Valparaiso (12-10, 5-4 MVC)
Game #23 - Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 - 1 p.m.
at Evansville (9-13, 3-6 MVC)
Ford Center (8,930) - Evansville, Ind.
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valparaiso University men’s basketball team opens the second half of Missouri Valley Conference play Saturday afternoon with the first of back-to-back road games, making the trip downstate to face the Purple Aces of Evansville. Valpo, which finds itself smack dab in the middle of the tightly packed MVC standings, looks to snap a decades-long losing streak in Evansville.
Last Time Out: A back-and-forth battle between Valpo and Missouri State before an intrepid crowd at the ARC Tuesday night needed five extra minutes to determine the outcome, but in the end, the Bears’ Keandre Cook hit a pair of free throws with 2.3 seconds to play in overtime as a shorthanded Valpo squad fell by a 55-54 final. Javon Freeman led Valpo with 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
Following Valpo Basketball: TV – MVC TV Network (FOX Sports Midwest/Kansas City/Indiana; NBC Sports Chicago) – John Rooney and Kevin Lehman
Video– FOX Sports Go within MVC TV Network coverage area; ESPN3 outside of the coverage area
Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Todd Ickow and Aaron Leavitt
Links for the video, audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com.
Head Coach Matt Lottich: Matt Lottich (51-36) is in his sixth season overall at Valpo and third as head coach in 2018-19. Lottich led Valpo to 15 victories in his second season in charge in 2017-18 and guided the the program through the transition to the MVC, which ended the campaign ranked eighth nationally in conference RPI. In his first year as head coach, Lottich guided Valpo to its fifth Horizon League regular season championship in the last six years as he led the team to 24 wins and an at-large berth into the NIT.
Series Notes: Two programs with a long history, Valpo and Evansville will meet on the hardwood for the 86th time on Saturday, as Evansville is Valpo’s third most common opponent in program history. Evansville holds a 68-17 advantage in the series, including two wins in the teams’ first season as MVC foes – 75-65 at the ARC and 63-59 at Evansville. Valpo is looking for its first victory at Evansville since Gene Bartow led the 1968-69 Valpo squad to a 101-95 road victory over the Purple Aces.
@ValpoBasketball...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo was selected to finish in seventh place in the MVC preseason poll with 173 points.
- Valpo has finished worse in the final standings than its preseason projection just once in the last eight years.
- Valpo is looking to buck MVC history this year - in 110 years of Valley basketball, only 28 teams have gone from last place one year to an upper division finish the following year.
...looking back at last year
- Valpo went 15-17 in its first season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
- The Brown and Gold posted a 6-12 record in MVC play in a conference which ended the season ranked eighth in the nation in conference RPI.
- The 2017-18 campaign marked the first time in the last eight years that Valpo has not earned a bid to postseason tournament play.
- Sophomore Bakari Evelyn was named to the MVC’s All-Newcomer Team, while sophomore Markus Golder earned a spot on the conference’s All-Bench Team.
...in the loss to Missouri State
- The game was a one-possession game either way for the final 15 minutes of regulation and the entirety of overtime.
- The extra session was Valpo’s second of the year, as it is now 1-1 in overtime games this season (SIUE).
- Tuesday was Valpo’s lowest combined scoring overtime game and the lowest points Valpo has allowed in an overtime game since a 56-52 win at UMKC on Jan. 25, 2007.
- That game also was the last time Valpo had entered overtime with a lower score than Tuesday’s 49-49 end of regulation, as the game against the Kangaroos was knotted 48-48.
- Valpo’s 54 points are its fewest in an overtime game since a 58-54 double-overtime loss at UNI on Feb. 7, 1981.
- Valpo limited Missouri State to just 10-of-38 shooting inside the arc, but the Bears were 7-of-17 (41.2%) from 3-point range and 14-of-16 (87.5%) from the foul line.
- Meanwhile, Valpo shot just 38.8% from the field, was just 4-of-12 from downtown and 12-of-20 from the foul line.
- Valpo was led Tuesday by the play of Freeman, who finished with 12 points and a team season-best 15 rebounds for his first career double-double.
...in the loss to Drake
- Valpo’s two leading scorers - juniors Ryan Fazekas and Derrik Smits - were sidelined due to injury, and its third leading scorer - junior Markus Golder - left the game with an injury less than five minutes into the game.
- The last 12 minutes of the first half were played within a six-point span, as it was a one-possession game the entire time. Valpo led 23-21 with 4:51 to play in the half, but Drake ended the half on an 8-3 spurt to lead 29-26 at intermission.
- Valpo evened the game at 35-35 3:28 into the second half on a steal and fast-break basket from Daniel Sackey, but that tie would last just 23 seconds and was the only time the game was tied in the second half.
- Valpo cut Drake’s lead to four points on three separate occasions down the stretch, but all three times, the Bulldogs responded with points on their next possession.
- Leading the way in the scoring column Saturday were Sackey and Jaume Sorolla, who shared team-high honors with 13 points.
- Sackey matched his career high with the 13 points and also came up with a career-best four steals.
- Meanwhile, Sorolla went 6-of-7 from the field. The six field goals made matched his career best, while he set a new career high on the defensive end with five blocked shots.
...looking ahead
- Valpo remains on the road as it travels to Illinois State Tuesday night for its second matchup of the season with the Redbirds.
- Valpo then returns to the ARC Sunday, Feb. 10 to host Loyola on ESPNU.
...on the road
- Saturday is the ninth of 13 true road games for Valpo in the 2018-19 regular season, as it is currently 4-4 in true road games this year and 2-2 in MVC road games.
- Valpo has already surpassed its overall and MVC-only road win totals from last year, as it went just 3-12 in true road games last season and just 1-8 on the road in MVC play.
