Bradley University Athletics

Men’s Basketball Announces 2020-21 Non-Conference Schedule

Men's Basketball 11/2/2020 12:00:00 PM

The Bradley men's basketball team completed its 2020-21 schedule, releasing its nine-game non-conference slate on Monday. Overall, the Braves are slated to square off against two schools from Power-6 conferences during the non-league schedule in addition to five home games.

"We can't wait to get the 2020-21 season started and are excited to begin the campaign against top-level competition at Xavier University in just under a month," said Bradley head coach Brian Wardle. "This offseason presented a lot of difficulties in arranging a non-conference schedule but we believe that we have successfully organized one that challenges our program against some of the top competition in the Midwest and versus other similar teams on the rise. We feel like this schedule will help us in our goal in peaking for Missouri Valley Conference play and once again competing for the automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament."

Bradley is set to open the 2020-21 campaign with three games in the Xavier Invitational. In Cincinnati, the Braves begin the season against Toledo on Wednesday, Nov. 25 before squaring off with Xavier on Nov. 26 and wrapping up the invitational with Oakland on Nov. 27. BU's matchup with the host Musketeers is just the second for Bradley against a Big East school in the last eight seasons and the first since facing Seton Hall in the 2015 Charleston Classic.

The Braves then return to Central Illinois to open a five-game homestand on Tuesday, Dec. 1 against Judson. Bradley also welcomes Saint Joseph's (Dec. 5), South Dakota State (Dec. 8), Jackson State (Dec. 17) and Miami University (Dec. 19) to Peoria before wrapping up its non-conference slate with a road contest at SEC foe Missouri on Dec. 22, squaring off with the Tigers for the first time since 1990.

Overall, Bradley's eight Division I opponents have averaged nearly 18 wins per season during the last three campaigns with six combined bids to the NCAA Tournament or NIT in 2018 and 2019.

Bradley has won back-to-back Missouri Valley Championships for the first time in school history, while also qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in consecutive campaigns for the first time since 1954 and 1955. The Braves return six letterwinners and two starters as the team aims to become just the second program in conference history to win the MVC Tournament and NCAA automatic bid in three-straight seasons.

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