Krikke Named to MVC Most-Improved Team

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

A day after being tabbed to the All-Missouri Valley Conference Third Team, Valparaiso University men’s basketball sophomore Ben Krikke (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada / Jasper Place) added another accolade as he was selected for the league’s Most-Improved Team on Wednesday.

Krikke becomes the third Valpo player in the last two years to achieve Most-Improved Team status. The sophomore leads the squad in scoring at 12.3 points per game overall and 13.1 ppg in conference play. He has boosted his scoring average by 5.6 ppg after averaging 6.7 in 2019-20, fifth on the team.

Krikke also bolstered his rebounding average from 2.9 per game in 2019-20 to 4.2 per outing this season. The left-handed forward has 20 double-figure scoring outputs as a sophomore after finishing with nine last year. He was the only Valpo player to start all 27 games this season after he made just one start a year ago.

The top performance for the Edmonton native came on Jan. 24 at Illinois State, when he became just the third Valpo player in the last 25 years with a 25-point, 15-rebound game. Those marks both shattered career highs after Krikke finished his rookie campaign with a rebounding season high of eight and a single-game scoring watermark of 18. His efforts against the Redbirds helped him earn the MVC Player of the Week honor two days later.

The Valley will announce its scholar-athlete teams on Thursday.

2021 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE ALL-BENCH TEAM

Student-Athlete, School Yr. Pos. Ht. Hometown (Last School)

#Joseph Yesufu, Drake So. G 6-0 Bolingbrook (Ill.) Bolingbrook

Samari Curtis, Evansville So. G 6-4 Xenia (Ohio) Xenia

Ja’Shon Henry, Bradley Jr. F 6-6 Saskatoon (Saskatchewan) Athol Murray College of Notre Dame

Marquise Kennedy, Loyola So. G 6-1 Chicago (Ill.) Brother Rice

Garrett Sturtz, Drake Jr. G 6-3 Newton (Iowa) Newton

2021 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MOST-IMPROVED TEAM

Student-Athlete, School Yr. Pos. Ht. Hometown (Last School)

*Isiaih Mosley, Missouri State So. G 6-5 Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge High

Shamar Givance, Evansville Jr. G 5-10 Toronto (Ontario, Canada) First Love Christian