ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- For the second week in a row a Bradley player has been named the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball Player of the Week as senior center Zach Andrews (Rancho Cordova, Calif./Cordova H.S.) collected this week's honor, according to an announcement from the league office late this afternoon.
Junior guard Jeremy Crouch (Pekin, Ill./Pekin H.S.) made a strong case to repeat as Valley Player of the Week after he turned in career-highs with 29 points and six rebounds, as well as a career-high-tying five assists, in Sunday's 81-72 victory versus Illinois-Chicago. Crouch's effort was trumped by Andrews, however, who scored a career-best 26 points Sunday against the Flames, while also tying his career best with 15 rebounds. The Braves actually had a third viable candidate for the award as senior combo guard Will Franklin (Houston, Texas/Alief Hastings H.S.) averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 assists and 3.0 steals while handling the point guard duties full time in place of the injured Daniel Ruffin in the two wins last week.
In the two games last week versus Southern Illinois-Edwardsville and Illinois-Chicago, Andrews averaged 17.0 points, 13.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocked shots and 1.0 steal per game and shot 66.7 percent (14-21) from the field. Andrews, who has pulled down at least 10 boards in each of the season's first three games, contributed eight points and 12 boards in Wednesday's 74-58 victory against SIU-Edwardsville, then followed with his 26-point, 15-rebound effort Sunday against Illinois-Chicago. Through the season's first three games, the 6-foot-8 Andrews is averaging 15.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per contest and is shooting 65.5 percent from the floor. He currenlty holds a large advantage as the Valley's leading rebounder and ranks eighth in both scoring and field goal percentage.
Due to the loss of the bulk of Bradley's front line, highlighted by 7-foot center Patrick O'Bryant's early departure to the NBA, Bradley (3-0) was picked by most preseason prognosticators for the bottom of the Missouri Valley Conference standings. The Braves have surrounded Andrews with four guards in the starting lineup in each of the first three games, however, and used their quickness to race to their first 3-0 start since the 1998-99 season. After earning 11 starting assignments last season, Bradley is now 11-3 in the 14 games Andrews has started the last two years.
Bradley will shoot for its first 4-0 start since the memorable 1985-86 campaign Tuesday (7:05 p.m.) when the Braves host Florida A&M (1-3) in the second round of the Chicago Invitational Challenge. Tournament action will move to the new Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates Friday, where the Braves will face Rutgers in a 5 p.m. contest, followed by a 7:30 matchup of Miami-Ohio versus Illinois. Friday's two evening session winners will meet in the tournament's final game Saturday at 7:30 p.m. , following the 5 o'clock game between the two Friday night losers.
Single-game tickets for Bradley home games at Carver Arena range from $8 to $18 based on location and are half-priced for Bradley faculty and staff and $1 for Bradley students. As of the middle of last week, a limited number of tickets for the two days of tournament action in suburban Chicago were available through the Sears Centre Box Office.
