Braves Begin First Road Trip at UIC

Men's Basketball 11/16/2018 9:48:00 AM

Bradley (3-0) at UIC (1-3)
Game Details	Saturday, Nov. 17 • 7 p.m. • Chicago, Ill. • UIC Pavilion
Television	ESPN3
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| UIC
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb

The Bradley men's basketball team hits the road for the first time this season and puts its unbeaten record on the line at UIC. The Braves and Flames are set to meet on Saturday with a 7 p.m. tipoff.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• The Braves have won their first three games of the season, most recently defeating Jacksonville State on Wednesday, 74-65.
• Four Braves are averaging at least 12.0 points this season with Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye leading the way at 14.7.
• Koch Bar (14.3), Elijah Childs (13.3) and Darrell Brown (12.0) are also averaging at least dozen points in 2018-19.
• Childs leads the Braves with 9.3 rebounds per game, while Brown has paced the attack with 4.7 assists per game.
• Bradley is averaging 72.0 points in its first three games, while allowing only 60.0 per game.

SERIES HISTORY
• Bradley has played its in-state foe only six times with five of the meetings since 2006.
• Overall, the Braves hold a 5-1 advantage against UIC, winning each of the last three contests.
• The schools last met as part of the Bracketbuster series with Bradley winning at UIC in 2013, 63-62, and at home in 2014, 68-60.
• The schools have split their two games at UIC with the Flames winning in 2007.

BRAVES VERSUS HORIZON LEAGUE
• The Braves are 31-11 all-time against current members of the Horizon League and have won their last three games versus the conference.
• As a former coach in the Horizon League, Brian Wardle owns a 10-2 record versus the Flames.
• Bradley has at least one more game against the league this season when it plays at IUPUI on Nov. 29 and potentially a second game in the Cancun Challenge versus Wright State.

ABOUT THE FLAMES
• UIC is 1-3 through four games of the 2018-19 season, splitting a pair of overtime contests in its last, including a 100-95 victory against William & Mary on Thursday.
• Four Flames average in double figures as the team has a scoring offense of 83.2 Tarkus Ferguson leads the way at 19.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists, while Marcus Ottey is second at 16.8 points.
• UIC is allowing 89.0 points per game on the defensive end in 2018-19.

AIMING FOR 4-0 START
• With its win on Wednesday, Bradley won its first three games of the season for the 38th time in 115 seasons of play and first time since 2013-14.
• BU is now aiming to win four-straight to open the year for the 30th time in its history and for the first time in five seasons.

PLAYING FROM AHEAD
• Bradley has cruised to its early 3-0 record and hasn't had to make fans sweat through games.
• In 120 minutes, Bradley has led for 115:25 of game action (96.2% of the time), while only trailing for a total of 1:19 (1.1% of action).
• BU led wire-to-wire against UW-Parkside and Jacksonville State, facing a season-high three-point deficit versus Southeast Missouri State.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• Part of playing from ahead in each of its games, Bradley has controlled the first half this season and never looked back.
• Bradley has led by at least eight points at the intermission in all three games, outscoring opponents, 35.0 to 24.7.
• Comparatively, BU has played a more even second half with a slight edge, 37.0 to 35.3.
• Defense is behind the early push as Bradley is allowing teams to shoot only 34.9 percent in the first 20 minutes.

CROSS-BAR
• Center Koch Bar has made a huge jump so far during his junior campaign.
• After averaging 4.6 points in 18 minutes of action as a sophomore, Bar has tripled his production and is averaging 14.3 points this season.
• Bar, who scored a career-best 20 points on Wednesday, has led the team in scoring twice in three games this year. He led the Braves in points twice in 63 games prior to this season.
• Bar currently ranks 17th nationally with a field goal percentage of 80.0 – placing second on the team with 14.3 points and 5.7 rebounds.

CHILDS TAKES REBOUNDING LEAD
• With the need to replace BU's leading rebounder in the last three seasons, Donte Thomas, sophomore Elijah Childs has become the new go-to leader.
• Childs has led the team in boards in each of the three games this season, ranking first in the Valley with 9.3 per game.
• In fact, Childs is the first Brave to lead the team in rebounding in each of the first three games since Zach Andrews did so in 2006-07.
•Childs has also teamed with Koch Bar in the post and is averaging 13.3 points per game.

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