Braves Open Arch Madness Friday versus Missouri State

Men's Basketball 3/6/2019 12:06:00 PM

Bradley (17-14, 9-9 MVC) vs. Missouri State (16-15, 10-8 MVC)
Game Details	Friday, March 8 • 2:30 p.m. • St. Louis, Mo. • Enterprise Center
Television	FOX Sports Indiana / Kansas City \| NBC Sports Chicago Plus
Webcast	Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Missouri: FOXSportsGo \| Other States: ESPN+
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Missouri State
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb
Tickets	Ticketmaster

After finishing the regular-season strong, the Bradley men's basketball team turns its attention toward Arch Madness. The Braves open the tournament with Missouri State in the quarterfinals on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley finished the 2018-19 regular season in fifth place in the MVC standings with a 9-9 record.
• Overall, the Braves were 17-14 during the year.
• BU was one of the hottest teams down the stretch as the Braves won 9-of-13 games after an 0-5 start, including a 6-2 record to finish the regular season.
• Junior Darrell Brown and sophomore Elijah Childs both collected all-conference honors this season.
• Brown leads the Braves with 15.0 points, 3.1 assists per game and 32 total steals.
• Childs is first on the team in rebounds (7.8) and blocks (41), while ranking second in points (12.2) and steals (26).
• MVC Sixth Man of the Year Nate Kennell is third on the team with 9.4 points, while Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye is fourth with 8.5 points per game.
• The Braves are averaging 67.5 points per game, while ranking second in the Valley with a scoring defense of 66.0.

ABOUT THE BEARS
• Missouri State finished the regular season with a 16-15 overall record and 10-8 conference mark, earning the four seed for the tournament.
• The Bears lost three of the four games to finish the regular season after previously winning 7-of-8.
• Valley Newcomer of the Year, Tulio Da Silva, led the Bears with 14.7 points and 7.6 boards per game.
• Jarred Dixon and Keandre Cook are second and third in scoring – both averaging 13.0 points.
• Josh Webster leads the Bears 5.2 assists per game.
• Missouri State averages 69.3 points in 2018-19, while allowing 67.6 points per game.

SERIES HISTORY
• Missouri State holds a 39-22 edge in a series that dates back to when the Bears joined the Valley for the 1990-91 season.
• The Bears won both meetings during the 2018-19 regular season after the Braves claimed the previous three matchups.
• Only once has a team won three meetings in one season in the series as Missouri State swept the Braves during its inaugural MVC campaign in 1991.

MVC TOURNAMENT MEETINGS
• The Braves and Bears have met four times during Arch Madness but not in 21 years since 1998.
• Missouri State owns a 3-1 edge against Bradley, winning the last two meetings.
• Bradley did win perhaps the most notable of the three matchups, however, with a 64-62 win in the 1996 semifinals en route to the title. Deon Jackson made a turnaround 3-pointer as time expired for the two-point win.

SEASON SERIES VERSUS BEARS
• Missouri State won both meetings with Bradley during the 2018-19 campaign.
• The Bears used a late rally in Peoria to overcome a 14-point second-half deficit in a 69-64 victory.
• Missouri State then held Bradley to a season-low in points with a 55-37 home win two weeks later.
• Elijah Childs led the Braves with 9.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in the two games against the Bears, while Nate Kennell added 8.5 points.

MVC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Bradley is making its 40th appearance in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.
• The Braves own a 32-37 (.464) all-time record in the MVC Tournament, including a 19-24 (.442) mark at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
• Bradley is 19-13 all-time in the quarterfinals, including a 9-6 record in the four vs. five game.
• Last year, BU avenged two regular-season losses to Drake before earning a 63-61 victory in the quarterfinals. Bradley then fell to top-seed and eventual champion Loyola, 62-54, in the semifinals.

NEW LOOK BRAVES
• Bradley is a much different team than the last one that Missouri State faced in January.
• After their second meeting, the Braves were 2-6 in league play and in 10th place in the MVC standings.
• Bradley, however, rebounded and went 7-3 the rest of the season – tied with Drake and Southern Illinois for the league's best record during that span – to finish fifth in the final standings.
• Offense is the biggest difference for the Braves. BU was averaging only 56.5 points in MVC games en route to its 2-6 start. In the 10 games since, Bradley averaged 71.6 points (15.1 points more).

SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
• Junior Nate Kennell was honored as the Missouri Valley Conference's Sixth Man of the Year.
• Kennell averaged 9.4 points and 1.9 assists during the 2018-19 campaign – shooting a career-best 43.0 percent from the field (38.6 from 3-point range).
• The junior is the first Brave to earn the award since presented in 1997 and the first BU player to win a specialty award since Dyricus Simms-Edwards was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2013.

TWO BRAVES EARN ALL-MVC
• For the second-straight season, a pair of Braves landed on the All-MVC Teams.
• Brown was a second-team selection after earning third-team accolades last year. He led the Braves with 15.0 points and 3.1 assists per game.
• Sophomore Elijah Childs collected third-team honors this year. He ranked second on the team with 12.2 points, while leading BU with 7.8 boards.
• Bradley had multiple all-conference honorees for the first time since 2007 and 2008.

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