1995–96 Bradley Braves men's basketball team

1995–96 Bradley Braves men's basketball
1995–96 Bradley Braves men's basketball
MVC Regular season champions
NCAA Tournament
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Record	22–8 (15–3 MVC)
Head coach	Jim Molinari (4th season);
Assistant coaches	Duane Broussard; Pat Donahue; Rob Johnson;
Home arena	Carver Arena
	Seasons ← 1994–95 1996–97 →

1995–96 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Bradley	15	–	3	.833	22	–	8	.733
Illinois State	13	–	5	.722	22	–	12	.647
Tulsa †	12	–	6	.667	22	–	8	.733
Southwest Missouri State	11	–	7	.611	16	–	12	.571
Creighton	9	–	9	.500	14	–	15	.483
Evansville	9	–	9	.500	13	–	14	.481
Northern Iowa	8	–	10	.444	14	–	13	.519
Drake	8	–	10	.444	12	–	15	.444
Indiana State	6	–	12	.333	10	–	16	.385
Wichita State	4	–	14	.222	8	–	21	.276
Southern Illinois	4	–	14	.222	11	–	18	.379

† 1996 MVC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1995–96 Bradley Braves men's basketball team represented Bradley University as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference during the 1995–96 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by head coach Jim Molinari, the Braves finished the season with a 22–8 record (15–3 MVC). They earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as No. 8 seed in the East Region where they fell to Stanford in the opening round.^[2]

Roster[edit]

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
F/C	00	Ben Coupet	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Simeon	Chicago, Illinois
G	5	Aaron Zobrist	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	—	Jr	Metamora Township	Metamora, Illinois
G	10	Eric Roberson	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Fr	Penn Hills	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
G	12	Billy Wright	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Sr	Richmond	Richmond, Indiana
G	21	Marcus Samuels	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	So	Wheeling	Wheeling, Illinois
G/F	24	Anthony Parker	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Jr	Central	Naperville, Illinois
G	25	Kerry Burrell	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—	Jr	Simeon	Chicago, Illinois
F/C	30	Chad Kleine	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Sr	Mount Vernon	Fortville, Indiana
F	32	Gavin Schairer	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	—	Fr	Central	Burlington, Illinois
F	34	Dwayne Funches	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Sr	Orr	Chicago, Illinois
F	40	Mbaukwu Nwaogwugwu	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr	Agricultural Science	Chicago, Illinois
F	42	Deon Jackson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Patterson	Dayton, Ohio
C	44	James Baptist	7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	Jr	Whitney Young	Chicago, Illinois
F/C	55	Adebayo Akinkunle	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	So	Morgan Park	Chicago, Illinois

Head coach

Jim Molinari

Assistant coach(es)

Duane Broussard
Pat Donahue
Rob Judson

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster

^[3]

