Next game- Wednesday, Jan. 20 at SIU

[Da Coach]

Bradley's next game is at Southern Illinois on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, at 7:05 pm at SIU Arena.

Bradley is 8-9, 3-4 after Saturday's win over Missouri State. SIU is 10-6, 3-4 after their win at Evansville Saturday.
The game will be broadcast on Comcast cable channel 74 in the Peoria area, and on Comcast cable channel 102 in Chicago. It will also be available on BradleyBraves.com.

MVC stats-
http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/CONFLDRS.HTM


Here are SIU's team stats after 16 games:


Bradley team stats-

http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/BU.HTM

SIU basketball website-

http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/silu-m-baskbl-body.html

Schedule and results-

http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/sched/silu-m-baskbl-sched.html

Roster-

http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/silu-m-baskbl-mtt.html

Stats-

http://siusalukis.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2009-2010/teamcume.html

SIU fan message board-

http://www.salukitalk.net/st/viewforum.php?f=1

[dogsrus]

Needless to say (but I will anyway) this would be HUGE. Equal out that HORRIBLE home loss and gives us another shot of confidence.

MO St. was big and we needed it but those are games we simply should win. Period.

Beat SIU and it really could turn the season around......I'd offer its one of the biggest games in JL's tenure.

[AZ BU Fan]

It becomes a big win for BU only if they are able to keep it going for the LH of the season and into the MVC Tournament. Need to show progression each week the rest of the season. Not necessarily wins, but progression in talent and effort..

[SaintLouBrave22]

Lets say it for what it is guys...


We choked away what we thought was a certain home victory...


This is a MUST win, if for nothing else, but revenge...


That being said, we also need this win because of the 5-way tie for 5th place...


With getting Evansville on Sat. and Creighton at home on the following Wed., we can really put other teams behind the 8-ball so to speak...

[Da Coach]

BU-SIU game notes from BradleyBraves.com-

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=25965&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=204870703

Bradley Basketball Pregame Notes
Game 18 - Bradley Braves (8-9, 3-4 MVC) at Southern Illinois Salukis (10-6, 3-4 MVC)
Wednesday, Jan. 20 - 7:05 p.m. CST - Carbondale, Ill. - SIU Arena (9,409)
Series History - Bradley leads 40-37

Television: Comcast Spotlight (Peoria 74, Chicago 102) - Frank Bussone (play-by-play) and Dick Versace (analyst)
Radio: 1470 AM WMBD -- Dave Snell (play-by-play), Chuck Buescher (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (pregame studio host)
Online: BradleyBraves.com - subscription video streams and free audio streams; SIUSalukis.com - live stats

Logjam In The MVC Middle
Two teams locked in a five-way tie for fifth place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings will do battle Wednesday night at SIU Arena...Although just the eighth game in the 18-game, double round-robin Missouri Valley Conference slate, Bradley will close out its second league series Wednesday at Southern Illinois...The Braves avenged their worst Valley loss in three years with a near-equally lopsided win Saturday against Missouri State to even that series, and now turn their attention to Southern Illinois, which rallied for an 86-81 victory Jan. 1 at Carver Arena.

The SIU Arena Skid
Although Bradley owns a 40-37 lead in the all-time series versus Southern Illinois, the Salukis own a 21-13 home advantage against the Braves...Southern Illinois has won eight consecutive home games versus Bradley, the longest home winning streak either team has enjoyed in the 77-game series history...A loss Wednesday at Southern Illinois will equal the second-longest losing streak the Braves have ever endured in one building: Bradley has dropped 12 straight at Louisville (Freedom Hall) and once lost nine straight at Evansville (Roberts Stadium) -- Bradley also has lost 11 in a row at Creighton, the last six at Qwest Center.

With A Win...
Bradley will earn consecutive victories for just the third time this season and the first time since Nov. 28 (Illinois) and Dec. 2 (at Northern Illinois)...The Braves will snap an eight-game losing streak at SIU Arena...Bradley will stop a three-game overall road losing streak and earn their first road win of the 2010 calendar year...Bradley will even both its overall and Valley records and will climb into a tie for fourth in the league standings.

With A Loss...
Bradley will see its losing streak at SIU Arena reach nine games, equalling the second-longest skid the Braves have ever endured in one venue... The Braves will extend their road losing streak to four games...Bradley could drop as low as a tie for eighth in the league standings.

