each.

BRAVES VERSUS THE SUN BELT
• Bradley is 12-7 all-time against current members of the Sun Belt Conference.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
• UT Arlington is 8-3 this season, having won its last seven contests since a 1-3 start.
• The Mavs are coming off their first-ever victory against a ranked foe with a 66-51 win at Saint Mary's last Thursday. UTA also owns a win at Texas during its seven-game run.
• Kevin Hervey and Jalen Jones lead the Mavs with 13.5 and 13.0 points per game, respectively. Hervey also averages a team-leading 6.3 rebounds.
• Erick Neal leads UTA with 6.9 assists per game, while also adding 9.6 points.
• The Mavs are shooting 49.0 percent from the floor, while holding opponents to just 39.9 percent.

ON THIS DATE
Record on Dec. 16: 18-6
Dec. 16 Highlight: Luke Jackson and Paul Wilson both scored 25 points apiece to lead the Braves to a 94-86 victory against Southern Miss at the Phenix NCAA Ball in Tokyo, Japan during the 1988-89 season.

THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
• BU secured its fifth win of the year last Saturday on Dec. 10, matching its 2015-16 total.
• Bradley is one of four schools that has already matched its win total from a year ago (Minnesota, Rutgers and UMBC are the others) with the Braves not securing their fifth win last season until Feb. 20.
• Through 10 games last season, the Braves – who were the youngest team in the nation a year ago – owned a 1-9 record.

MOST IMPROVED OFFENSE
• The Bradley offense ranks as one of the most improved units in the country this season.
• BU is averaging 73.1 points per game this year – an improvement of 17.1 points from last season's total of 56.0 points per game – which ranks as the sixth-best increase in the country this season.
• The Braves also shooting at 46.0 percent clip this year – an increase of 8.1 percent – with a 3-point mark of 38.0 percent – an increase of 10.0 percent. Both marks rank as the third-best improvement nationally.

BRAVES RANKS
• With its large improvement in offensive statistics, Bradley has made a dramatic jump in the national rankings.
• The Braves have improved their scoring offense from the 346th-ranked unit last season to 198th this year – an increase of 148 spots.
• Additionally, Bradley has moved up the rankings 221 notches in field goal percentage (345 to 124) and 262 spots in 3-point percentage (343 to 81).

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