Next game: Drake at Bradley, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 6:00 pm

[Da Coach]

Bradley is now 9-4 and they have the 3rd best NET rating in the MVC-

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2020/conference/Missouri-Valley

The next game is Tuesday, Dec. 31, at 6:00 pm against Drake at Carver Arena. It is the first MVC conference game for both teams.
The game is on ESPN+: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?bu...9-bf4097421774
Radio: 1470wmbd.com
Live stats: https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
Tickets: https://www1.ticketmaster.com/bradle...00572B9D7331D3


Chat room: http://www.chatzy.com/524398219675

Drake is 10-3, and they have not played since winning at Air Force on Dec. 21, 85-80-
Schedule/results: https://godrakebulldogs.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball
Drake basketball website: https://godrakebulldogs.com/index.aspx?path=mbball
Roster: https://godrakebulldogs.com/roster.aspx?path=mbball
Stats: https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...MBKB_Stats.pdf

Their leading returning scorer from last season's 24-10 team is D.J. Wilkins, but his numbers are down this season. He averages 9.6 ppg, 4th on the team.
Tremell Murphy, their 2nd leading returning scorer from last year, was suspended for the first 5 games, then he returned and played in 5 games before getting injured in their Dec. 7 game against SEMO, and he has not returned since then. He has struggled when he did play and is only averaging 5.0 ppg and 3.4 rpg. Last season he averaged 10.4 ppf & 6.2 rpg.
This season's leading scorer is Roman Penn, a 5'11" redshirt-sophomore who transferred from Siena. He averages 12.0 ppg. He is shooting 55% on three pointers, but has only taken 20 of them in 13 games (he is 11-20). 7' sophomore center Liam Robbins is second in scoring with 11.8 ppg, and he averages 5.8 rpg. 6'5" forward Anthony Murphy (twin brother of Tremell) is 3rd on the team with a 10.2 ppg average.
As a team, Drake averages 71.7 ppg, and Bradley averages 72.1 ppg. They shoot 35.0% from three, and Bradley shoots 36.3%.

Bradley will have Danya Kingsby back, but leading scorer & rebounder Elijah Childs will probably miss his 3rd game in a row.

Bradley stats- https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...dley_stats.pdf
MVC stats- http://www.mvc.org/mbb/stats/CONFLDRS.HTM

[Mikovio]

Braves put their 11th best home court winning streak to the test! Might be too much to ask for Childs to play but if we were to lose this we're staring an 0-2 start in the face with a trip to Cedar Falls next weekend.

1. Gonzaga - 30 wins
2. Kansas - 26
3. VCU - 19
4. Villanova - 16
5. Prairie View A&M - 15
t6. South Dakota St. - 14
FSU - 14
t8. Texas Tech - 13
Utah St. - 13
Creighton - 13
t11. Bradley - 12
Oregon - 12
Penn St. - 12
Xavier - 12
Belmont - 12
Santa Clara - 12

[Da Coach]

Pregame from BradleyBraves.com-
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2019/...ost-drake.aspx

Note the Bradley-Drake starting time- 6:00 pm

The city of Peoria and the Civic Center are hosting the New Years Eve Countdown presented by Better Built & PNC NYE Kids Countdown-
https://www.peoriaciviccenter.com/ev...y-better-built

New Years Eve- Lots of festivities for kids and families starting at 2:00 pm Tuesday, and then for adults in the evening and continuing until after midnight. There will be 2 different "Ball Drop" ceremonies- one at 6:00 PM for kids and families, and another at midnight.
As a result, the downtown area and the Civic Center area will be very crowded, and parking will be in short supply. Get to the game early!

[Bradleyfan1]

Is there a braves club pre game party?

[Da Coach]

Is there a braves club pre game party?

No Pre-Game Party.
Here are the dates of Braves Club Pre-Game parties (only 2 left, unless more are added)-
https://bradleybraves.com/sports/201...es.aspx?id=987

2019-20 Braves Club Pregame Parties
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019 vs. UIC | 5-7 PM | Civic Center Rooms 220-222
Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019 vs. Toledo | 11 AM-1 PM | Civic Center Rooms 401-404
Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020 vs. UNI | 5-7 PM | Hotel Pere Marquette Ballroom | *All BU Alumni Invited*
Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020 vs. Loyola Chicago | 2 hours prior to tip, TBA | Hotel Pere Marquette Ballroom


And here are the Game Promotions for the Dec. 31 games-
Tuesday, Dec. 31 | 6 p.m. | vs. Drake
Student for a Day: Purchase tickets in the Student Section and relive the glory days as a Bradley student at Carver Arena!
Kaboom!'s Korner: Inflatables from Fun on the Run, including a bounce house, and Pop-a-Shot from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

[Bradleyfan1]

Dag nab it. I heard there was one at the marquette but was hoping it was last min and not advertised but guess not.

[Tommy]

I’m surprised we’re still a 2.5 point favorite in this game with Eli out. Hopefully we can keep the home court mojo going!

[Da Coach]

Final score: Bradley 80 Drake 72

https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media;team=home

[nomonoles4u]

What a big turnaround from last year. Drake elected to run with us and there is no way Ben will try the same, kinda wish I had scene the NIU ISU game but just guessing ISU ran in the second half. If we can get them out of rhythm and run we are 2 and 0 and they are 0 and 2,

[Da Coach]

Another terrific game by everyone who played. Great teamwork, passing, and defense. We needed that win
Drake probably isn't capable of playing much better than they did, and Bradley did not let down, and held on for the 80-72 win.
Stats-

https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media

Great crowd tonight- Attendance 5,416

[bigjimmy]

I thought it took us awhile to get it going tonight especially on defense but we really played great down the stretch. 2 straight games with AWESOME FT shooting. I thought the last 3:00 of the game we showed tremendous poise on both ends leading us to the win. Great to start 1-0 in the Valley. Now can we take this effort on the road at UNI? For us to contend we need to figure that out.

[Bradley3342]

Great win tonight! I don’t know about everyone else but I thought this was as loud as I have seen Carver in a long time! Keep the home court win streak going!!

[Da Coach]

Official box score-

https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2019-20/drake/boxscore/18026

[Tommy]

I’m surprised we’re still a 2.5 point favorite in this game with Eli out. Hopefully we can keep the home court mojo going!

Shows what you know, nerd! Spread covered!

I don't know if that Robbins kid always plays like that or not, but he looked like an NBA talent tonight. Thank goodness he decided he could shoot 3's once in a while because he couldn't miss down low and we had no answers for him on defense.

On our side of the ball, it was nice to see how the ball was shared around so equally. I would like to see D.Brown never take another shot from inside the box ever again (I'm only half serious) because his outside game is so so so much better. 5 for 17, but 3 for 7 from 3's. So may reckless drives that led to careless shots and he just doesn't get the foul calls down low, so he'd be better off only driving if he does so with the intent of dishing off (in my humble opinion).

Lastly, I really love Henry's game down low and he seems to be getting better with time. That kid is so strong and he goes up with power and seems very good at drawing fouls. The experience he's getting from the extra playing time with Eli out is really going to pay off for us come tournament time, I think.

Very exciting game and was great to see the crowd was really into it. The Drake fans made a pretty good showing and we had a few of them cheering pretty loudly right behind us, so it was nice to shut them up there at the end.

[LittleBrave]

Great win tonight! I don’t know about everyone else but I thought this was as loud as I have seen Carver in a long time! Keep the home court win streak going!!

I wasn't at the game, but watching on my laptop, sounded like our crowd really pumped us up when we needed it most in the last 4 minutes of the game!