Peoria, IL -- The Bradley Braves 23-7 (14-5 MVC) will host the Northern Iowa Panthers 20-10 (14-5 MVC) where the winner will claim the number two seed in the upcoming Missouri Valley Conference Tourney.
Game Information
Bradley Braves 23-7 (14-5 MVC) vs Northern Iowa Panthers 20-10 (14-5 MVC)
Date & Time: Sunday, Mar 2nd, 2025 • 1:00 PM CST
Live Coverage: ESPN2 | Live Stats | Radio
Location: Carver Arena
All-Time Series: Series tied 38-38 (BU leads 23-10 in Peoria)
Setting the Table
The Bradley Braves and Northern Iowa Panthers will meet for the second time this season when UNI makes the trip to Peoria in both teams finale of the 2024-25 regular season. The Panthers claimed the first meeting between back on February 2nd (83-69). Since that meeting the Braves are winners in five of their last seven contests and now sit in a second place tie of the Missouri Valley Conference with Northern Iowa. The winner of Sunday's game will be the #2 seed in the MVC tourney which runs from March 6th-10th with the loser being the #3 seed.
With one game to play the following are the seeding scenarios per the MVC office.
- Drake -- No. 1 seed (regular season champion)
- Bradley-UNI -- The winner of Sunday's game between Bradley-UNI in Peoria is the No. 2 seed. The loser is the No. 3 seed.
- Belmont - No. 4 seed.
- UIC -- Seed range: 5-6-7-8-9
- Illinois State -- Seed range: 5-6-7-8-9
- Murray State -- Seed range: 5-6-7-8-9
- Evansville -- Seed range: 5-6-7-8-9-10
- Southern Illinois -- Seed range: 5-6-7-8-9-10
- Indiana State -- Seed range: 8-9-10-11
- Valparaiso -- Seed range: 10-11
- Missouri State - No. 12 seed
The Bradley Braves
The Braves will be looking for one last home win to send off their senior class, which has seen the Bradley program grow its strong foundation.
Cade Hardtke,
Sam Hennessy,
Connor Dillon,
Duke Deen,
Christian Davis, and
Zek Montgomery will be the six seniors honored during the pregame on Sunday. Bradley also boasts three other fifth-year seniors who were honored last season:
Darius Hannah,
Connor Linke, and
Goanar Biliew. During the Braves' strong run of play over their last three games, they've been fueled by their big four of Deen, Hannah, Montgomery, and Davis, with the quartet averaging roughly 56 points per game and 5.6 assists per game.
Milestones are also on the horizon for the Braves, with Duke Deen closing in on the top spot for the Bradley all-time three-pointers list. He needs only eight more to tie Jeremy Crouch with 262 made threes. Deen currently holds second place with 254 makes in 100 career games in a Bradley uniform, while Crouch holds first place with 118 career games played. Brian Wardle is also closing in on his 100th career MVC win, with 99, placing him second behind Jim Molinari's 110 MVC wins. Zek Montgomery needs only 12 points to collect his career 1,000th point between his time at Bradley and Rhode Island. As a team, the Braves are currently fourth on the Bradley all-time made threes list with 302 and could pass last year's total of 306 for third.
The Northern Iowa Panthers
The Panthers are 14-5 in league play and have won seven of their last eight games, with their lone loss coming to Drake in overtime last week in Cedar Falls. UNI is led by Tytan Anderson, who is averaging 15.5 points per game and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 58% from the floor. Anderson is joined by three other double-digit scorers: Jacob Hutson, Trey Campbell, and Ben Schwieger. The Panthers are coached by Ben Jacobson, who is in his 19th season and has a career record of 374-243. Jacobson holds the title of the longest active tenured coach at an MVC school with his 19 seasons, while Brian Wardle is second in his 10th season. As a team UNI ranks first in the MVC in team FG% and second in scoring defense.
