Bradley (+1) at Indiana State - 4:00pm Pacific

Bradley was a dangerous team early in the season.  They came into Pepperdine with a 7-2 record and owning wins over Miami, Fla, Butler, and Bowling Green.  They led the Waves big early and had a comfortable lead late but had some bad breaks and gave up a dunk at the buzzer for a one point loss.  Conference preseason player of the year and team leader Phillip Gilbert would miss the next month of action with an injury.  It cannot be emphasized enough how much Gilbert means to this team.  He returned to action about three weeks ago but Brave fans indicate that Saturday's home win over Northern Illinois was the first time since the injury that Gilbert was in form.  He finished with 25 points in 37 minutes of action.  This is now again a very dangerous Bradley team as they jockey for position in the upcoming MVC tournament.

 

Indiana State has dropped 9 straight games including an embarrassing non-conference home loss to Buffalo on Saturday in which they trailed 32-11 at half-time.  Sycamore leading scorer Moss was charged with domestic battery in early February which caused him to miss a few games.  The situation has definitely effected his play.  The sophomore averaged 19.5ppg through the first 8 games of the season but since has averaged only 10.8 including 10.0 in four games since his return. 

 

Bradley is 1-9 without Gilbert and 12-5 with him in the lineup.  Four of the losses came at Depaul by 3, at Pepperdine by 1, and since his return vs MWV heavyweights Wichita State and Creighton both on the road before he returned to form.  The Braves have put together three straight solid wins and showed they can win on the road with their 3 point win at Illinois State on Jan 31st which was coincidentally Gilbert's first game back from injury.  They should take care of business here against a hapless ISU team. 

 

Bradley  1 UNIT