Braves Play at Loyola on Saturday

Loyola COVID Protocls

Men's Basketball 1/7/2022 11:19:00 AM

Bradley (7-8, 1-2 MVC) at Loyola (10-2, 1-0 MVC)
Game Details	Saturday, Jan. 8 • 3 p.m. • Chicago, Ill. • Gentile Arena
Television	Bally Sports Midwest / Indiana / Kansas City \| NBC Sports Chicago
Watch Online	Bally Sports (Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska \| ESPN+ (Other Stats
Radio	1470 & 100.3 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Loyola
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb

The Braves return to action on Saturday with a road conference game against Loyola. The schools are set to meet in Chicago with a 3 p.m. tipoff on Bally Sports Midwest and NBC Sports Chicago.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley is 7-8 during the 2021-22 season with a 1-2 record in Valley play.
• The Braves have dropped their last two contests in Valley play by a combined seven points.
• Junior Terry Roberts leads BU with 15.9 points and 4.2 assists per game.
• Senior Ja'Shon Henry and junior Malevy Leons are second on the team in scoring – both averaging 11.2 points per game.
• Sophomore Rienk Mast leads Bradley with 7.8 rebounds per game.
• Bradley averages 71.8 points per game, while allowing 67.3 defensively.

SERIES HISTORY
• The Braves hold a 36-31 all-time edge against the Ramblers in a series that dates back to 1928.
• The schools have combined to win the last four MVC Tournaments – each claiming two titles (2019 & 2020 for BU, 2018 & 2021 for Loyola).
• The Ramblers have won the last four games in the series against the Braves, while Loyola has also won the last four meetings at Gentile Arena with Bradley's last victory coming in 2016.

ABOUT THE RAMBLERS
• Loyola is 10-2 during the 2021-22 campaign with a 1-0 MVC record.
• The Ramblers played their first game on Thursday since Dec. 10 – a 79-74 win against San Francisco – due to COVID pauses.
• Ryan Schweiger leads the Ramblers with 12.5 points per game.
• Lucas Williamson is second with 11.4 points to go with a team-best 5.6 rebounds, while Braden Norris leads Loyola with 4.4 assists.

CLOSE GAMES
• Fans have been in for a treat during BU contests this season.
• The Braves' three Valley games have been decided by a total of nine points with all three featuring a final margin of five or less points.
• It marks the first time since 2007-08 that Bradley played three-straight MVC games decided by five or fewer points and the first time since 1997-98 BU opened with three-consecutive close contests.
• Overall, nine of Bradley's 15 games this season have been decided by single digits with BU posting a 3-6 record.

70+ POINTS
• The Braves are their most successful when scoring more than 70 points in a game.
• BU is 7-1 this season when tallying more than 70 with its lone loss a 76-71 setback to Indiana State.
• On the opposite end, Bradley is winless in seven games when putting up 70 or fewer points.
• Overall, Bradley is averaging 71.8 points this year.

3-POINT DEFENSE
• One key for the Braves defensively is to defend the 3-point line.
• With so many close games for BU, the Braves are allowing teams to make three more triples in defeats – shooting more than 14 percent better.
• Overall, Bradley owns a 3-point defense of 34.1 percent with teams averaging 7.1 makes.

KENT FINDS HIS RHYTHM
• Sophomore Jayson Kent has become a key piece of the Braves attack as of late
• The sophomore is scoring 10.0 points per game over the last seven contests – an improvement of 4.6 points from the season's first eight games.
• Overall, Kent is now averaging 7.7 points this season – shooting 43.2 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from 3-point range.

VERSATILE MALEVY LEONS
• Junior Malevy Leons has proven to be a weapon for Bradley in a number of ways.
• Leons is second on BU in points (11.2) and rebounds (5.9), first in blocks (20) and third in assists (20).
• The junior also leads BU with a field goal mark of 52.7 and a 3-point clip of 41.8 – no player in BU history has shot at least 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc in the same season (min. 0.5 3PM/game).

HALFTIME LEAD
• Getting off to a good start has been important for Bradley this season.
• The team that has the lead at the half in BU games is 13-2 this season with only five of the games featuring a lead change in the second stanza.
• In wins, the Braves are outscoring teams by an average of 38.4 to 30.1 in the first half, while being outscored, 35.8 to 29.1, in losses.

INJURY REPORT
• Ja'Shon Henry is a key piece of the Braves' success and BU eagerly awaits his return to the lineup.
• Henry has missed the last four games for Bradley with a head injury suffered on Dec. 18.
• Since arriving on campus, Bradley is just 5-14 in 19 games that Henry has missed and winless in 12 games against Valley schools.
• Henry ranks second on the team with 11.2 points in 2021-22 and third with 5.1 rebounds.

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