Braves Face Indiana State Saturday

Men's Basketball 1/24/2020 10:21:00 AM

Bradley (14-6, 5-2 MVC) at Indiana State (10-8, 3-4 MVC)
Game Details	Saturday, Jan. 25 • 1 p.m. CT • Terre Haute, Ind. • Hulman Center
Television	FOX Sports Midwest / Indiana / Kansas City \| NBC Sports Chicago
Television	FOX Sports GO \| ESPN+
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Indiana State
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb

The Bradley men's basketball team hits the road to take on Missouri Valley Conference foe Indiana State. The Braves and Sycamores face off on Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley sits in second place in the Missouri Valley standings with a 5-2 conference record and is 14-6 overall during the 2019-20 campaign.
• The Braves are coming off a victory against rival Illinois State, 75-63, on Wednesday.
• BU earned the win over the Redbirds despite just seven players available and without the team's top two scorers in Darrell Brown and Elijah Childs.
• Nate Kennell is the top scoring Brave that played Wednesday, averaging 13.0 points and ranking ninth nationally in 3-point percentage at 45.3.
• Sophomore Ja'Shon Henry is next at 9.6 points.
• Senior Koch Bar anchors the post with 8.1 boards and 1.3 blocks per game.
• Childs has missed eight of the last nine games and averages 14.2 points and 9.1 rebounds. Brown missed his first game Wednesday and posts 14.2 points and 4.8 assists per game.
• The Braves are averaging 73.2 points per game, while allowing 64.6 defensively.

SERIES HISTORY
• Bradley holds a 53-38 advantage against Indiana State in 91 all-time meetings.
• The schools have split the series in the last two seasons with the road team winning both games in 2018 and the home school sweeping in 2019.
• Last season, the Sycamores used 30 free throws to earn a 65-60 home win before the Braves responded with a 96-67 victory in Peoria – BU's largest Valley win since 2006.
• Nate Kennell has enjoyed a lot of success versus Indiana State – shooting 59.3 percent from 3-point range – while Ja'Shon Henry had his breakout game last year against ISU with 17 points.

ABOUT THE SYCAMORES
• Indiana State is seventh in the Valley standings with a 3-4 record and is 10-8 overall this season.
• The Sycamores have lost their last two games, falling at Valparaiso and Loyola.
• ISU is a perfect 7-0 at home in 2019-20, winning all three Valley games at Hulman Center.
• Tyreke Key leads Indiana State with 17.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
• Jordan Barnes is second on ISU with 12.6 points to go with a team-leading 3.8 assists per game.
• The Sycamores average 70.6 points offensively, while allowing 68.9 points on defense.

EARLY VALLEY RETURNS
• Despite being down two of the league's top players due to injury, the Braves are off to a strong start to the 2019-20 Valley campaign.
• Bradley owns a 5-2 conference record – its best start through seven games since also beginning the 2008-09 campaign with a 5-2 record.
• If BU wins Saturday, it will be 6-2 or better through eight MVC games for the first time since 2000-01.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
• One reason the Braves are off to a good Valley start is due to their performances on the road.
• Bradley owns a 2-1 record away from home during league play – tied with Loyola and Missouri State for the best MVC road record.
• On Jan. 4, Bradley posted its first 20-point road Valley win in 10 years (at Evansville), while its 91 points on Jan. 15 are its most in a road Valley game in 12 seasons (at Missouri State).
• Overall, Bradley is 6-4 in its last 10 road Valley games dating back to last season. The six wins matched BU's total in the previous 41 road games during league play (6-35).

NEXT MAN UP
• BU has featured a "next man up" mentality this year as the team was down to seven players Wednesday and without its top two scorers.
• With just eight or fewer players available in the last three games, four different Braves have either scored (Danya Kingsby and Ville Tahvanainen) or matched (Ja'Shon Henry and Nate Kennell) their career high in points.
• Overall, in the eight games that Elijah Childs has missed to injury, the seven active players have raised their scoring average by 16.4 points.

KENNELL RANKS 10TH NATIONALLY
• Nate Kennell is enjoying a career year as a senior and the Braves have looked toward him the most with the team's injuries.
• The senior currently ranks ninth nationally with a 45.3 clip from beyond the 3-point arc. He is also 37th with 2.90 triples per game.
• Kennell is averaging a career-best 13.0 points this year, shooting 43.0 percent overall from the field.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR KINGSBY
• Junior Danya Kingsby is enjoying his best stretch as a Brave in the last three games.
• Kingsby is averaging 17.3 points since Jan. 15, shooting 58.8 percent from the field (20-34) and 55.6 percent from 3-point range (5-9).
• In fact, the junior has scored in double figures in all three games after two contests of 10-plus points in his first 16 Division I contests.
• On Jan. 18, Kingsby more than doubled his career best with 28 points (previous high was 13 points).
• Overall, Kingsby is averaging 8.6 points and 2.2 assists per game in his first season at Bradley.

THE INSIDE EDGE
• Bradley dominated inside during Wednesday's win against Illinois State.
• The Braves outscored the Redbirds in the paint, 42-12 – the team's highest margin against a Division I school since 2013.
• Overall, BU is 11-3 this season when scoring more or the same points in the paint but just 3-3 with less.

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