2019-20 Men’s Basketball Game Notes Contact: BRANDON VICKREY Office: 219.464.5396 Valpo Sports Media Relations [email protected] www.valpoathletics.com Athletics-Recreation Center 1009 Union Street Valparaiso IN 46383 2019-20 Schedule and Results Southern Illinois (15-10, 9-3 MVC) Date Opponent Time/Result at Valparaiso (12-13, 5-7 MVC) Oct. 19 Cedarville (exhibition) W 85-65 Game No. 26 – Wednesday, Feb. 12 – 7 p.m. CT Nov. 5 Toledo ESPN3 W 79-77 Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) – Valparaiso, Ind. Nov. 9 at Saint Louis FOX Sports MW/ESPN+ L 81-70 Nov. 12 at SIUE ESPN+ W 89-76 Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valparaiso University men’s basketball Nov. 17 North Dakota ESPN3 W 74-60 team will close out a home-heavy stretch by welcoming the surprise team of Nov. 22 vs. Grand Canyon! FloHoops W 78-74 Nov. 24 vs. Nevada! FloHoops L 84-59 the year in the Missouri Valley Conference to the Athletics-Recreation Center Nov. 25 Cincinnati! FloHoops L 81-77(ot) on Wednesday night. A Southern Illinois squad that was picked to finish last in Nov. 27 Trinity Christian# ESPN3 W 98-71 the preseason poll but is instead competing for the league title under first-year Dec. 3 at Eastern Michigan ESPN+ L 85-79 head coach Bryan Mullins will be in town for Wednesday’s contest. This will Dec. 8 Central Michigan ESPN+ W 77-55 mark Valpo’s third home fixture in a four-game span and fourth straight game Dec. 16 at Charlotte 49ers TV L 67-57 without a hotel stay. Dec. 18 at High Point ESPN+ W 87-72 Dec. 21 at Arkansas No Video - WVUR Only L 72-68 Dec. 30 Loyola* The Valley ESPN+ L 66-63 Last Time Out: Valpo incurred a heart-breaking 70-68 setback on Sunday Jan. 4 at Evansville* The Valley on E+ W 81-79(ot) afternoon at Loyola, coming from down by 14 points with under eight minutes Jan. 7 at Southern Illinois* ESPN+ L 63-50 remaining to pull to within two. Four of the team’s five starters scored 13 points Jan. 11 Drake* ESPN3 W 66-61 or more, led by Mileek McMillan’s 14 points in only 16 minutes. Nick Robinson Jan. 15 at UNI* ESPN+ L 88-78 handed out a career-high nine assists. Loyola’s Cameron Krutwig scored 20 Jan. 18 Indiana State*The Valley on ESPN+ W 86-77 points, helping the Ramblers to 58.7 percent shooting. Jan. 23 at Missouri State*CBS Sports Network L 67-60 Jan. 26 Evansville* MVCTV Network W 67-65 Jan. 29 at Bradley* ESPN+ L 80-69 Following Valpo Basketball: Video – ESPN+ – Todd Ickow (play-by-play, Feb. 1 Illinois State* ESPN3 W 80-70 Dave Huseman (analyst), Lauren Wilson (sidelines) and Zach Collins (sidelines) Feb. 5 UNI* ESPN+ L 63-51 Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Garrett Willis (play-by-play) and Feb. 9 at Loyola* ESPNU L 70-68 Danny Dalenberg (analyst) Feb. 12 Southern Illinois* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Twitter updates - @ValpoBasketball Feb. 15 at Illinois State* MVCTV Network 6 p.m. Links for the audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com. Feb. 19 at Drake* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Feb. 22 Bradley* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Feb. 25 Missouri State* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Head Coach Matt Lottich: Matt Lottich (66-57) is in his seventh season Feb. 29 at Indiana State* TV TBD TBD overall at Valpo and fourth as head coach in 2019-20. Lottich led the team to March 5-8 MVC Tournament% TBD 15 victories in his third season in charge in 2018-19, the program’s second campaign in the Missouri Valley Conference. In his first year as head coach All times Central. (2016-17), Lottich guided Valpo to its fifth Horizon League regular season Home games in bold and played at Athletics-Recreation Center. championship in a six-year span as he led the team to 24 wins and an at-large ! – Paradise Jam (U.S. Virgin Islands) berth into the NIT. Lottich, hired as the 22nd head coach of the Valpo men’s # - Paradise Jam non-bracketed game basketball program in April 2016, graduated from Stanford University in 2004 $ - Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge and New Trier High School (Illinois) in 2000. % - 2020 MVC Tournament (St. Louis) * - indicates Missouri Valley Conference game Series Notes: Valpo is 5-4 all-time against the Salukis in a series that began in 1929. Valpo has won three of five over SIU since joining the Missouri Valley Conference, including a pair of tight triumphs a year ago. The Brown & Gold