Braves Host New Mexico in MVC-Mountain West Challenge

Chris Colson

Men's Basketball 11/30/2018 11:03:00 AM

Bradley (6-2) vs. New Mexico (3-1)
Game Details	Saturday, Dec. 1 • 7 p.m. • Peoria, Ill. • Carver Arena
Television	ESPN+
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| New Mexico
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb
Tickets	Ticketmaster \| (309) 677-2625

The Bradley basketball team returns to Carver Arena and hosts New Mexico in the final game of the Missouri Valley-Mountain West Challenge. Tipoff on Saturday is set for 7 p.m.

PROMOTIONS
• The first 1,000 fans receive a Bradley Santa hat on Saturday. Also, there is a free postgame opportunity to take family Holiday photos on the court with Kaboom!
• Halftime will feature a performance by the XPOGO Stunt Team.
• Prior to the game is also the first Braves Club Game Day Bruncheon (11 a.m.) and pre-game party (5 p.m.) of the year.
• Also, in Kaboom!'s Korner is inflatables from Fun on the Run, including a Bounce House.

ROBINSON INDUCTED IN HALL OF FAME
• At halftime of Saturday's game, former Brave standout and current New Mexico assistant coach Jerome Robinson will be inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame.
• The 2001 Valley Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-MVC honoree, Robinson finished as the league's third-leading scorer in 2000-01 with 16.9 points per game.
• Overall, Robinson appeared in 113 career games with 947 points, 356 rebounds and 206 assists.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley is coming off its second defeat of the season, falling at IUPUI on Wednesday, 85-73.
• The Braves are now 6-2 on the year but return to Carver Arena, where they are a perfect 4-0 this season and 17-2 in the last two years.
• Junior Darrell Brown leads the Braves with 14.5 points and 3.8 assists per game in 2018-19.
• The reigning MVC Player of the Week, Elijah Childs is second with 13.8 points and first on the team with 8.5 boards.
• Five Braves average at least nine points with Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye (9.9), Koch Bar (9.8) and Nate Kennell (9.1) rounding out the top five.
• Bradley is scoring 72.4 points per game and also owns a top-75 defense nationally at 65.5 points.

SERIES HISTORY
• Bradley has won the only two meetings with New Mexico and the schools are playing for the first time in Peoria.
• After winning a road contest in 1938, Bradley also defeated the Lobos in the 1964 NIT Championship game, 86-54. The Braves, who shot 62 percent in the victory, were led by MVP Levern Tart (13 points, 8 rebounds) and Joe Strawder (21 points).

BRAVES VERSUS MOUNTAIN WEST
• Bradley has never defeated a Mountain West school since the league's formation in 1999, losing all nine meetings with conference teams.
• Overall, Bradley is 11-11 against the league's current members in its history.

MVC-MOUNTAIN WEST CHALLENGE
• Saturday's matchup is the last game of the 2018 Missouri Valley - Mountain West Challenge Series.
• The Valley currently leads the series, 5-3, with the San Diego State at Illinois State matchup earlier in the day on Saturday.
• The Braves are winless in six games in the series, falling to BYU (2009), Utah (2010), Wyoming (2011), Boise State (2015), Nevada (2016) and San Diego State (2017). Four of BU's six MWC opponents have finished either top three in the league or won the conference tournament.

ABOUT THE LOBOS
• New Mexico enters the weekend with a 3-1 mark in 2018-19 and were last in action on Saturday with an 84-78 victory against UTEP.
• Anthony Mathis leads the team with 16.5 points – shooting 62.5 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from 3-point range.
• Vance Jackson is second on the team with 16.0 points and first with 7.8 rebounds, while Corey Manigault is third with 14.0 points.
• The Lobos are averaging 88.8 points per game and have scored at least 84 in all four games but are also allowing teams to score 85.8 points.

BENCH CONTRIBUTIONS
• After a start to the season where the team's starting five led the Braves, the BU bench is coming off its two most productive games of the season.
• Bradley has scored 64 bench points in the last two games – 36 versus Chicago State and 28 versus IUPUI – after totaling 59 in its first six contests.
• Before the two-game run, Bradley had not scored more than 16 bench points in any game and was only averaging 9.8 points from its reserves.

VAN BREE LEADS BENCH SURGE
• Senior Luuk van Bree has led the surge from the bench during the last two games.
• After suffering an injury and missing the entire preseason, van Bree is rounding into form and has scored 32 points in the last two contests – shooting 60.0 percent from the field and 55.6 percent from 3-point range.
• In his first five games (missed opener), van Bree totaled 11 points and averaged only 2.2 per game.

BALANCED SCORING
• Luuk van Bree's 18-point game on Wednesday continued BU's trend of balanced scoring.
• In eight games, five different Braves have led the team in scoring and no player more than twice.
• The Braves currently have five players averaging at least nine points per game.
• Seven different Braves have scored at least 20 points in a game during their career – including three this season for just the first (Koch Bar & Elijah Childs) or second time (Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye).

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