The Valparaiso University men’s basketball program will participate in the Nassau Championship, a Baha Mar Hoops event hosted in Nassau, The Bahamas beginning on Monday, Nov. 22, 2021.

The eight-team field also includes Toledo, Charlotte, Drexel, Tulane, Abilene Christian, Jacksonville State and Coastal Carolina. Valpo will tip off the event against Coastal Carolina at 7 p.m. Central Time on Monday, Nov. 22.

The winner of the Valpo vs. Coastal Carolina game will take on the winner of Abilene Christian vs. Jacksonville State on Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. The championship game will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. CT. The multi-team event also features consolation games. All 12 games of the Nassau Championship will be broadcast on FloHoops.

This will mark Valpo’s first meeting with Coastal Carolina, a member of the Sun Belt Conference coming off an 18-8 season. The team qualified for postseason play and won a pair of games in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI).

Toledo is coming off a 21-9 record and an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. Abilene Christian won the Southland Conference title last season and upset third-seeded Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Drexel is the defending Colonial Athletic Association champion and reached the NCAA Tournament last season. Jacksonville State finished 2020-21 with an 18-9 overall record and a 13-6 mark in Ohio Valley Conference play.

Under the direction of head coach Matt Lottich, Valpo improved its Arch Madness seeding for the fourth straight year in 2020-21 as the program continued to make positive strides in each season as a Missouri Valley Conference member. The team earned a first-round bye in the State Farm MVC Tournament for the first time since joining the prestigious league and earned a regular-season victory over No. 25 Drake, the fourth time in program history and second in Lottich’s tenure that Valpo knocked off a nationally-ranked program.