prevailed 65-61 in Carbondale and 55-52 at the ARC in 2018-19. However, Valpo Men’s Basketball @ValpoBasketball #GoValpo 2019-20 Men’s Basketball Game Notes Contact: BRANDON VICKREY Office: 219.464.5396 Valpo Sports Media Relations [email protected] www.valpoathletics.com Athletics-Recreation Center 1009 Union Street Valparaiso IN 46383 Southern Illinois took this year’s first meeting between the two Freeman-Liberty Eyes 500: Currently at 485 points, Javon teams 63-50 on Jan. 7 in Carbondale. Prior to Valpo’s addition to Freeman-Liberty has an opportunity to finish the year among Valpo’s The Valley, the two teams had not faced off since 1980. all-time scoring leaders, needing to get to 570 to join the program’s single-season Top 10. He is already in the single-season Top 10 for Southern Illinois 63, Valpo 50 (Jan. 7): Valpo dropped a road steals again this season, becoming one of two players in program matchup with Southern Illinois 63-50 earlier this season in history with two seasons in the single-season Top 10 for steals. He Carbondale. John Kiser equaled (at the time) career bests in points joins Stalin Ortiz, who had 57 steals in 2001-02 and 56 in 2002- (nine), rebounds (nine) and steals (three) to account for the team’s 03. He needs 15 points to become the first Valpo player since Alec top individual performance of the evening. The team had 15 Peters (2016-17) to surpass 500 points in a season. offensive rebounds, led by Donovan Clay’s six. Clay had nine total boards, establishing a personal watermark. Valpo used a late 10-0 Handing Out Helpers: Valpo junior Nick Robinson made his first run to cut a 13-point lead to three at 46-43 with 6:44 remaining, start since Jan. 15 on Feb. 9 by cracking the starting five for the game but the Salukis pulled away. Javon Freeman-Liberty slammed at Loyola. He responded by setting up his teammates nicely with a home a poster dunk in the first half that checked in at No. 5 on career-high nine assists, matching Daniel Sackey (Dec. 18 at High SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays that evening. SIU freshman Marcus Point) for the most by a Valpo player in a game this season. Valpo Domask scored 21 points on 8-of-8 shooting in the first half alone joins UNI as the only two teams in the Missouri Valley Conference and finished with 23 points. with multiple players who own nine-assist efforts in 2019-20. Robinson’s nine helpers were the most by a Valpo player in a league Scouting the Salukis game since Micah Bradford had nine on Jan. 13, 2018 at UNI. - Enter Wednesday’s game in second place in the Missouri Valley Conference, one game behind league-leader UNI. Connecting from Distance: Valpo bounced back from a season-low - Coming off an electrifying 68-66 win over Missouri State on 13 percent shooting night from 3-point range on Feb. 5 against UNI Saturday in Carbondale that saw Marcus Domask hit a highly- by connecting on 45.8 percent of its shots from distance on Feb. contested 18-footer at the buzzer to send the team to victory. Barret 9 at Loyola. That was the highest 3-point shooting percentage by Benson scored a career-high 24 points as SIU extended its winning the Brown & Gold since an overtime win at Evansville on Jan. 4. streak to seven and came from double figures down to win for the Sunday also marked Valpo’s most made 3s in a game (11) since the third time in the seven-game span. aforementioned contest at the Ford Center (12). Valpo made more - Led in scoring by Marcus Domask, who is averaging 14.8 points than 10 3s in a regulation Valley game for the first time since Jan. per game and 5.3 rebounds per contest. Barret Benson is the team’s 5, 2019 at Missouri State (12). Prior to the game at Loyola, Valpo top rebounder at 5.8 per game. had won five straight games when making more than 10 3-pointers - Picked to finish 10th in the MVC Preseason Poll, making this a dating back to Jan. 24, 2018 vs. Evansville. matchup of the teams projected as the bottom two in The Valley. However, both Valpo and SIU are well positioned to exceed McMillan Has Range: Mileek McMillan nailed a career-high four preseason expectations. 3s on Sunday at Loyola on his way to a team-high 14 points despite - First-year head coach Bryan Mullins is a member of the school’s playing only 16 minutes. He knocked in multiple 3s in a game for Hall of Fame as a player and had been on Porter Moser’s Loyola the sixth time this year, all in conference play.