TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Indiana State returns home Wednesday night to host Bradley in the only meeting between the two teams this season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from Hulman Center and the game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
 
Coming up on the midway point in league-play, the top eight teams in the Valley standings are all within just one game of each other. There is a three-way tie for first place as Indiana State, Southern Indiana, and Belmont are all sitting at 6-2. The next five teams in the standings hold a 5-3 mark in league play.
 
After starting off 6-0 in Valley play, the Sycamores have lost two straight league games while snapping their three-game Valley road win streak.
 
ISU is coming off a loss at Missouri State Sunday afternoon. Missouri State's 13-point lead in the second half was Indiana State's largest deficit in Valley play this season. The Sycamores did not lead at all in the game for first time this season. It was the first time ISU has not held a lead at any point in a game since Jan. 30, 2022 at Bradley.
 
Before Sunday's game, the Sycamores were 10-0 when committing fewer turnovers than their opponent. ISU committed 11 turnovers Sunday night compared to MSU's 14, dropping to 10-1 when committing fewer turnovers.
 
The Sycamores trailed by four at halftime Sunday against the Bears and are now 0-4 when trailing at halftime.
 
Jayson Kent will face his former team for the first time Wednesday night as he transferred to Indiana State after playing two seasons for the Braves where he saw action in 51 games, including 19 starts.

SERIES HISTORY
Indiana State trails the all-time series against Bradley 42-55, dating back to 1968. The Sycamores are 6-4 against the Braves in the last 10 matchups including winning three straight from Jan. 31, 2022 to Jan. 2, 2022 with all three of those wins coming on Indiana State's home court.
 
The two teams split their season series last year with Bradley winning the most recent meeting, 67-52, Jan. 30, 2022 in Peoria.
 
BRADLEY AT A GLANCE
The Braves will be looking for a big bounce back game after dropping their last contest to Drake in Des Moines. Bradley has not lost back to back games since late November and has shown a trend of answering the call after a loss. The Braves are 5-1 following a loss this season and are outscoring their opponents, on average, 77-53 in those games.
 
Bradley will look to Rienk Mast, Duke Deen and Malevy Leons on Wednesday night. Deen had a stellar game last time out against Drake with 21 points, 4 assists, and a solo steal, including five made 3-pointers. Leons is coming off a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double with three more blocks and a solo steal to add to his MVC leading totals in those categories.

LAST GAME AGAINST THE BRAVES - JAN. 30, 2022
Bradley evened the season series with Indiana State while holding ISU to a season-low in points during a 67-52 victory at Carver Arena. The Sycamores turned the ball over 15 times and allowed 10 second-chance points in the loss, falling to 9-11 overall and 2-6 in MVC action.
 
Micah Thomas scored a team-high 17 points for the Sycamores. The guard finished 6-for-14 from the field while connecting on three of ISU's five 3-point makes in the game. Kailex Stephens was the only other Sycamore to score in double-figures after posting 10 points in 28 minutes off the bench.
 
Bradley recorded 10 second-chance points on 11 offensive rebounds while ISU did not score on a pair of offensive boards.
ISU Bradley held a 26-8 advantage in paint points in the first half and finished 38-24.
 
The seven total assists marked a season-low for ISU while the contest also marked the first game this season that Xavier Bledson did not record multiple assists.
 
ISU shot a season-low 34 percent from the field (17-of-50) and tied a season-low with just five 3-pointers.

LAST TIME OUT
Indiana State got down early and put up a late fight Sunday afternoon at Missouri State, but could never fully overcome its deficit against the Bears as the Sycamores suffered their second-straight loss in Valley play, 64-62.
 
Indiana State (13-6, 6-2 MVC) trailed by 13 points midway through the second half but outscored Missouri State (9-9, 5-3 MVC) 10-4 in the last 1:10 of play to fall by just two points.
 
The Bears lit it up early from deep, shooting 5-of-7 beyond the arc in the first seven minutes. They made five straight threes after missing their first two attempts, and the fifth triple in that sequence put the Bears up by double digits at 21-11 with 13:10 to go in the first half.
 
Missouri State opened the second half with a pair of buckets to go up 39-31 at 17:45, and the Sycamores did not score until 16:34 in the frame on Trenton Gibson's and-1. The Missouri State lead reached a game-high 13 points at 52-39 with 10:26 left in the second half.
 
The Sycamores kept themselves in the game, using an 8-2 run over the next four minutes to make it 54-47, and later cut their deficit all the way down to one point with a 7-0 run that made it 60-59 with 31 seconds to go. The Bears knocked down a couple free throws to put the Sycamores down 62-59, and Indiana State had multiple chances to tie things up but missed a couple threes in the last 11 seconds. Missouri State would hit another pair of free throws with four seconds remaining to go up 64-59, and Neese drilled a shot from the logo with 0.7 left on the clock to make it a final score of 64-62.
 
LARRY NAMED MVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Julian Larry was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week Jan. 10 after posting back-to-back 18-point outings, helping the Sycamores go 2-0 on the week and remain unbeaten in Valley play. Larry shot 12-of-14 on the week including 3-of-3 from distance. He also connected on 9-of-10 from the charity stripe and dished out 10 assists with four steals across the two games. In Wednesday's win at Illinois State, Larry shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the field with five assists and not a single turnover.
 
LARRY GETS HOT
Julian Larry is the lone Sycamore to play in all 19 games this season but has just recently emerged as he has played his way into the starting lineup. He has started each of the last six games, and through the first five of those games, he led the Sycamores in scoring with 15.6 points per game. He has posted 18 or more points in three of those games and twice has shot 100 percent from the field (8-of-8 against Evansville, 7-of-7 at Illinois State), and he is shooting 78.4 percent from the field.
 
Larry dished out 4.6 assists per game across those first five starts and committed just one or no turnovers in three of those games. He held a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio while averaging two steals per game in that span.
 
NEW FACE SETS THE PACE
Going into the Jan. 15 game at Missouri State, grad transfer Courvoisier McCauley is leading the way for the Sycamores in his first year at Indiana State. Through the first 18 games he leads the team in total points (283, 105 more points than ISU's second leading scoring Cameron Henry with 178 points) while averaging a team-high 16.6 points. He also leads the Sycamores on the glass with 5.5 rebounds per game. His 16.6 points per game rank sixth in the Valley, and he's top-20 in the league in boards per game.
 
McCauley has two double-doubles this season and is one of just 15 players in the Valley to record two or more on the year. He is also the lone Valley player with multiple 30-point outings this season. With five 20+-point games, McCauley joins just eight other Valley players with five or more this year.
 
A TALE OF TWO HALVES
The Sycamores have struggled to put together 40 consistent minutes of basketball this season, as shown by their scoring margin in the first half compared to the second half through 18 games so far. Going into the Jan. 15 game at Missouri State, the Sycamores were outscoring their opponents by 10.3 points in the first half compared to just 0.3 points in the second half.
 
Indiana State has given up a double-digit lead on five different occasions this season. The Sycamores recovered and won two of those games but have lost the last three games in which they blew a double-digit lead, two in regulation and one in overtime. In four of those five games, Indiana State led by 14 or more points in the first half.
 
The Sycamores let go of the lead against Drake and Southern Illinois in their first two Valley games but still won each of those games. Since then, Indiana State has blown a double-digit lead and lost to Southern Indiana (in overtime), Duquesne, and most recently Southern Illinois.
 
BIG WINS, NARROW LOSSES
When the Sycamores win, they seem to win big. When they lose, they mostly lose by a small margin. In games decided by 11 or more points this season, Indiana State is 8-0. However, in games decided by 10 or less points, the Sycamores are 5-6. Three of those five wins were against Valley opponents while the other two were against opponents at the Gulf Showcase. Three of those five losses were by three or less points, one by six points, one by eight points, and one by 10 points.

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