Hot Stripe Against SIU
The Bradley trio of Taylor Brown (11-11), Sam Maniscalco (26-26) and Andrew Warren (23-24) are a combined 60-for-61 (.984) from the free throw line against the Salukis in their careers...Led by the threesome, Bradley's current roster has combined to make 77-of-85 (.906) career free throw attempts against Southern Illinois.

Looking Ahead
Joining Indiana State as the only two Valley teams to play five of their first eight league games on the road, Bradley's schedule will take on a home flavor the rest of the way...Following Wednesday's game at SIU, Bradley will play seven of its final 11 at Carver Arena...The home-heavy finish will begin Saturday afternoon when the Braves open their first two-game Valley home stand against Evansville.

Strength Of Schedule
According to the RPI information provided by ESPN.com Jan. 18, Bradley owns the nation's No. 9 Strength of Schedule rating...The next toughest SOS in The Valley is Creighton at No. 64 and the other nine teams in the MVC have a 164.9 average SOS ranking...Out of conference, Bradley's non-conference strength of schedule also easily paces The Valley at No. 42, 53 places better than second place Indiana State (95)...The average non-conference SOS for the other nine teams in the league is 264.7.

Strength Of Schedule II
Bradley has played four teams that currently sit atop their current league standings...Through games of Jan. 17: BYU (Nov. 13) is tops the Mountain West Conference; Northern Illinois (Dec. 2) leads the Mid-American Conference West Division; Northern Iowa (Jan. 12) is The Valley's only unbeaten team in league play; and Western Carolina (Dec. 7) leads the Southern Conference North Division...Bradley also has played three other teams that are second in their respective leagues: Illinois (Nov. 28 ), Wichita State (Jan. 3) and Wofford (Nov. 22).

Getting Defensive
After allowing at least 81 points in four of its first five Valley games, Bradley has not allowed more than 56 points in either of the last two games...The 108 points allowed in the last two games -- 52 at UNI and 56 versus Missouri State -- are the fewest the Braves have allowed in consecutive games this season...In fact, the 2-game defensive effort was Bradley's best since surrendering just 106 points in home wins versus Indiana State (56) and Wichita State (50) Jan. 24 and Jan. 28, 2009...Bradley has not held three consecutive opponents to fewer than 60 points since Dec. 31, 2008-Jan. 6, 2009 at Wichita State (58 ), at Missouri State (57) and versus Illinois State (52).

Improved Board Work
After Missouri State outrebounded Bradley, 41-27, Jan. 9, the Braves were being outrebounded by 3.6 boards per game on the season...Bradley has answered by outrebounding both UNI (37-28 ) and Missouri State (43-28 ) by a combined 80-56 margin (+12.0 rpg).

Percentages Tell Story
The team that has shot at a more efficient clip from the field has won 16 of Bradley's first 17 games, including eight straight...Bradley is 8-1 when it shoots a better field goal percentage than its opponent and 0-8 when the opponent has a better field goal percentage.

High-Scoring Trio
Bradley boasts three of The Valley's top seven scorers in conference action, a trio that has helped Bradley lead the league in scoring (71.6 ppg) through seven rounds of conference play...Junior guard Andrew Warren paces the loop with 17.7 ppg in the first seven Valley games...Sophomore forward Taylor Brown follows in the sixth spot with 14.7 ppg, while junior guard Sam Maniscalco is seventh at 14.3 ppg...The trio has been particularly effective from the free throw line, where they have combined to make 79-of-87 (.908 ) free throw attempts in conference play: Warren (30-32), Maniscalco (19-22), Brown (30-33).

Closing In On 1,000
Bradley junior guards Sam Maniscalco and Andrew Warren both are on pace to join the school's 1,000-Point Club this season...Maniscalco begins the week 51st on Bradley's all-time scoring list with 933 career points, while Warren is 64th with 824 points...At his current average of 11.0 ppg, Maniscalco needs seven more games to join the club -- Feb. 9 versus Illinois State...At his current average of 15.4 ppg, Warren needs 11 more games to hit the 1,000-point mark -- Feb.20 in the BracketBusters game...Bradley currently boasts 42 members of the 1,000-Point Club.