Schedule[edit]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
Nov 16, 1995*		Republic of Georgia	W 92–42		Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Nov 21, 1995*		AAU Pella Window	W 88–66		Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Regular season
Nov 25, 1995*		at Kansas State	L 72–75 ^OT	0–1	Bramlage Coliseum Manhattan, Kansas
Nov 29, 1995*		at No. 3 Villanova	L 63–70	0–2	The Pavilion Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Dec 2, 1995*		New Orleans	W 87–72	1–2	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Dec 5, 1995*		Saint Louis	W 78–68	2–2	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Dec 16, 1995*		Western Illinois	W 71–54	3–2	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Dec 23, 1995*		Chicago State	W 110–80	4–2	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Dec 29, 1995*		vs. Georgia Tech Cable Car Classic	W 84–82	5–2	San Jose Arena San Jose, California
Dec 30, 1995*		vs. Penn State Cable Car Classic	L 72–75	5–3	San Jose Arena San Jose, California
Jan 3, 1996		at Creighton	W 75–62	6–3 (1–0)	Omaha Civic Auditorium Omaha, Nebraska
Jan 6, 1996		at Northern Iowa	W 60–51	7–3 (2–0)	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, Iowa
Jan 10, 1996		Creighton	W 68–54	8–3 (3–0)	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Jan 13, 1996		Southwest Missouri State	L 58–61	8–4 (3–1)	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Jan 15, 1996		Southern Illinois	W 73–57	9–4 (4–1)	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Jan 20, 1996 WMBD		at Illinois State	L 72–77	9–5 (4–2)	Redbird Arena (10,310) Normal, Illinois
Jan 23, 1996		at Evansville	W 71–60	10–5 (5–2)	Roberts Municipal Stadium Evansville, Indiana
Jan 25, 1996		at Indiana State	W 68–58	11–5 (6–2)	Hulman Center Terre Haute, Indiana
Jan 29, 1996		Wichita State	W 68–49	12–5 (7–2)	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Jan 31, 1996		Drake	W 77–60	13–5 (8–2)	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Feb 4, 1996		Tulsa	W 85–72 ^OT	14–5 (9–2)	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Feb 7, 1996		at Southwest Missouri State	W 68–57	15–5 (10–2)	Hammons Student Center Springfield, Missouri
Feb 10, 1996		Northern Iowa	W 73–71	16–5 (11–2)	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Feb 15, 1996		at Wichita State	L 60–76	16–6 (11–3)	Levitt Arena Wichita, Kansas
Feb 17, 1996		at Tulsa	W 74–73	17–6 (12–3)	Tulsa Convention Center Tulsa, Oklahoma
Feb 21, 1996		Evansville	W 73–58	18–6 (13–3)	Carver Arena Peoria, Illinois
Feb 24, 1996 ESPN		Illinois State	W 65–64	19–6 (14–3)	Carver Arena (10,926) Peoria, Illinois
Feb 26, 1996		at Southern Illinois	W 79–76	20–6 (15–3)	SIU Arena Carbondale, Illinois
Missouri Valley Tournament
Mar 2, 1996*	(1)	vs. (8) Drake Quarterfinals	W 64–51	21–6	Kiel Center St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 3, 1996*	(1)	vs. (4) Southwest Missouri State Semifinals	W 64–62	22–6	Kiel Center St. Louis, Missouri
Mar 4, 1996*	(1)	vs. (3) Tulsa Championship game	L 46–60	22–7	Kiel Center St. Louis, Missouri
NCAA Tournament
Mar 14, 1996* CBS	(8 E)	vs. (9 E) Stanford First Round	L 58–66^[2]	22–8	Providence Civic Center Providence, Rhode Island
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Central Time.

^[4]

Awards and honors[edit]

Anthony Parker – Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year

References[edit]

^ sports-reference.com 1995-96 Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary
^ ^a ^b "Stanford Overcomes One-Man Gang, 66-58". The Los Angeles Times. March 15, 1996. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
^ "1995-96 Basketball (M) Roster". Bradley University Athletics. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
^ "1995-96 Basketball (M) Schedule". Bradley University Athletics. Retrieved December 28, 2022.

[1] sports-reference.com 1995-96 Missouri Valley Conference Season Summary

[ncaa-2] "Stanford Overcomes One-Man Gang, 66-58". The Los Angeles Times. March 15, 1996. Retrieved December 28, 2022.

[3] "1995-96 Basketball (M) Roster". Bradley University Athletics. Retrieved December 28, 2022.

[4] "1995-96 Basketball (M) Schedule". Bradley University Athletics. Retrieved December 28, 2022.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Bradley Braves men's basketball
Venues	Peoria YMCA (1902–1909) Hewitt Gymnasium (1909–1925) Peoria Armory (1925–1941) Woodruff High School Gymnasium (1941–1943) Peoria Armory (1945–1949) Robertson Memorial Field House (1949–1982) Carver Arena (1982–present)
Rivalries	Illinois State
Culture & lore	Point-shaving scandal Longest game in Division I history
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics