Braves Open Arch Madness on Thursday versus Drake

Bob Hunt - Photographer

Men's Basketball 3/1/2017 11:31:00 AM

Bradley (12-19, 7-11 MVC) vs. Drake (7-23, 5-13 MVC)
Game Details	Thursday, March 2 • 8:30 p.m. • St. Louis, Mo. • Scottrade Center
Television	FOX Sports Midwest/Indiana/Kansas City, Comcast SportsNet Chicago
Webcast	FOX Sports GO / ESPN3
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Drake
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb
MVC	Buy Tickets \| Tournament Central

Bradley turns its attention to the postseason, opening the 2017 State Farm Missouri Valley Tournament on Thursday. The seventh-seeded Braves begin its quest for a conference title with No. 10 Drake at 8:30 p.m. in St. Louis.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley won its last three games of the regular season to finish tied for sixth place in the MVC regular-season standings.
• Overall, the Braves have posted a 12-19 record during the 2016-17 campaign, with a 7-11 mark in Valley contests.
• Freshman Darrell Brown leads the Braves with 12.5 points per game and 85 assists. The rookie battled through an ankle injury the past week and scored 15 second-half points in the win at Drake on Saturday.
• Junior JoJo McGlaston is second on the team with 8.5 points per game, while the Braves feature six players averaging at least six points per game and nine players averaging at least five points.
• Junior Donte Thomas leads the Braves with 6.7 rebounds per game, including a mark of 7.8 in conference play.
• As a team, Bradley is making 42.4 percent of its field goals with a 36.0 percent 3-point mark.

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
• Drake finished the 2016-17 season tied for ninth in the MVC standings with a 5-13 record, losing the tiebreaker to Indiana State to fall to the 10 seed.
• The Bulldogs lost their last nine games of the year after a 5-4 start to MVC play to fall to 7-23 overall during the season.
• Reed Timmer leads the Bulldogs with 15.4 points per game, while Billy Wampler and De'Antae McMurray are second and third with averages of 9.9 and 9.0, respectively.
• T.J. Thomas has a team-best 5.0 rebounds, while McMurray also leads Drake with 90 assists.

ALL-TIME SERIES HISTORY
• In a series that dates back to 1942, Bradley has played Drake more than any other school in the program's history as the teams are set to meet for the 148th time.
• The Braves own an 85-62 advantage against the Bulldogs, also marking the most wins for BU against any school.
• Bradley has won the last three meetings versus Drake, posting a 79-72 victory in Peoria on Feb. 4 and a 82-74 win at Knapp Center on Saturday.

MVC TOURNAMENT SERIES HISTORY
• In addition to playing Drake more than any other school in the program's history, the Braves have also played the Bulldogs in the MVC Tournament more than any other school (11 times).
• Overall, Bradley is 6-5 against Drake in the league's postseason, including a 5-2 mark in St. Louis.
• The teams met in the first-ever MVC Tournament 30 years ago (1977) with Drake posting an 80-73 win.
• Bradley last faced Drake at Arch Madness in 2015, earning a 52-50 overtime victory in the first round.
• The higher-seeded team owns an 8-3 mark in postseason meetings between the two schools, including a 4-1 record by the Braves.

SEASON BREAKDOWN VS. DRAKE
• The Braves swept the Bulldogs for the first time since the 2009-10 season, earning a 79-72 win in Peoria before an 82-74 win at Drake on Saturday.
• Bradley did not trail for a single second in its two victories against Drake this year.
• Donte Thomas dominated for the Braves in the two victories, posting his two highest-scoring games of the season. The junior averaged 20.5 points and 11.0 rebounds (5.5 on the offensive end), shooting 76.2 percent from the field.
• Freshman Darrell Brown also added 17.5 points for BU this year against Drake, making 22-of-23 free throws in the two wins.
• Graham Woodward led the Bulldogs with 17.0 points per game against Bradley, while the Braves held Drake's leading scorer, Reed Timmer, to 11.5 points per game on just 25.0 percent shooting and 16.7 from 3-point range (2-of-12).

IMMEDIATE REMATCH
• Thursday marks the seventh time that BU faces an immediate rematch at the MVC Tournament, playing the same team in the regular-season finale and its first round of the postseason.
• In five of the previous six occurrences, the team that won the regular-season finale, also won the postseason matchup. Only in 2010 when the Braves avenged a loss to Creighton with a victory in the MVC Tournament did the winner not repeat.
• Four of the five times the winner repeated, Bradley was the team that won twice, while doing so three times against Drake (1983, 1997 & 2011).

BROWN & BAR EARN MVC HONORS
• Darrell Brown and Koch Bar collected postseason accolades by being named to the Missouri Valley All-Freshman Team on Tuesday.
• Brown is the top-scoring freshman in the MVC, while Bar ranks first in rebounds and blocks.
• Bradley has four honorees to the All-Freshman Team in the last two seasons (Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye and Luuk van Bree last year) – double the total of the next-highest school (Missouri State and Wichita State).

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