Peoria, IL. The Bradley Braves 13-7 (6-3) look to defend home court in a pivotal MVC matchup against the Belmont Bruins 14-6 (7-2) on Saturday.

Setting the Table
Bradley and Belmont provided basketball fans with an incredible game when these two programs met for the first time in late December. Belmont escaped with a three point home win after a late 3-pointer by Connor Hickman went 3/4 of the way down the basket and rimmed out. Bradley will now look to avenge that loss and keep their momentum moving forward after a big road win against Indiana State over the weekend. The outcome of this game could go along way in shaping up who will have a chance to claim the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title with eight teams currently separated by two games in the MVC standings. Bradley is currently tied for 3rd in the MVC with Indiana St, Missouri St, and Northern Iowa. Belmont is tied for 1st place with Southern Illinois, who will be in action against Missouri St. 

Scouting the Bruins
Since Belmont's matchup with Bradley, the Bruins have a record of 5-1 in MVC play with a five game win streak over UIC, Missouri St, Valparaiso, UNI, and Murray State. A big reason why is that Ben Sheppard has found his groove, he is currently averaging 18.3 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 3.5 ASP on 46% shooting from the floor. Another name to watch out for is Drew Friberg, he plays as a stretch big for Belmont with a nice touch from beyond the arc. Last time out against Bradley, Friberg hit a career high six 3-pointers, since then he has hit four or more 3-pointers in only two of his last six games. The Bruins have also regained the assistance of Cade Tyson, Tyson is a freshman forward that didn't play against BU in first meeting due to injury. Tyson is Belmont's second leading scorer at 12.8 PPG while also giving them 4.5 RPG.


Scouting the Braves
The Bradley Braves are coming off a tough two game road trip against Drake and Indiana St that saw BU go 1-1 in that span. Now Braves are back in Peoria for three of their next four contests, including this matchup with Belmont. The Braves currently own the nations 3rd longest home court wining streak after Gonzaga and Jacksonville both lost at home over the weekend. Bradley is lead by the dangerous trio of Rienk Mast, Duke Deen and Malevy Leons. Starting first with Mast, he recorded 18 points and 13 rebounds against Indiana State and is the second ranked rebounder in the MVC at 8.3 RPG and is 13th in scoring in the MVC at 13.1 PPG. Malevy Leons is coming off a defensive masterpiece where he kept Courvoisier McCauley and Cooper Neese to a combined 17 points on 7-22 from the the field. Finally Duke Deen will be looking to continue his hot shooting touch at home where he is shooting 53% from the field and 49% from 3-point land. A big factor for the Braves will be the bench as when Bradley scores 25+ bench points they are 6-0.


HOW THE TEAMS STACK UP

	PPG	RPG	APG	FG%	3P%	FT%
Bradley	70.8	36.1	13.3	45.9	36.0	67.1
Belmont	74.6	31.3	15.6	46.5	33.1	70.9

Series History
All-Time Series, BEL leads 1-0
    at Bradley, NA
    at Belmont, BEL leads 1-0
Neutral Site, NA
Current Streak, BEL W-1
Last 10 Games, BEL 1-0

How to Watch/Listen
Bradley vs Belmont will be streamed on the Bally Sports family of networks, NBC Sports Chicago+, as well ESPN+ . You may also listen over the radio with 1470 WMBD. The game is slated for a 3 p.m. start time from Carver Arena. 

Tickets Link for Single Game vs Belmont Promo: Here
Ticket Link for Home Game vs Belmont and Illinois State Promo: Here