Bradley Wraps Up Xavier Invitational Against Oakland

Men's Basketball 11/26/2020 11:00:00 PM

Bradley (1-1, 0-0 MVC) vs. Oakland (0-2, 0-0 Horizon League)
Game Details	Friday, Nov. 27 • 2:15 p.m. CT • Cincinnati, Ohio • Cintas Center
Television	FloSports
Radio	1470 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb

The Bradley basketball team wraps up play at the Xavier Invitational on Friday, squaring off with Oakland in Cincinnati. First tip is set for 2:15 p.m. CT and can be seen live on FloSports.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley owns a 1-1 record after the first two days of the 2020-21 season.
• The Braves have played a pair of tight games so far, defeating Toledo by two points before falling at Xavier by a single point.
• Senior Elijah Childs leads the Braves with 15.5 points, 2.5 blocks and 2.0 steals per game.
• Sophomore Ville Tahvanainen is second on the team with 8.5 points per game, while five Braves in total are averaging at least 7.0 points.
• Junior Ja'Shon Henry leads BU with 7.5 rebounds per game with Sean East II posting a team-leading 5.5 assists.

XAVIER INVITATIONAL
• The Braves are opening the 2020-21 season by competing at the Xavier Invitational in Cincinnati.
• Bradley's contest against Oakland is the final game of the tournament with Xavier and Toledo meeting earlier in the day.
• Xavier is the lone unbeaten remaining in the tournament, while Bradley and Toledo are both 1-1 and Oakland is 0-2.

SERIES HISTORY
• Bradley and Oakland have met on two prior occasions with Bradley winning both games.
• The schools first met in 1997 with Bradley cruising to a 76-36 victory.
• The next meeting in 2009 was a lot closer as Chris Roberts sunk a 75-foot shot at the buzzer to lift Bradley to a 76-75 victory in the inaugural CIT.

BRAVES VERSUS HORIZON LEAGUE
• Bradley owns a 44-31 all-time record against schools in the Horizon League.
• The Braves swept a pair of meetings against conference schools last year, earning home wins against IUPUI and UIC.

ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES
• Oakland has lost its first two games of the season at the Xavier Invitational, falling to the host Musketeers on Wednesday, 101-49, before losing to Toledo on Thursday, 80-53.
• Jalen Moore leads the Grizzlies with 12.5 points, while Daniel Oladapo is second on the team with 9.5 points per game.
• Moore is also first on the team with 3.5 assists per game with Micah Parrish ranking first with 6.5 rebounds.
• The Grizzlies finished the 2019-20 season with a 14-19 record and an 8-10 mark in the Horizon.

DEFENSE LEADING THE WAY
• Bradley is already showcasing an elite defense to start the 2020-21 season.
• The Braves have not allowed an opponent to score 60 points in a game this season, holding Toledo and Xavier to an average of 55.0 points per game.
• Bradley has not gone the first three games of the season with holding an opponent under 60 points since the 1998-99 campaign.
• Overall, the Braves are holding its first two foes to just 33.6 percent shooting with a 32.7 clip from 3-point range.

FINISHING STRONG
• Through its first two game, Bradley has proven to be a much stronger offensive team in the second half compared to the first.
• The Braves are averaging more than 15 points in the second half compared to the first this season, while shooting nearly 20 percent better.

MAKING AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT
• Playing for the first time in 623 days, junior transfer Terry Nolan Jr. did not waste any time making an immediate impact with the Braves.
• Nolan scored the game-winning basket in his first game at BU, scoring a contested layup with just 0.8 seconds remaining Wednesday versus Toledo.
• The junior then followed up with a go-ahead 3-pointer on Thursday with 12.5 seconds left before a late Xavier basket gave the hosts the win.
• A transfer from George Washington, Nolan sat out the 2019-20 season due to NCAA transfer rules.
• Nolan totaled 607 points, 240 rebounds and 135 assists in his two seasons with the Colonials.

BRAVES SLATED THIRD
• Bradley was selected third in the annual preseason poll by coaches, SIDs and media.
• Northern Iowa led the rankings with 426 points and was followed by Loyola (405). Bradley received 341 points and one first-place vote with Indiana State (282) and Southern Illinois (235) rounding out the top five.

CHILDS EARNS PRESEASON ALL-MVC
• Elijah Childs earned preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference honors this year.
• Childs ranked second on BU last year with 14.8 points per game and first with 8.7 rebounds.
• A two-time all-conference honoree, Childs was named to the All-MVC Second Team after his junior season despite missing 12 games with an injury.

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