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GAME NOTES: With the season winding down, the Wichita State Shockers turn their attention to the Bradley Braves for a Missouri Valley Conference matchup at Carver Arena in Peoria, Illinois.

Wichita State is coming off a 68-58 loss to Utah State in a BracketBusters matchup this past Saturday. At 11-5 in league play, the Shockers hold down second place in the MVC standings and will wrap up the regular season at home against Southern Illinois this Saturday. All seven of the Shockers' losses this year have come outside of Wichita.

This marks the regular-season home finale for the Braves, who need a win to secure one of the top six seeds and an automatic berth in the quarterfinals of next week's MVC Tournament. They picked up a 76-60 non-conference win over Drexel this past weekend. Bradley will close out its schedule at Creighton on this Saturday.

Bradley owns a 70-55 advantage in the head-to-head series, although Wichita State claimed an 81-69 victory when the two teams met in Kansas on January 3rd.

For the Shockers, the nail in the coffin on Saturday was a first-half stretch in which they went more than eight minutes without a field goal. Utah State took advantage with a 10-0 run to take a 10-point lead into the break, and the Aggies never relinquished that lead in the second stanza. In fact, the Aggies led by as many as 16 midway through the second half, and they went on to shoot 51 percent for the game. J.T. Durley led Wichita State with 12 points and eight rebounds, while David Kyles contributed 11 points off the bench in the losing effort. Kyles (5.2 ppg) has played in all 29 games, but he broke his right hand at practice on Monday and is not expected to return this season. Still, the cupboard is not left bare for Wichita State. Clevin Hannah and Toure Murry share team-high scoring honors with 12.0 ppg apiece, while Durley checks in with 11.2 ppg. The Shockers are out-scoring their opponents by an average of nearly nine points per game for the season.

While the Braves have not enjoyed the same degree of success as Wichita State in the MVC this season, they do boast a trio of very capable scorers, led by Andrew Warren with 14.4 ppg. Warren is the only Bradley player to have started every game this season, and he has knocked down a team-best 57 three-pointers (.404). Sam Maniscalco is next in line with 12.7 ppg, while Taylor Brown is putting up 13.7 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds per tilt. Often overlooked is the fact that all three are shooting better than 80 percent from the foul line. On Saturday, the Braves shot an efficient 54 percent from the floor, while holding Drexel to 34.4 percent shooting. Maniscalco led the way with 20 points, followed by Warren with 18. Chris Roberts posted a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Wichita State has been more consistent than Bradley in conference play this season, but the Shockers are coming off an ugly loss and have been anything but a sure thing on the road. Meanwhile, the Braves are coming off a 16-point victory and know they can strengthen their tournament seeding with another win tonight.