Peoria, IL - It's almost time for the Bradley Braves men's basketball team to begin its 2022-23 regular season.

About the Braves
Bradley is coming off a season opening win in an exhibition against Illinois-Wesleyan. BU was led by senior Malevy Leons, who filled the stats sheet with 18 points, 4 rebounds, and shot 4-5 from 3pt range. Also helping to aid the Bradley effort was Zek Montgomery who gave the Braves 10 points and 6 rebounds in his first major chunk of playing time as a Brave. Since the 2015-16 season, Bradley has not lost a home opener and is 5-2 in season openers in the Brian Wardle era.

About the Rangers.
The Rangers return three of their top five scorers from a season ago that combine for roughly 29 points per game and 12.8 rebounds per game. In that group is GLIAC 2021-22 freshman of the year Rasheed Bello, the young man averaged almost 10 points per game, 3.5 rebounds per game while playing 26 minutes per game.

The Braves on the Block
Bradley now knows that their MVC All-First team selection Reink Mast will be sidelined 4-8 weeks with an MCL sprain. This thrusts 6' 9" 200lbs Darius Hannah into the Bradley starting five. Hannah was all over the floor for Bradley chipping in 9 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 blocks to balance out his 21 minutes of action.

From Downtown
Bradley was a team that did not shoot the ball well from behind the 3pt line a season ago with an average of 33%. However, the Braves had a solid start against the Titans shooting nearly 42% with five different Braves hitting a three.

Tip-off is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 7 at 7p.m. in Carver Arena.