Drake Bulldogs (19-5) vs. Bradley Braves (17-7)
February 10, 2024 6:00 pm EDT
The Line: Bradley Braves -3.5; Over/Under: -
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The Drake Bulldogs and the Bradley Braves meet Saturday in college basketball action from Carver Arena. Drake is 19-5 overall this year. The Bulldogs beat Southern Illinois in overtime during their last outing. As for Bradley, they’re 17-7 so far following a loss to Evansville on Wednesday. Let’s get into our Drake vs. Bradley prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Drake Bulldogs
The Bulldogs got off to a nice 16-3 start this year. The only losses came versus Stephen F. Austin, UAB and Belmont in that time. Drake is 7-2 since then with wins over Indiana State, Southern Illinois, Illinois State, Evansville, Northern Iowa, Valparaiso and Southern Illinois again during that time.
In the rematch versus Southern Illinois on Wednesday, the Bulldogs had a close finish. Drake scored 38 points in the first half, 44 in the second and 10 in overtime to eke out a 92-88 victory. Tops in scoring was Tucker DeVries with 27 points, five rebounds and two steals in 43 minutes of work.
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Bradley Braves
Over on the Braves’ side, they had a five-game losing streak in November/December versus Murray State, Indiana State, Akron, Cleveland State and Duquesne during a 15-5 start. It’s been a 2-2 record since then with losses to Indiana State and Evansville around wins versus Northern Iowa and Illinois State.
In the Evansville matchup on Wednesday, the Braves trailed 32-27 going into the second half. Bradley got a little better on a 43-41 second-half run but still took the tough loss 73-70 in the end. Duke Deen led the team on his 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists during the losing effort.
ANDREW’S FREE DRAKE VS BRADLEY PREDICTION
I’ll stick with Bradley. You could call this one either way, though; it’ll be a fun matchup. The Braves are coming off a disappointing loss versus Evansville, playing a sloppy game with 17 turnovers that led to 16 Aces points. Bradley didn’t play too badly otherwise with 42.4 percent from the field and a dominant 40-27 rebounding advantage. Still, this is going to be another tough matchup and it’s going to take a clean effort to pull it off.
As for Drake, they’ve hit 76 or more points in eight of their last nine outings so this one’s looking like a shootout on paper. I like Bradley to pull off the home cover, but the Bulldogs should make things very interesting.
