Braves Travel to Face Southern Illinois Tuesday

Men's Basketball 2/14/2022 10:45:00 AM

Bradley (15-11, 9-5 MVC) at Southern Illinois (13-13, 6-8 MVC)
Game Details	Tuesday, Feb. 15 • 7 p.m. • Carbondale, Ill. • Banterra Center
Television	ESPN+
Radio	1470 & 100.3 WMBD
Game Notes	Bradley \| Southern Illinois
Game Coverage	Live Stats \| Twitter: @bradleyumbb \| Instagram: @bradleyumbb

Winners of seven of its last eight games, the Bradley basketball team looks to extend its winning ways with a road game at Southern Illinois. Tipoff on Tuesday night is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

ABOUT THE BRAVES
• Bradley enters with a 15-11 overall record and a 9-5 mark in Missouri Valley Conference action.
• The Braves have won seven of their last eight games, including three-straight victories. BU is coming off a 68-59 win over Drake on Saturday.
• Junior Terry Roberts leads BU with 15.1 points and ranks first in the Valley with 4.3 assists per game.
• Sophomore Rienk Mast is second on BU with 11.3 points, while leading the MVC with 8.4 rebounds.
• Junior Malevy Leons add 9.9 points and 6.0 boards for the Braves.
• Bradley averages 71.5 points per game, while allowing 64.9 defensively.

ARCH MADNESS SEEDING
• The Braves enter Tuesday's game in fourth place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
• Bradley just needs one win the remainder of the season to officially clinch a first-round bye for the MVC Tournament.
• With a victory on Tuesday, Bradley will also secure a top-five seed for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

SERIES HISTORY
• In a series that dates back to the 1927 season, Bradley holds a slight advantage against Southern Illinois, 54-49.
• Bradley has won its last two meetings against the Salukis in Carbondale. The Braves have not won three-straight road games in the series since a five-game run from 1984 to 1988.
• Overall, Bradley has won five of the last seven games in the series during the last three seasons.
• The Braves earned a 70-62 win at Carver Arena earlier this season with Rienk Mast leading the way with 20 points and nine rebounds.

ABOUT THE SALUKIS
• Southern Illinois enters Tuesday's game with a 13-13 record and is in sixth place in the Valley standings at 6-8.
• Lance Jones leads SIU with 14.5 points per game.
• Marcus Domask is second on the team with 14.1 points, while leading SIU with 5.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
• The Salukis are averaging 63.2 points per game, while allowing 60.7 on defense.

THE BRAVES ARE HOT
• Bradley enters Tuesday's game in the middle of its hottest stretch in Valley play in years.
• The Braves have won seven of their last eight matchups – the team's best eight-game stretch in MVC play since 2007-08.
• With a win on Tuesday, Bradley would earn eight Valley wins in a nine-game stretch for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign.

NUMBERS BEHIND THE RUN
• Bradley is outscoring its opponent by 11 points during its eight-game run, 71.0 to 60.0
• Defense has been the key as BU has held its foe to 62 points or fewer in six of the eight games – allowing just 53.3 in its current three-game run.
• Additionally, Bradley's 7-1 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 scored at least 30 bench points in its last three games – averaging 35.0 per game.
• Prior to the run, BU 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 11-2 since Nov. 27 with 15 or more points from its reserves but just 3-4 with fewer.
• Overall, 10 different Braves have scored in double figures this season with Ari Boya, Mikey Howell and Zek Montgomery doing it for the first time during the current three-game run.

HOWELL ADDS SCORING TOUCH
• Graduate student Mikey Howell has become a scoring threat for the Braves.
• Howell scored in double figures the first two times of his Bradley career last week – tallying 12 points versus Loyola and 14 against Drake.
• The guard was averaging 3.2 points per game prior to the week's action.
• Howell, who is second on BU with 3.3 assists per game, is making 40.5 percent of his field goals this season and 39.5 percent from 3-point range.

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 49th-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 86th in the country with 4.3 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.

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