The Valparaiso University men’s basketball team fell 79-61 to Samford in the final game prior to the Christmas holiday on Tuesday afternoon at the Athletics-Recreation Center. Freshman Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Link Year]) topped the team with 15 points, while fellow rookie Kaspar Sepp (Tartu, Estonia / Fairmont Academy) hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds.

How It Happened

• Valpo scored the game’s first five points including a 3-pointer by Schwieger and held the Bulldogs off the scoreboard for the first four minutes of the contest.
• The Beacons led 7-2 after a basket by Connor Barrett (Chicago, Ill. / Loyola Academy), but Samford embarked on a 10-0 run to flip a five-point Beacon lead into a five-point deficit at 12-7 with 12:47 to go in the first half.
• Barrett buried a big 3 with 11:20 remaining in the half to cut the lead to two, then a basket by Jaxon Edwards (Indianapolis, Ind. / Cathedral [Murray State]) tied the game at 16.
• The guests scored six straight to get back in front, then used another 8-0 run to balloon the gap to 12 at 30-18 with 4:22 on the first-half clock.
• Valpo went into halftime trailing 35-27.
• Edwards hit a 3 early in the second half to cut the lead to seven, and Valpo got to within six in the first three minutes of the second half. Sherman Weatherspoon IV (Bowie, Md. / Bethesda-Chevy Chase [Golden State Prep]) hit a triple with 14:06 to play to again reduce the gap to six.
• Another Bulldog burst built the lead to 15 by the midway mark of the half. Valpo could get no closer than 12 down the stretch.

Inside the Game

• Schwieger scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds on an efficient 6-of-8 shooting. This marked his first double-figure scoring output in the last four contests and his seventh time in double figures this year.
• The rookie’s seven rebounds marked his most in the last six games. It’s the fifth time this year that he’s grabbed at least seven boards.
• Sepp had six points on 3-of-6 shooting while making his first collegiate start. His biggest statistical impact came in the rebounding department as his 11 boards marked his second double-figure rebounding output this season, joining 12 at Central Michigan.
• Valpo altered its starting lineup for the first time this season. This marked the first time that Valpo held the same starting five for each of the season’s first 11 games since 2012-13, when the Brown & Gold also switched things up for Game 12, like this year.
• DeAveiro handed out a season-high 10 assists, his eighth straight game with five or more. His assist total tied a career high set on Nov. 13, 2022 vs. Western Michigan.
• Samford extended its winning streak to 10 games and improved to 10-2 on the season. The Bulldogs entered the game ranked third in the country in scoring offense at 91.5 points per game. Valpo held Samford to 79, its first time under 88 points in the last six games and tied for the team’s lowest scoring output during the 10-game winning streak.
• Samford presses regularly and forces a significant number of turnovers, but Valpo gave it away just 10 times on Tuesday. This was the fewest turnovers made by a Samford opponent all season.
• Each team had 10 turnovers as Valpo has lost the turnover battle just twice in 12 games this year.
• The 10 turnovers were an improvement from last year’s game at Samford, when Valpo gave it away 17 times in a 79-49 setback. The Beacons trailed that game by 30 at halftime versus trailing by only eight at the break on Tuesday.
• Valpo attempted 30 3-pointers, its highest attempt total against a Division-I opponent this season and highest since the season opener vs. Trinity Christian (33). The Beacons made just six of their 30 attempts on Tuesday.
• Samford shot a robust 67.9 percent from the field after halftime (19-of-28) to finish the game at 50.8 percent. Valpo shot 35.4 percent for the afternoon.
• The Beacons shot 81.8 percent from the free-throw line (9-of-11), while Samford shot just 45.5 percent at the stripe (5-of-11).

Postgame Press Conference

Click here for postgame press conference.

Up Next

The Beacons (4-8) will break for the Christmas holiday before closing out the nonconference slate on Friday, Dec. 29 at Elon. The game will be broadcast on FloHoops and will tip off at 1 p.m. CT in North Carolina.