Peoria, IL. The Bradley Braves 17-8 (10-4) make the short trip down I-74 to Normal, IL on Wednesday night to play the Illinois State Redbirds 10-15 (5-9) in the 136th meeting of the I-74 Rivalry.
Setting the Table
Illinois State is coming into this matchup against Bradley after dropping a tough road game to Belmont 90-75 in Nashville, TN while Bradley is riding a four game win streak with wins over ISU, UIC, SIU and UNI. In the all-time series Bradley owns a 70-65 series lead, with a 26-24 record in games decided by 5 points or fewer and a 5-4 record in OT. Bradley claimed the first meeting this season in Peoria back in January with a final score of 79-75 in OT.
Scouting the Redbirds
ISU is led by the duo to Darius Burford and Seneca Knight. Both players are averaging just north of 11 PPG for the Redbirds and 8.6 RPG. When talking about ISU it's hard not to mention how good they are at the FT line. The Redbirds are shooting 80% from the line and went 21-26 at the stripe against BU in the previous meeting. Ryan Pedon is the head man ISU and is in his first season at the helm for ISU. Illinois State will look to keep their winning ways at home as they are riding a two game win streak over SIU and UIC.
Scouting the Braves
The Bradley Braves are among the hottest teams in the MVC after winning their fourth straight game on Saturday. BU has a number of players getting it done on the court with back to back games of four players logging double digit scoring. The Flying Dutchmen duo of
Rienk Mast and
Malevy Leons are currently leading with way with Mast collecting 18 point and Leons with 19 points in their last contest. BU's defense has also been on full display by holding down two MVC first team hopefuls in Marcus Domask and Bowen Born to a total of 16 points on 4-16 shooting in BU's last two contests.
HOW THE TEAMS STACK UP
|
PPG |
RPG |
APG |
FG% |
3P% |
FT% |
| Bradley |
71.7 |
35.3 |
13.2 |
46.3 |
37.3 |
67.1 |
| Illinois St |
67.0 |
33.2 |
11.1 |
44.0 |
35.5 |
80.0 |
Series History
All-Time Series, BU leads 70-65
  at Bradley, BU leads 47-22
  at ISU, ISU leads 41-20
Neutral Site, BU leads 3-2
Current Streak, BU W-2
Last 10 Games, BU leads 7-3
How to Watch/Listen
You can stream Bradley at Illinois State on ESPN+ as well as listen over the radio with 1470 WMBD. The game is slated for a 7 p.m. start time from CEFCU Arena in Normal, IL on Wednesday night.
