Bradley Hosts Valparaiso Wednesday

Men's Basketball 1/28/2020 3:54:00 PM

Bradley (14-7, 5-3 MVC) vs. Valparaiso (11-10, 4-4 MVC)
Game Details	Wednesday, Jan. 29 • 6 p.m. • Peoria, Ill. • Carver Arena
Television	ESPN+
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Valparaiso
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb
Tickets	Ticketmaster \| (309) 677-2625

The Bradley men's basketball team returns home to face Missouri Valley foe Valparaiso on Wednesday night. The schools are set to meet at Carver Arena at 6 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN+.

PROMOTIONS
• In Kaboom!'s Korner is inflatables from Fun on the Run, including a Bounce House, and Pop-a-Shot.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley is tied for third place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 5-3 league record – one game behind first place.
• Overall, the Braves are 14-7 during the 2019-20 campaign with an 11-1 home record.
• BU lost its most recent game, falling at Indiana State, 61-53, with only six scholarship players and seven total players available due to injuries.
• Nate Kennell is the team's top scorer that played Saturday – averaging 12.9 points and ranking 11th nationally with a 3-point percentage of 45.1.
• Ja'Shon Henry is next at 9.7 points per game.
• Senior Koch Bar anchors the post with 7.9 boards and 1.2 blocks per game.
• The Braves are averaging 72.2 points per game, while allowing 64.4 defensively.

INJURY REPORT
• Bradley has played its last two games with only seven total players available and without its top two scorers.
• Elijah Childs leads BU with 14.2 points and 9.1 rebounds but has missed nine of the last 10 games with a hand injury.
• Darrell Brown also scores 14.2 points to go with a team-best 4.8 assists, missing the last two games with a leg injury.
• Freshman Ville Tahvanainen was not in the lineup in BU's game Saturday due to a respiratory illness.

SERIES HISTORY
• The newest member of the Valley, Valparaiso is playing the Braves for just the eighth time.
• The home team has won all seven prior games in the series, including all four in MVC play.
• Last season, Valparaiso posted a 61-50 victory in a January meeting before Bradley earned a 67-42 win on Senior Night at Carver Arena.

ABOUT THE CRUSADERS
• Valparaiso is tied for sixth in the Valley standings at 4-4 – just one game back of the Braves.
• Overall, the Crusaders own an 11-10 record with a win in their most recent game on Sunday versus Evansville, 67-65.
• Javon Freeman-Liberty leads the MVC with 20.2 points per game. He also leads Valpo in rebounding (5.6) and steals (47).
• Ryan Fazekas has returned from injury and scores 10.0 points per game.
• Daniel Sackey leads Valpo with 4.1 assists.
• The Crusaders average 73.5 points, while allowing 72.4 per game defensively.

EARLY VALLEY RETURNS
• Despite battling injuries throughout the Valley season, the Braves are enjoying one of their better runs to start the campaign.
• Bradley is 5-3 through eight conference games for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign.

NEXT MAN UP
• With injuries piling up, BU has featured a "next man up" mentality this year.
• With just eight or fewer players available the last four games, five different Braves have either scored (Ari Boya, Danya Kingsby and Ville Tahvanainen) or matched (Ja'Shon Henry and Nate Kennell) their career high in points.
• Overall, Bradley is 6-3 without Elijah Childs in the lineup and 1-1 without Darrell Brown.

DOUBLING DOWN
• Sophomore center Ari Boya is the latest Brave to tally his career high in points and also posted his first collegiate double-double Saturday.
• Boya collected 14 points and 12 rebounds against Indiana State – easily surpassing his previous highs of eight points and seven boards.
• Overall, Boya is the sixth different Brave to register a double-double during the 2019-20 campaign.
• Bradley is one of three schools nationally with six players to accomplish the feat (Appalachian State and Florida are the others), while it is the first time BU has had six players with double-doubles since eight did so in 1986-87.

DEPTH IN NUMBERS
• The good news is that Bradley has proven that is has a number of options this season.
• Of nine scholarship players that are active this season, eight have led the team in scoring at least once and all nine have scored in double figures.
• Overall, three different Braves are averaging in double figures (with a fourth at 9.7), while four Braves are scoring in double figures during league play (and a fifth at 9.9).
• Bradley has not had at least three players score 10 points per game since 2013-14.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR KINGSBY
• Junior Danya Kingsby is enjoying his best stretch as a Brave in the last four games.
• Kingsby is averaging 16.0 points and 4.0 assists since Jan. 15, shooting 51.1 percent from the field (23-45) and 57.1 percent from 3-point range (8-14).
• In fact, the junior has scored in double figures in all four games after just two contests of 10-plus points in his first 16 Division I games.
• On Jan. 18, Kingsby more than doubled his career best with 28 points (previous high was 13 points).
• Overall, Kingsby is averaging 8.8 points and 2.4 assists per game in his first season at Bradley.

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