Pregame notes from BradleyBraves.com-
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[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=arial black,avant garde]Bradley Basketball Pregame Notes[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]
Game 19 - Evansville Purple Aces (6-12, 0-8 MVC) at Bradley Braves (9-9, 4-4 MVC)
Saturday, Jan. 23 - 2:05 p.m. CST - Peoria, Ill. - Carver Arena (11,164)
Series History - Bradley leads 20-14 [/FONT]
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Television: None[/FONT]
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Radio: 1470 AM WMBD -- Dave Snell (play-by-play), Chuck Buescher (analyst), Joe Stowell (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (pregame host)[/FONT]
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Online: BradleyBraves.com - subscription video streams, free audio streams and live stats[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Rolling Into Homestand[/FONT]
Bradley has momentum on its side as the Braves prepare to host consecutive home games for the first time since early December...Joining Indiana State as the only two Missouri Valley Conference teams to play five of their first eight league games on the road, Bradley emerged from the road-heavy start with a 4-4 record by winning its last two games...Bradley has not hosted consecutive Missouri Valley Conference home games since Feb. 14 & 17, 2009, when the Braves swept Evansville and Missouri State...Bradley enters Saturday's game against Evansville as part of a four-way tie for fourth in the league standings.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Getting Defensive[/FONT]
Bradley started the 2010 calendar year by allowing at least 81 points in four consecutive games at an average of 85.0 ppg...The Braves, however, have held each of their last three opponents to no more than 56 points at an average of 54.3 ppg...The last three Bradley opponents have combined to shoot just 33.5 percent from the field and 25.4 percent from 3-point range...Bradley has not held four consecutive opponents to fewer than 60 points since a five-game streak from Nov. 29-Dec. 28, 1997.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]With A Win...[/FONT]
Bradley will equal its longest winning streak of the season at three games (Nov. 15-24)...The Braves will extend their home winning streak against Evansville to seven games...Bradley will earn its third consecutive home victory...The Braves could move into a tie for third place in The Valley standings at the halfway point of the league race if Illinois State simultaneously loses at Southern Illinois.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]With A Loss...[/FONT]
Bradley will suffer a second consecutive loss to Evansville for the first time since a 3-game skid against the Purple Aces in 2003 and 2004...The Braves will suffer their fourth home loss of the season and second in Valley play...Bradley will suffer its first loss of the season to a team with a losing record...The Braves could drop as low as a tie for sixth in the league standings at the halfway point.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Carver Arena[/FONT]
Saturday's game will be Bradley's 402nd at Carver Arena...Bradley is 303-98 (.756) at Carver Arena since moving its home games to the Peoria Civic Center to start the 1982-83 season...Included in that record, Bradley is 169-65 (.722) in Missouri Valley Conference games at Carver Arena...Bradley is 71-20 (.780) at Carver Arena since the start of the 2004-05 season.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Milestone Game for Les[/FONT]
Eighth-year Bradley head coach Jim Les will coach his 250th game Saturday afternoon against Evansville...Les enters Saturday's game with a 135-114 (.542) career record, all with the Braves...Les will tie the legendary Chuck Orsborn Saturday for fourth place on Bradley's list of games coached on The Hilltop.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]High-Scoring Quartet[/FONT]
Saturday's game versus Evansville will feature four of The Valley's top seven individual scorers in conference play...Bradley junior guard Andrew Warren is second in the league by averaging 16.0 ppg in conference play, while junior guard Sam Maniscalco is tied for fourth by averaging 15.1 ppg against The Valley...Evansville freshman Colt Ryan is sixth by averaging 14.9 ppg in league play, followed by teammate Denver Holmes at 14.4 ppg.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Strength of Schedule[/FONT]
According to the RPI information provided by CBSSportsline.com Jan. 22, Bradley owns the nation's No. 16 Strength of Schedule rating...The next toughest SOS in The Valley is Creighton at No. 66 and the other nine teams in the MVC have a 150.0 average SOS ranking...Out of conference, Bradley's non-conference strength of schedule also easily paces The Valley at No. 53, 69 places better than second place Indiana State (122)...The average non-conference SOS for the other nine teams in the league is 261.8.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Strength of Schedule II[/FONT]
Bradley has played four teams that currently sit atop their current league standings...Through games of Jan. 21: BYU (Nov. 13) is the only undefeated team in the Mountain West Conference race; Northern Illinois (Dec. 2) is undefeated in MAC play and alone atop the Mid-American Conference West Division; Northern Iowa (Jan. 12) sits atop The Valley standings; and Western Carolina (Dec. 7) is first in the Southern Conference North Division standings.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Historic Defensive Effort[/FONT]
In Bradley's 57-55 win Wednesday night at Southern Illinois, the Braves limited the host Salukis to a frigid 27.4 percent shooting from the field...The effort marked Bradley's best defensive field goal percentage since limiting Alaska-Fairbanks to 20.9 percent shooting Nov. 22, 2000 at Carver Arena in an 81-50 victory...The defensive field goal percentage was Bradley's best road effort since limiting Indiana State to 25.0 percent (14-56) Feb. 18, 1997.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Looking Ahead[/FONT]
Following Saturday afternoon's game versus Evansville, Bradley will start the second half of the league race by hosting Creighton Wednesday in a 7:05 p.m. tip at Carver Arena...Wednesday's game will be televised in Central Illinois (channel 74) and Chicago (102) on Comcast cable systems...Following the Creighton game, Bradley will visit Illinois State next Saturday in the first installment of the annual Interstate 74 Rivalry...The 4:05 p.m. game at Redbird Arena will be televised on the MVC-TV network.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Percentages Tell Story[/FONT]
The team that has shot at a more efficient clip from the field has won 17 of Bradley's first 18 game...Bradley is 9-1 when it shoots a better field goal percentage than its opponent and 0-8 when the opponent has a better field goal percentage.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Closing In On 1,000[/FONT]
Bradley junior guards Sam Maniscalco and Andrew Warren both are on pace to join the school's 1,000-Point Club this season...Maniscalco enters the weekend with 954 career points, while Warren owns 839 points....At his current average of 11.6 ppg, Maniscalco needs four more games to join the club -- Feb. 2 versus Drake...At his current average of 14.7 ppg, Warren needs 11 more games to hit the 1,000-point mark -- Feb.17 at Creighton...Bradley currently boasts 42 members of the 1,000-Point Club.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Big Media Numbers[/FONT]
Now in his 31st year as the radio Voice of the Braves, Dave Snell has participated in 939 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 last 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 602 consecutive Bradley Basketball games since taking over the beat for the start of the 1990-91 season.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial black,avant garde]Brown's Improvement[/FONT]
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 10.2 ppg...His increase of 10.2 ppg is the best in The Valley.[/FONT]
