Braves Host Drake Saturday Night

Men's Basketball 2/11/2022 3:00:00 PM

Bradley (14-11, 8-5 MVC) vs. Drake (17-8, 8-4 MVC)
Game Details	Saturday, Feb. 12 • 7 p.m. • Peoria, Ill. • Carver Arena
Television	ESPN3
Radio	1470 & 100.3 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Drake
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb
Tickets	Ticketmaster \| (309) 677-2625

The Braves look to remain hot when they host Drake on Saturday night at Carver Arena, presented by Prairie Farms. Winners of six of its last seven, BU squares off with the Bulldogs for a 7 p.m. tipoff on ESPN3.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley enters with a 14-11 overall record and an 8-5 mark in Missouri Valley Conference action.
• The Braves have won six of their last seven games and are coming off a 68-61 victory over Loyola on Wednesday night.
• Junior Terry Roberts leads BU with 15.2 points and ranks first in the Valley with 4.5 assists per game.
• Sophomore Rienk Mast is second on BU with 11.1 points, while leading the MVC with 8.4 rebounds.
• Junior Malevy Leons also scores in double figures with 10.2 points per game.
• Bradley averages 71.7 points per game, while allowing 65.2 defensively.

SERIES HISTORY
• In a series that dates back to 1942 and as the two oldest members of the Valley, Bradley has played Drake more than any other school in its history as the teams have met 159 times.
• BU owns a 91-68 advantage against the Bulldogs in series history – winning the last two games.
• Earlier this season, Bradley posted an 83-71 win in Des Moines – ending the Bulldogs' 13-game home winning streak.
• The key to the victory was Bradley shooting 59.6 percent overall (highest in a road game since 2010), while making 72.7 percent of 2-point chances (highest in any game since 2011).

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
• Drake is 17-8 overall this season. The Bulldogs are a half-game ahead of the Braves in the Valley standings with an 8-4 conference record.
• The Bulldogs have lost their last two games after winning their previous four.
• Tucker DeVries leads the team with 13.4 points.
• Garrett Sturtz is second on Drake with 11.2 points to go with a team-best 7.6 rebounds.
• Roman Penn leads the Bulldogs with 3.7 assists.
• Drake is averaging 75.0 points per game, while allowing 67.1 on defense.

TRENDING UP
• Bradley is one of the hottest teams in the Valley.
• The Braves have won six of their last seven games – tied for the best seven-game stretch in MVC play in the last 14 seasons (also 2018-19).
• Additionally, Bradley's 6-1 record is the best in the Valley since Jan. 18.

BENCH PRODUCTION
• The Bradley bench has been at its best as of late.
• BU has received 75 points from reserves in the last two games (37.5 per game) – 38 at Evansville last Saturday and 37 versus Loyola Wednesday.
• Prior to the last two games, Bradley had not scored more than 27 bench points in any game – averaging 17.3.
• Receiving bench scoring has been key to success as Bradley is 10-2 since Nov. 27 with 15 or more points from its reserves but just 3-4 with fewer.

MONTGOMERY SHINES VS. LOYOLA
• Zek Montgomery is playing his best basketball, coming off the best game of his young career.
• Montgomery tallied a career-best 12 points in Wednesday's win over Loyola – making 4-of-5 field goals and all three of his 3-pointers.
• Overall, Montgomery has tallied 24 points in the last three contests after scoring 34 points in the season's first 22 games.

TAHVANAINEN'S KEY TO SUCCESS
• Junior Ville Tahvanainen's shot from 3-point range is a key to success for Bradley this season.
• Tahvanainen is BU's leader with 41 made triples this season – shooting 37.3 percent overall.
• The junior has been at his best in BU victories, shooting more than 25 percent higher.

LEADERS OF THE PACK
• The Braves feature two Valley leaders in Rienk Mast and Terry Roberts.
• Mast leads the MVC with 8.4 rebounds per game – the most by a Brave since Luke Jackson in 1989-90 (8.7) and the 48th-most nationally.
• In 70 seasons as a member of the Valley, only three Braves have previously led the league in rebounds – Chet Walker (1961-62), Jackson (1988-89) and Marcellus Sommerville (2003-04).
• Roberts, meanwhile, is first in the MVC and 71st in the country with 4.5 assists per game.
• The point guard looks to become the first Brave since Daniel Ruffin in 2005-06 to lead the MVC in assists and the sixth overall.

ROBERTS DOES IT ALL
• Junior Terry Roberts does a little bit of everything for Bradley.
• Roberts leads BU in scoring (15.2), assists (4.5) and steals (1.60), while also adding 5.2 rebounds.
• The junior guard is currently on target to become the first player in school history to average 15 points, five rebounds and four assists in a season.

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