Free Live Odds - Scores and Odds - Sports News - Sports Information - Live Scores - Sports Statistics - Sports Articles - Sports Standings - Live Scor

GAME NOTES: The Illinois State Redbirds try to post back-to-back wins for the first time since the first week of January as they challenge the Bradley Braves in a Missouri Valley Conference showdown at Carver Arena in Peoria tonight.

On Saturday, the Redbirds picked up a narrow 71-68 win over the Drake Bulldogs at home, giving the team two wins in the last three outings and locking them into a tie in the MVC standings with both Bradley and Creighton at 7-6 entering the week.

As for the Braves, they are gunning for their third straight win and their eighth of the season at home. Saturday afternoon saw the squad register an 83-62 win over the Evansville Purple Aces in one of the biggest offensive efforts of 2009-10 for Bradley.

Illinois State won the first meeting of the season last month with a 66-47 victory at home, which means the all-time series now favors Bradley by a count of 61-48.

The Redbirds trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half, but when it counted the most the squad came up big in the victory against Drake. In fact, the Bulldogs had no answer for ISU as it knocked down a stellar 72.2 percent from the field in the second half, with Lloyd Phillips doing most of the damage with his 17 points, followed by Osiris Eldridge and Dinma Odiakosa with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Eldridge leads this team in scoring with his 16.2 ppg, using 58-of-156 shooting behind the three-point line to make him one of the more productive perimeter shooters on the roster. Odiakosa checks in with 12.4 ppg and a team-best 8.3 rpg, but while he shoots the lights out from the floor at 63.7 percent, his mere 56.9 percent effort at the charity stripe makes him a liability late in close games. However, because of Odiakosa's play in the paint the Redbirds are beating opponents on the glass by almost five rebounds per game and that contributes to the team's scoring margin of 6.6 ppg as well.

If the Redbirds thought they had a second half to remember in their meeting with Drake over the weekend, it couldn't hold a candle to how badly the Braves beat up on Evansville after the break. Bradley came out and made good on an incredible 75 percent from the floor and 4-of-6 behind the three-point line, en route to the 20-point win. Andrew Warren posted 22 points, Taylor Brown 21, followed by Sam Maniscalco with 15 points and Chris Roberts 11, which means the starting five accounted for all but 12 of the unit's 83 points. Warren leads a trio of double-digit scorers at the moment with his 14.6 ppg, getting the job done with his 40.5 percent shooting behind the three-point line. Brown has brought 13.8 ppg to the table, but in his case he would be smart to remain in the paint where he has been able to collect a team-best 6.7 rpg and not on the perimeter where he is shooting only 29.7 percent. Maniscalco's 12.3 ppg is supplemented by his 74 assists, but still Bradley has slightly more turnovers than assists at this juncture.

While being at home should be a bonus for the Braves tonight, that by no means Bradley will be in contention when the meeting winds down.