Braves Put Winning Streak on the Line at Missouri State

Men's Basketball 1/25/2019 11:40:00 AM

Bradley (10-10, 2-5 MVC) at Missouri State (9-11, 2-4 MVC)
Game Details	Saturday, Jan. 26 • 3 p.m. • Springfield, Mo. • JQH Arena
Television	FOX Sports Midwest/Indiana/Kansas City \| NBC Sports Chicago
Webcast	Illinois/Indiana/Iowa/Missouri: FOXSportsGo \| Other States: ESPN3
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Missouri State
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb

The winners of two-straight conference games, the Bradley basketball team puts that streak on the line with a road contest at Missouri State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. at JQH Arena.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley has won two-straight games over in-state rivals after an 0-5 start to conference play, coming off a convincing 85-68 victory versus Illinois State.
• The Braves are now 10-10 on the year with a 2-5 Valley record.
• Senior Luuk van Bree led the Braves with a career-best 21 points versus the Redbirds, while Darrell Brown also added 20 points.
• Brown leads the Braves with 14.9 points and 3.2 assists per game during the 2018-19 campaign.
• Sophomore Elijah Childs is second on the team with 11.7 points, while also collecting a BU-best 7.8 rebounds per game.
• Nate Kennell (8.4), Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye (8.4) and Koch Bar (8.1) round out the team's top five in scoring.
• The Braves are averaging 67.0 points per game after Wednesday's 85-point output, while ranking second in the Valley with a scoring defense of 66.7.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Braves and Bears have played 60 times since Missouri State joined the MVC in 1990 with MSU owning a 38-22 advantage versus the Braves.
• The Bears are also 22-5 against BU in Springfield with an 8-2 record at JQH Arena.
• Bradley did end an eight-game road losing streak in the series last season with an 82-78 victory. Nate Kennell led the Braves with 20 points, making 6-of-10 from 3-point range.
• Missouri State ended a three-game losing streak in the series on Jan. 12, scoring the last nine points in a 69-64 victory.

ABOUT THE BEARS
• Missouri State is 9-11 on the season with a 3-4 Valley record, earning a dominating 70-35 win against Loyola on Wednesday.
• Tulio Da Silva leads the Bears with 15.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, shooting 61.8 percent.
• Jarred Dixon is second on the team with 13.8 points, while Keandre Cooks is right behind with 13.4 points per game.
• Josh Webster leads MSU with 5.4 assists per game.
• The Bears average 74.3 points per game, while allowing 71.9 on the defensive end.

OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
• The defense shined in BU's first MVC win last Sunday but it was all about the offense in win number two.
• The Braves dominated Illinois State with 85 points in Wednesday's victory.
• The 85 points are tied for the most in a Valley game this season, while also representing the most for the Braves in an MVC contest since a 90-64 win over Drake on Feb. 26, 2011.
• Bradley also set season highs in field goals made (31), field goal percentage (57.4), 3-pointers made (10) and 3-point percentage (58.8).

REGAINING OFFENSIVE POWER
• Bradley is hoping that Wednesday's performance gets the team back to where it was during the non-conference season on the offensive side.
• The Braves showcased its offensive potential with its highest-scoring non-conference season in 11 years with 71.2 points per game.
• However, BU saw its offense dip to 55.0 points per game in the first six Valley contests before Wednesday's explosion for an MVC-best 85 points.
• Overall, Bradley is now averaging 67.0 points per game with a 42.4 shooting percentage.

FIVE BRAVES WITH 20 POINTS
• With his career-best 21 points in Wednesday's win, senior Luuk van Bree became the fifth Brave to score 20 points in a game this season.
• The senior made 9-of-13 field goals, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, to lead BU to the win.
• Van Bree joined Koch Bar, Darrell Brown, Elijah Childs and Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye as Braves to reach the threshold in 2018-19.
• Bradley's five 20-point scorers are its most since having six players tally the mark in 2006-07.
• Overall, seven current Braves have scored at least 20 points in a game as Nate Kennell and Antoine Pittman have also done so in previous seasons.

BROWN HEATING UP
• While Luuk van Bree stole the headlines in Bradley's win against Illinois State, Darrell Brown showed he is also heating up with a 20-point game.
• In Bradley's last two games – both wins – Brown is averaging 18.0 points with six assists, a 57.1 field goal percentage and 69.2 percent clip from 3-point range (9-13).
• Brown has connected on at least four 3-pointers in consecutive games for the first time in his career.
• Overall, Brown leads the Braves with 14.9 points this season with a field goal percentage of 39.2 and a 3-point percentage of 43.8.

DEFENSE LEADING THE BRAVES
• The Braves are once again showing that they own one of the top defenses in the Missouri Valley Conference this season.
• Bradley currently ranks second in the MVC with a scoring defense of 66.7 – a number that lowers to 64.4 in seven conference games.
• Overall, the Braves rank in the top three of three defensive categories in the Valley – placing second in turnovers forced (14.6) and field goal percentage defense (42.2), while ranking third in blocks (3.9).

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