Brown's Improvement
Bradley sophomore forward Taylor Brown ranks among the nation's leaders in improved scoring from 2008-09 to this season...After averaging 3.4 ppg as a freshman last year, Brown currently is The Valley's fifth-leading scorer at 14.2 ppg...His increase of 10.8 ppg is the best in the MVC and tied for the ninth-best jump in the nation.
Increased Scoring Chart
Player, School 08-09 09-10 +
*Amu Saaka, Furman 2.6 16.7 14.1
*Tim Ambromaitis, Notre Dame 1.7 15.4 13.7
Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh 4.3 17.5 13.2
Jordan Sugars, Navy 3.2 14.7 11.5
Storm Warren, LSU 2.0 13.5 11.5
Tramayne Moorer, Alabama St. 0.0 11.3 11.3
Menji Mundadi, Alabama State 3.5 14.7 11.2
Jeremy Green, Stanford 6.4 17.4 11.0
Taylor Brown, Bradley 3.4 14.2 10.8
* redshirted last year, stats from 2007-08

Big Media Numbers
Now in his 31st year as the radio Voice of the Braves, Dave Snell has participated in 938 Bradley Basketball game broadcasts, all in succession, on WMBD AM 1470 since taking over play-by-play duties for the 1979-80 season...Snell was inducted into the Bradley Athletics Hall of Fame Saturday...Snell's longtime radio sidekick, Joe Stowell, has been witness to 1,535 Bradley Basketball games in his various roles as player (103, 1947-50); assistant coach (250, 1956-65); head coach (344, 1965-78 ); assistant athletic director (107, 1978-85); and radio analyst (731, 1985-present)...Peoria Journal Star beat writer Dave Reynolds has covered 601 consecutive Bradley Basketball games since taking over the beat for the start of the 1990-91 season.

Les' Coaching Milestone
Saturday's game versus Evansville at Carver Arena will be the 250th career game for eighth-year Bradley head coach Jim Les...Les will become the sixth coach in Bradley history to coach the Braves for at least 250 games and he will move into fifth place on the list Jan. 27 when Bradley hosts Creighton.

[BradleyBrave]

As many have already said, this is a pivotal game as far as the MVC race is concerned. BU must avoid being swept by any teams in this middle blob if they want to avoid Thursday. This is a very winnable game for the Braves, and a 'must' game if they want to avoid the play-in round. Anything less than a UNI/MSU-type effort will be a major disappointment and yet another indictment of the direction of the program. We can do this!

[chitown fanatic]

and I believe we will play hard for 40 minutes. We have to remember though that SIU is also hungry for the sweep as they have underachieved and the heat has been turned up as much as it has been on Bradley. I agree with Dogs, most important game in Les's tenure. we must prove we can win games we're not predicted to win(sans Illinois)

[BradleyBrave]

and I believe we will play hard for 40 minutes. We have to remember though that SIU is also hungry for the sweep as they have underachieved and the heat has been turned up as much as it has been on Bradley. I agree with Dogs, most important game in Les's tenure. we must prove we can win games we're not predicted to win(sans Illinois)

How is a midseason game trying to stay from playing in his most important game? What a sad state of affairs if it is. That in itself should tell the story.

[SFP]

How is a midseason game trying to stay from playing in his most important game? What a sad state of affairs if it is. That in itself should tell the story.

Only a few people are calling this his most important game. So it is a sad affair for the few only! My story is just beginning.

Go Braves!

[real fan]

I sure hope the team is in Carbondale tonight as travel tomorrow does not look good.

[DUBrave5]

I sure hope the team is in Carbondale tonight as travel tomorrow does not look good.

They flew out a little while ago according to twitter from SM and WE

Maniscalco_5
On the plane, my usual in flight drink, addicted to sprite now lol http://twitpic.com/yutwn about 1 hour ago from twidroid

Maniscalco_5
Taking off, on our way to southern about 2 hours ago from twidroid

willFREEMAN21
http://twitpic.com/yum2q - bout to pass out on this flight to Southern. Salukis 2moro! screamatme! about 2 hours ago from TwitPic

[Da Coach]

They arrived in Carbondale about an hour ago and are now checked into their hotel.
The weather here in C-Dale is great. It was sunny and 55 degrees when I got here at 3 pm.

[AZ BU Fan]

Hopefully the Braves learned from the UNI game what it takes to win on the road vs a tough MVC team!

The refereeing will play a big part in how this game turns out.

Keep it rolling Braves....

[flipper]

The refereeing will play a big part in how this game turns out.
.

yes, if we win it will be good if we lose the refs will terrrible/

[tornado]

...if we lose the refs will terrrible/

nawww, that's likely to happen regardless....