Prior to Sunday's exhibition game, UW-Platteville men's coach Paul Combs surprised his team with new uniforms in the locker room. Then he watched his Pioneers surprise Division I Bradley with an 84-79 win.

The Pioneers, clad in royal blue uniforms with orange and white trim, led the Braves 46-37 at the half and never trailed again before a stunned Peoria Civic Center crowd of 8,294.

UW-Platteville is ranked No. 7 in the D3hoops.com preseason poll.

&&b-boxr&&"We talked about this since the end of last year when we got beat by Eau Claire in the conference playoffs," D3hoops.com All-American center Jeff Skemp said. "It started then. Charlie (Lohoff) kept the newspaper clipping in his locker, and we've used that as motivation all year. We talked this morning about, 'Do you want to play in big games or do you want to win them?' That was a big thing."

Bradley went 21-17 last season, advancing to the finals of the postseason CBI tournament. Full story.