PEORIA — The Bradley Braves are on a three-game losing streak as they head into a road match with the Evansville Aces on Saturday night.
Bradley, now 18-6 overall and 9-4 in conference play, has slipped from sole possession of the Missouri Valley Conference lead to a tie for second with Northern Iowa.
2024-25 Missouri Valley: Updated standings
The Braves have lost three straight Valley conference games for the first time since losses to Indiana State, Missouri State and Loyola from Jan. 2-8 in the 2021-22 season.
Evansville sits in a tie for seventh, at 9-15 overall and 6-7 in conference.
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Below are updates from Carver Arena.
| TEAMS | 1st half | 2nd half | — | FINAL |
| Bradley | 00 | 00 | — | 00 |
| Evansville | 00 | 00 | — | 00 |
Bradley vs Evansville by the numbers
- Kenpom ranking: Bradley No. 97, Evansville No. 250
- Kenpom says: Bradley 70, Evansville 64 (69%)
- Massey computer says: Bradley 72, Evansville 65 (75%)
- NET ranking: Bradley No. 83, Evansville No. 245
- CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Ranking: Bradley No. 6.
- MidMajorBasketball.com Mid-Major Ranking: Bradley No. 24
- BracketBustersHoops.com Mid-Major Ranking: Bradley No. 15
- Basketball.realgm.com Mid-Major Rankings: Bradley No. 23
- Preseason poll: Bradley No. 1 in MVC. Evansville No. 9 in 12-team MVC
- Records: Bradley 18-6, 9-4, 2nd in MVC. Evansville 9-15, 6-7, 6th in MVC.
- All-time series: Bradley, 39-24
- Coaches: Bradley, Brian Wardle, 10th year (176-144). Evansville, David Ragland, 3rd year (31-60)
MVC Tournament projected seeding
Reaching the 1,000 milestone
Flashback from Wednesday’s game against Belmont.
Darius Hannah delivered a trademark jam with 11:19 left to reach his 1,000th career point with Bradley. He is the 55th player to reach that all-time list in program history. Hannah finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.
He is the second Braves player to reach 1,000 points this season. Duke Deen got there on Dec. 21 against Canisius.
Bradley guard Zek Montgomery had 10 points on Wednesday and now is 77 points away from reaching 1,000 for his career.
Bravely Speaking
ESPN, under it’s Bubble Watch story updated Thursday evening, listed Bradley in its Low Mid-Majors category as teams with work to do. ESPN’s model shows BU with a 31% chance to make the NCAA Tournament. … Bradley is now No. 2 in the projected seeding for the MVC Tournament by the highly-regarded analytics site, Matt Hackman. Drake flipped past Bradley into No. 1. Northern Iowa is third and Belmont, with its road win over Bradley, is fourth. … Bradley is a very experienced team, with Duke Deen, Christian Davis, Darius Hannah, Zek Montgomery and Connor Davis all having played more than 100 college games. … BU senior forward Darius Hannah needs one game to tie Gene Melchiorre for most games played in program history (140). … The Braves are 6-1 in games decided by six points or closer, and in overtime. … Evansville’s offense is last in the Valley at 65.9 points per game. … The Braves lead the Valley in field goal percentage defense at 40.4, and are second in 3-point field goal defense at 31.1%. … Bradley’s 3-point shooting is second in the nation at 40.23%. … Bradley freshman guard Jaquan Johnson has made 21 consecutive free throws in the last seven games. He missed the last of four free throws at UIC on Jan. 11.
More:Missouri Valley basketball preseason poll: Bradley basketball picked as favorite
What time does Bradley play today?
- Date: Feb. 8, 2025
- Time: 7 p.m. CT
- Location: Ford Center, Evansville, Indiana
Bradley vs Evansville will be streaming on CBS Sports Network.
Game lines and odds from Vegas Insider as of Friday afternoon:
Record: 18-6, 9-4
- Nov. 4: Bradley 88, Southeast Missouri State 60
- Nov. 8: Washington State 91, Bradley 74
- Nov. 12: Bradley 85, UTSA 72
- Nov. 16: Bradley 76, Northern Illinois 60
- Nov. 21: Bradley 82, Texas State 68
- Nov. 22: Bradley 77, Wright State 74
- Nov. 24: Bradley 80, Middle Tennessee 69
- Nov. 29: Bradley 107, Judson 41
- Dec. 3: Bradley 83, Southern Illinois 60
- Dec. 14: Santa Clara 84, Bradley 74 at Jack Jones Classic
- Dec. 18: Bradley 66, San Francisco 64
- Dec. 21: Bradley 92, Canisius 59
- Dec. 29: Bradley 81, Valparaiso 75 (2 OT)
- Jan. 1: Bradley 90, Indiana State 89 (OT)
- Jan. 4: Bradley 69, Missouri State 60
- Jan. 8: Drake 64, Bradley 57
- Jan. 11: Bradley 61, UIC 60
- Jan. 15: Bradley 118, Indiana State 65
- Jan. 18: Bradley 74, Murray State 61
- Jan. 21: Bradley 89, Belmont 77
- Jan. 25: Bradley 61, Illinois State 57
- Jan. 29: UIC 93, Bradley 70
- Feb. 2: Northern Iowa 83, Bradley 69
- Feb. 5: Belmont 80, Bradley 77
- Feb. 8: Bradley at Evansville, Ford Center, Evansville, Ind., 7 p.m. | CBS Sports Network
- Feb. 12: Bradley vs Southern Illinois, Carver Arena, Peoria, Illinois, 6 p.m. | ESPN+
Buy Bradley basketball tickets this season via StubHub
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
Bradley basketball news
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