Braves Meet Evansville on Wednesday

Men's Basketball 1/7/2020 11:38:00 AM

Bradley (10-5, 1-1 MVC) at Evansville (9-6, 0-2 MVC)
Game Details	Wednesday, Jan. 8 • 6 p.m. • Evansville, Ind. • Ford Center
Television	ESPN+
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Evansville
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb

The Bradley men's basketball team remains on the road for a Missouri Valley Conference contest at Evansville on Wednesday night. The schools are set to meet at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley is 10-5 this season with a 1-1 record in Missouri Valley Conference action.
• Senior Darrell Brown has led the Braves in scoring since the holiday break with 20.0 points per game.
• Overall, Brown is averaging 13.5 points and a team-leading 5.1 assists per game.
• Senior Nate Kennell adds 12.6 points and is eighth nationally with a 3-point percentage of 47.3.
• Senior Koch Bar is second on the team with 8.0 rebounds per game.
• The Braves are averaging 72.5 points per game, while allowing 64.3 defensively.

CHILDS INJURY
• Bradley's leading scorer and rebounder, Elijah Childs, re-injured his right hand on Saturday and is out of action.
• Childs originally suffered the injury during BU's 81-51 win against Georgia Southern on Dec. 15.
• Bradley posted a 2-1 record during his original absence, defeating Toledo and Drake at home, while losing at Miami (Ohio).
• Childs leads BU with 14.2 points and 9.1 boards this season.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Braves own a 31-23 all-time edge versus the Purple Aces.
• Bradley has won five of the last six meetings with Evansville and are aiming for the series' first four-game winning streak since BU took seven-straight from 2006 to 2009.
• Last year, BU swept the Purple Aces behind an 81-73 victory in Evansville before a 63-61 win in Peoria. Darrell Brown and Elijah Childs both posted 15.0 points per game in the two wins.

ABOUT THE PURPLE ACES
• Evansville owns a 9-6 record in 2019-20 and is winless in two MVC games.
• The Purple Aces are coming off an 81-79 overtime loss to Valparaiso on Saturday.
• DeAndre Williams leads the Purple Aces with 16.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
• Four Aces, overall, average in double figures. K.J. Riley is second with 12.4 points per game, while Artur Labinowicz (11.8) and Sam Cuncliffe (11.1) follow closely behind.
• Evansville averages 76.4 points per game, while allowing 76.7 defensively.

KENNELL NEARS 1,000 POINTS
• Senior Nate Kennell is nearing a career milestone.
• Kennell enters Wednesday's game with 999 career points and is just one shy of becoming the 49th player in BU history to reach 1,000 in his career.
• The senior is averaging a career-best 12.6 points this season, shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 47.3 percent from 3-point range.

A TRIPLE THREAT IN KENNELL
• The key for Nate Kennell as he approaches 1,000 career points is his 3-point shooting.
• The senior currently ranks eighth nationally with a 47.3 clip from beyond the 3-point arc. He is also 48th with 2.87 triples per game.
• In fact, Kennell has made at least three 3-pointers in seven-straight games – shooting 51.1 percent (24-of-47) – becoming the first Brave to do so since Jeremy Crouch in 2007 (Nov. 18 - Dec. 4).
• Overall, Bradley is 10-2 this season when Kennell makes two 3-pointers and 0-3 when he doesn't.

NOT JUST A SHOOTER
• Perhaps most impressive about Nate Kennell's senior season is how much he is contributing.
• Kennell has improved on the defensive end during his career, leading Bradley and ranking sixth in the MVC with 1.40 steals per game.
• The senior has also added 4.4 rebounds, including a career-best nine in each of the last three games.
• Finally, Kennell ranks second on the team with 32 assists, while leading BU and placing fourth in the Valley with a 2.7 assist-to-turnover ratio.

FREE THROWS KEY TO SUCCESS
• Taking advantage of free points has been a key to Bradley's success in 2019-20.
• In their 10 wins, the Braves are shooting 75.5 percent from the charity stripe. However, in its five losses, Bradley is making just 63.1 percent.
• In fact, in BU's last three losses, the Braves have failed to make 60 percent of their free throws in any game – shooting just 54.4 percent (37-68).
• Overall, Bradley is 10-2 this season when shooting 60 percent from the charity stripe.

FINDING HIS SCORING TOUCH
• With Elijah Childs out with an injury, Bradley will look toward a familiar face to pick up the slack.
• The team's leading scorer the last three seasons, Darrell Brown has begun to find his scoring touch since the holiday break.
• Brown is averaging 20.0 points in the three games since returning from break after averaging 11.8 during the season's first 12 games.
• Overall, Brown is posting 13.5 points to go with 5.1 assists per game as a senior.

GETTING TO THE LINE
• One key to Darrell Brown's scoring success is getting to the free-throw line.
• The senior currently ranks in the top 25 nationally in both free-throw makes and attempts, ranking 23rd with 71 makes and 22nd with 95 attempts.
• In fact, Brown is the active leader in the Valley and ranks 17th nationally among active players with 406 career free-throws made.
• In his three-game run since the holidays with 20.0 points, Brown is 21-of-27 from the line (77.8%).

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