Bradley @ Northwestern preview

Bradley at Northwestern

Northwestern looks to put a disappointing start in the rearview mirror when it travels to Florida to face Bradley as part of the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Monday. The Wildcats dropped a pair of home games to Merrimack (71-61) and Radford (67-56) as double-digit favorites, before digging out of a 10-point hole to beat Norfolk State 70-59 on Friday.

"We've learned that we can be pretty good and we've also learned that we can look bad," Northwestern coach Chris Collins told reporters. "Hopefully you see a team that's going to continue to improve and I know the guys are excited about going down to Florida and getting a chance to compete for a championship." The Wildcats are 6-7 in neutral site games in the regular season under Collins, including a pair of losses to Missouri Valley Conference opponents during that span. Bradley bounced back from a season-opening setback to Saint Joseph's with four consecutive wins, including a a 70-61 victory against Radford on Friday to extend its home winning streak to eight games dating back to last season. The Braves have dropped two of their previous three meetings with Northwestern, but haven't faced the Wildcats since 1985, and hope to knock off a Big Ten opponent for the second time in as many seasons following a 59-56 win against Penn State on Nov. 21, 2018.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT BRADLEY (4-1): Nate Kennell went 4-of-6 from 3-point range en route to a season-high 20 points to go along with three steals and a pair of assists in the win against Radford. Darrell Brown added 14 points and five assists against the Highlanders to overtake Jim Caruthers (1,425) in 17th place on the program's all-time scoring list while becoming the first Braves player to dish out five or more assists in five straight games since Daniel Ruffin did it in 2007. Elijah Childs grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to help Bradley win the battle of the boards 38-25.

ABOUT NORTHWESTERN (2-2): Ryan Young was 11-of-12 from the free throw line en route to a career-high 19 points and 12 rebounds to register his first double-double in the win against Norfolk State. "My teammates found me down low and I got a lot of easy buckets from them," Young told reporters. "I think it's important for us to just take it game by game and this was a good win for us." Pete Nance scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half to go along with six rebounds while Miller Kopp added 11 points, five boards and matched a career-high with four assists against the Spartans.

TIP-INS

1. The Wildcats dropped 10 of their 13 road/neutral site games last season.

2. Bradley is ranked eighth nationally in offensive rebounds per game (15.8).

3. Kopp is the lone Northwestern player to score in double figures in every game this season.

PREDICTION: Bradley 74, Northwestern 71