# 2019–20 Bradley Braves men's basketball team

The 2019–20 Bradley Braves men's basketball team represented Bradley University during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Braves, led by fifth-year head coach Brian Wardle, played their home games at Carver Arena in Peoria, Illinois as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 23–11, 11–7 in MVC play to finish in a tie for third place. They defeated Southern Illinois, Drake, and Valparaiso to be champions of the MVC tournament for the second consecutive year. They received the MVC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the tournament was cancelled in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

## Previous season

The Braves finished the 2018–19 season 20–15, 9–9 in MVC play to finish in a three-way tie for fifth place. As the No. 5 seed in the MVC tournament, they defeated Missouri State, Loyola, and Northern Iowa to win the tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 15 seed in the East region. There they lost to No. 2-seeded Michigan State in the first round.

## Offseason
### 2019 recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Stephan Gabriel SF | Maplewood, NJ | NTSI Prep (Orlando, FL) | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 215 lb (98 kg) | Sep 14, 2018 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| JaMir Price SG | Rock Island, IL | Rock Island High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | 09/26/2018 (to spend a year at prep school and enter Bradley in fall of 2020) |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Ville Tahvanainen PG/SG | Helsinki, Finland | Helsinki Basketball Academy | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Sep 29, 2018 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Antonio Thomas PG | Memphis, TN | Memphis East High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 170 lb (77 kg) | Sep 17, 2018 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Rienk Mast PF | Groningen, Netherlands | Donar | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 215 lb (98 kg) | Jan 20, 2019 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Danya Kingsby PG/SG | Milwaukee, WI | Arlington Country Day (Jacksonville, FL) | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Mar 29, 2019 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: – Rivals: – ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Bradley Commit List for 2019". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 17, 2018. "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. Retrieved October 17, 2018. "ESPN – Bradley Braves Basketball Recruiting 2019". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 17, 2018. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved October 17, 2018. "2019 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 17, 2018. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| October 29, 2019* 6:00 pm | | Millikin | W 91–52 | | Carver Arena (4,495) Peoria, IL |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 5, 2019* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Saint Joseph's | L 81–86 | 0–1 | Hagan Arena (2,068) Philadelphia, PA |
| November 9, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | IUPUI | W 90–56 | 1–1 | Carver Arena (5,518) Peoria, IL |
| November 16, 2019* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | UIC | W 65–56 | 2–1 | Carver Arena (5,411) Peoria, IL |
| November 19, 2019* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Norfolk State Fort Myers Tip-Off campus game | W 69–57 | 3–1 | Carver Arena (4,813) Peoria, IL |
| November 22, 2019* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Radford Fort Myers Tip-Off campus game | W 70–61 | 4–1 | Carver Arena (5,167) Peoria, IL |
| November 25, 2019* 7:30 pm, FS1 | | vs. Northwestern Fort Myers Tip-Off semifinals | L 51–78 | 4–2 | Suncoast Credit Union Arena (2,286) Fort Myers, FL |
| November 27, 2019* 5:00 pm, FS1 | | vs. Kansas State Fort Myers Tip-Off 3rd Place Game | W 73–60 | 5–2 | Suncoast Credit Union Arena (2,210) Fort Myers, FL |
| December 3, 2019* 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | at No. 15 Memphis | L 56–71 | 5–3 | FedEx Forum (15,517) Memphis, TN |
| December 7, 2019* 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | North Carolina A&T | W 83–52 | 6–3 | Carver Arena (5,087) Peoria, IL |
| December 10, 2019* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Maryville | W 91–58 | 7–3 | Carver Arena (4,643) Peoria, IL |
| December 15, 2019* 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Georgia Southern | W 81–51 | 8–3 | Carver Arena (4,904) Peoria, IL |
| December 21, 2019* 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Miami (OH) | L 55–71 | 8–4 | Millett Hall (1,011) Oxford, OH |
| Dec 28, 2019* 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Toledo | W 78–66 | 9–4 | Carver Arena (5,293) Peoria, IL |
| Missouri Valley Conference regular season ||||||
| Dec 31, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Drake | W 80–72 | 10–4 (1–0) | Carver Arena (5,416) Peoria, IL |
| Jan 4, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Northern Iowa | L 64–69 | 10–5 (1–1) | McLeod Center (6,650) Cedar Falls, IA |
| Jan 8, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Evansville | W 72–52 | 11–5 (2–1) | Ford Center (4,489) Evansville, IN |
| Jan 11, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Southern Illinois | W 67–48 | 12–5 (3–1) | Carver Arena (5,684) Peoria, IL |
| Jan 15, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Missouri State | W 91–78 | 13–5 (4–1) | JQH Arena (4,583) Springfield, MO |
| Jan 18, 2020 5:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Northern Iowa | L 71–86 | 13–6 (4–2) | Carver Arena (6,774) Peoria, IL |
| Jan 22, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Illinois State | W 75–63 | 14–6 (5–2) | Carver Arena (7,303) Peoria, IL |
| Jan 25, 2020 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Indiana State | L 53–61 | 14–7 (5–3) | Hulman Center (4,159) Terre Haute, IN |
| Jan 29, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Valparaiso | W 80–69 | 15–7 (6–3) | Carver Arena (5,038) Peoria, IL |
| Feb 1, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at Loyola–Chicago | L 51–62 | 15–8 (6–4) | Joseph J. Gentile Center (4,963) Chicago, IL |
| Feb 5, 2020 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Drake | L 60–73 | 15–9 (6–5) | Knapp Center (3,328) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 9, 2020 w, CBSSN | | at Evansville | W 69–58 | 16–9 (7–5) | Carver Arena (5,719) Peoria, IL |
| Feb 12, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Indiana State | W 72–61 | 17–9 (8–5) | Carver Arena (5,023) Peoria, IL |
| Feb 15, 2020 1:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Southern Illinois | W 69–67 | 18–9 (9–5) | Banterra Center (5,766) Carbondale, IL |
| Feb 19, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Missouri State | W 83–79 $^{OT}$ | 19–9 (10–5) | Carver Arena (5,708) Peoria, IL |
| Feb 22, 2020 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Valparaiso | L 78–90 | 19–10 (10–6) | Athletics-Recreation Center (3,237) Valparaiso, IN |
| Feb 26, 2020 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Illinois State | W 74–71 $^{OT}$ | 20–10 (11–6) | Redbird Arena (5,541) Normal, IL |
| Feb 29, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Loyola–Chicago | L 66–67 | 20–11 (11–7) | Carver Arena (8,558) Peoria, IL |
| Missouri Valley tournament ||||||
| March 6, 2020 2:35 pm, ESPN+ | (4) | vs. (5) Southern Illinois Quarterfinals | W 64–59 | 21–11 | Enterprise Center (7,399) St. Louis, MO |
| March 7, 2020 2:35 pm, CBSSN | (4) | vs. (8) Drake Semifinals | W 76–66 | 22–11 | Enterprise Center (8,145) St. Louis, MO |
| March 8, 2020 1:05 pm, CBS | (4) | vs. (7) Valparaiso Championship | W 80–66 | 23–11 | Enterprise Center (8,016) St. Louis, MO |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| | | | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
Source