The'Northern Iowa Panthers (14-17) and Bradley Braves (23-8) meet Friday in a quarterfinal of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis. Tip-off from Enterprise Center is at 1 p.m. ET (ESPN+). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Northern Iowa vs. Bradley odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
No. 8-seeded Northern Iowa beat Illinois State 75-62 Thursday in the opening round. The win marked just the Panthers’ 2nd since Jan. 25 and they finished 9-11 in MVC play. UNI struggled defensively, allowing a 50.3% mark from the floor in going 1-6 from Feb. 4-26.
The Braves won the league by going 16-4 in MVC play. The tournament’s top seed leads the 12-team circuit in defense, allowing just 61.3 points per game. Bradley swept 2 regular-season games from UNI and heads into the tournament on a 10-game winning streak.
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