The Drake Bulldogs and the Bradley Braves meet in college basketball action from the Carver Arena on Saturday night.
The Drake Bulldogs will look to bounce back from a 66-62 loss to Missouri State last time out. Tucker Devries leads the Bulldogs in scoring with 13.4 PPG along with 4.8 RPG while Garrett Sturtz has 11.2 PPG with a team-high 7.6 RPG and Roman Penn has 10.6 PPG with 3.7 APG this season. D.J. Wilkins has 10.8 PPG as well to finish off the group of double-digit scorers for Drake so far this season while Tremell Murphy has 9.3 PPG with 5.3 RPG and ShanQuan Hemphill has 9.8 PPG with 5.1 RPG. As a team, Drake is averaging 75 PPG on 45.3% shooting from the field, 35.6% from three and 74.2% from the foul line while allowing 67.1 PPG on 43.4% shooting from the field and 33.4% from three this season.
The Bradley Braves will try to build on back-to-back wins after a 68-61 win over Loyola-Chicago last time out. Terry Roberts leads the Braves in scoring and assists with 15.2 PPG and 4.5 APG while Ja’Shon Henry has 10.4 PPG with 4.9 RPG and Malevy Leons has 10.2 PPG with 6 RPG this season. Rienk Mast also leads the Braves in rebounding with 11.1 PPG along with 8.4 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Bradley so far this season. As a team, Bradley is averaging 71.7 PPG on 45.1% shooting from the field, 35.2% from three and 66.8% from the foul line while allowing 65.2 PPG on 39.6% shooting from the field and 31.8% from three this season.
Drake is 2-9 ATS in their last 11 road games and 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 games following a loss while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games as an underdog. Bradley is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 home games while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games as a favorite.
I get the case to be made for Drake here but the thing is that even getting points, it’s hard to back Drake with that disappointing ATS record this season. Bradley hasn’t been all that great, but they’re still rock solid at home this season and only laying a bucket, I have to side with Bradley here.