- Prior to last year, Valpo had finished above .500 in true road games in four of the last five seasons.
@UEAthletics_MBB
- Evansville, under first-year head coach Walter McCarty, currently sits at 9-13 overall and 3-6 in MVC play.
- The Purple Aces started out conference play 3-2, but have dropped their last four MVC games, most recently falling at home to Bradley.
- Evansville, which plays at the fastest tempo of any Valley team, has four players averaging in double figures - led by K.J. Riley, who scores 14.3 points per game.
The Conference Race
- Halfway through the MVC schedule, the standings are as jumbled as ever, and Valpo finds itself right in the heart of the jumble.
- Valpo hit the halfway mark at 5-4, in a three-way tie for third place. The Crusaders are just one game out of second and two games out of first.
- But on the flip side, Valpo is also just two games out of last, as there is currently a three-way tie for eighth place at 3-6.
Playing Shorthanded
- Valpo entered last Saturday’s game against Drake without the services of its two leading scorers, Ryan Fazekas and Derrik Smits.
- Valpo then lost third-leading scorer Markus Golder to injury less than five minutes into the game, leaving it with just seven available scholarship players for the duration of the game.
- Going back 30 years, there hasn’t been a single instance of Valpo’s two leading scorers at the end of the year both missing the same game within that season.
- Valpo played last time out against Missouri State without both Fazekas and Golder.
- With Golder missing Valpo’s last game, the Crusaders have just three players - Deion Lavender, Javon Freeman and Daniel Sackey - who have played in all 22 games this season.
Minutes Up For Grabs
- With the rotation shortened the last couple games due to injuries, minutes played have piled up for a number of players.
- Freshman Javon Freeman played the full 40 minutes against Drake, the first time a Valpo player has gone the distance in a regulation game since Will Bogan and Erik Buggs played the full 40 in the NIT at Miami in March of 2012.
- Freeman then went a team-high 42 minutes in the overtime loss to Missouri State.
- Freshman Daniel Sackey had cracked 30 minutes just once in the first 20 games of his career, but has played 37 and 40 minutes in the last two games.
- Last time out against Missouri State, senior Deion Lavender and junior Bakari Evelyn played 40 and 39 minutes as well, respectively.
Freeman Grabs All the Boards
- Freshman Javon Freeman entered last Tuesday’s game against Missouri State with a season best of seven rebounds, but obliterated that mark against the Bears.
- Freeman finished the game with a Valpo season-high 15 rebounds, grabbing nine rebounds in the second half alone.
- Freeman’s 15 rebounds were the most by a Valpo player since Alec Peters pulled down 16 rebounds against Green Bay on Jan. 16, 2017.
- Outside of Peters, the last Valpo player to secure 15 or more boards was Ryan Broekhoff, who recorded 16 rebounds against Butler on Mar. 3, 2012.
- Freeman is the shortest Valpo player in the last 30 years to have a 15-rebound game.
Shooting - The Highs and the Lows
- The difference in Valpo’s 3-point shooting in wins versus losses this year is striking - in its 12 victories, Valpo is hitting 40.3% from the 3-point line, while in its 10 losses, Valpo is shooting just 24.2% from deep.
- Valpo has hit better than 33% from 3-point range in a loss just once this season and is averaging just 4.5 3-pointers/game in defeats.
- Valpo hit just two 3-pointers in its losses against Indiana State and Drake last week, the first time the Crusaders have been limited to that few triples in consecutive games since hitting two 3-pointers apiece against Loyola and UIC in February of 2011.
- Meanwhile,Valpo has enjoyed a number of strong shooting performances in wins, including a 15-of-27 effort from deep in its win at George Washington and a 12-of-24 performance in the win at Missouri State.
- The 15 triples were the program’s highest total against a Division I opponent since going 15-of-26 from deep in a Feb. 5, 2013 win over UIC.
Centers of Attention
- The combined play of Valpo centers Derrik Smits and Jaume Sorolla has proven crucial to winning since joining The Valley.
- Since joining the MVC, in Valpo’s 11 conference wins, Smits and Sorolla have combined to average 17.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.
- Meanwhile, in 16 conference losses, the post duo has averaged just 10.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
- The top six scoring performances from the duo have all come in MVC wins, as have the top six rebounding games from the pair.
Buzzer Beaters
- Markus Golder’s buzzer-beater against Illinois State added to the lore of last-second shots in Valpo history.
- It was Valpo’s first game-winner with the clock at zero since Ryan Broekhoff connected on a 3-pointer to give Valpo the 70-69 win in the 2013 Horizon League semifinal at the ARC over Green Bay.
- It was Valpo’s first game-winner from beyond halfcourt since Greg Tonagel drilled a heave from the opposite 3-point line for a 71-68 win over Belmont at the ARC on Jan. 11, 1999.
- Of course, the most famous buzzer-beater in program history came courtesy of Bryce Drew in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament versus Ole Miss.
- Golder’s shot came in at the top spot on SportsCenter’s Top 10 on Wednesday night’s countdown. He became the third different Valpo athlete over three different sports to earn a SportsCenter Top 10 spot since Valpo joined The Valley.
Earning Honors
- Junior Ryan Fazekas became the first Valpo player since the program joined the MVC to earn a weekly award from the conference office, as he was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week on Jan. 2.
- Fazekas earned the honor after leading all players in scoring with 19 points - including five 3-pointers - in Valpo’s win over Purdue Northwest.
- Fazekas repeated as MVC Newcomer of the Week Jan. 7 after pouring in 10 3-pointers over Valpo’s first two MVC wins over Illinois State and Missouri State.
