The Bradley Braves will travel to take on the Northern Iowa Panthers on Sunday afternoon with huge implications regarding the conference standings. With a win, the Braves would move into a tie for No. 1 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Conversely, the Panthers would break a tie for third place and come within one game of the Braves in second place.
Check out our best bets for this highly anticipated MVC matchup regarding the spread, total, and money line.
Bradley vs. Northern Iowa Betting Preview
All Bradley vs. Northern Iowa odds are from FanDuel Sportsbook and are correct as of Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025.
- Spread
Northern Iowa -1.5 - CSN Spread
Bradley -2 - Moneyline
Northern Iowa -120, Bradley +100 - Over/Under
139.5 points - Game Time
Sunday, Feb. 2, 4:00 ET - Location
Mcleod Center | Cedar Falls, IA - How To Watch
ESPN2
Bradley is 9-11-1 ATS on the season, covering in only four of 11 conference matchups. They’ve only entered one game in conference play as the underdog, beating the Murray State Racers outright by 13 points.
A solid scoring team, the Braves have hit the over in 13 of 21 games on the season but only five of 11 in conference games. Of their six road games, 50% have gone over.
Meanwhile, the Panthers are 13-8 ATS this season, including 7-4 in MVC play. In 11 games as the home favorite, they’ve covered nine of 11 outings.
Of all the games they’ve played, only one-third has gone over for Northern Iowa. However, five of them have come at home. Only four of 11 conference games have gone over the listed point total.
Bradley vs. Northern Iowa CSN Power Rankings Line
Our rankings metric has Bradley favored by two points, three-and-a-half points different than Vegas’s Northern Iowa -1.5 line. That’s likely due to the Braves occupying the No. 52 spot in our power rankings, while the Panthers are 18 spots lower at No. 70 despite moving up nine spots in the past week.
According to our data, the value is on the Braves side of the listed sports book line.
Prediction for Bradley vs. Northern Iowa
Bradley, vying for the No. 1 spot in the conference, is led by Duke Deen. The 5’8″ point guard sets the table for his teammates, averaging 4.2 apg while also leading the team in scoring at nearly 14.0 ppg.
Fellow senior guard Zek Montgomery, 10 inches taller than Deen, has also shown the ability to fill it up, scoring in double digits in 17 of 22 games for the Braves. His three-point shooting ability is key — he nails 1.6 threes per game at a 42.4% clip.
The Panthers are also led by their star guards.
Tytan Anderson pours in 14.7 ppg at an absurd 57.2% shooting from the field. Point guard Trey Campbell consistently fills up the stat sheet, averaging 10.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 3.0 apg.
With both teams coming off losses, the outcome of this game will be decided in an extremely competitive manner.
Both defenses should be on their A-game — the Braves allowing 93 points to the UIC Flames was extremely uncharacteristic, while the Panthers’ last game totaled only 118 points.
139.5 isn’t a lot of points. But for a tightly-contested matchup, defense will be a high priority for each squad — I expect the under to be a successful bet.
Regarding the line, the -1.5 in Northern Iowa’s favor, while coming off a loss, is questionable. Yes, Bradley is coming off a loss as well — but they’ve shown the ability to bounce back quickly following a defeat, winning all three previous games following a loss. The Panthers have lost two games in a row at three different points this season.
The Braves will take this one in a low-scoring, hard-fought game on Northern Iowa’s home court, furthering their chances of finishing as the MVC regular-season champions.
Prediction: Bradley 67, Northern Iowa 62
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