CRUSADER GAME NOTES Concordia (Wis.) at Valparaiso Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 7:05 P.M
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CRUSADER GAME NOTES Concordia (Wis.) at Valparaiso Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 7:05 p.m. Men’s Basketball Contact: Aaron Leavitt [email protected] 219.464.6953 (phone) * 219.464.5762 (fax) 1009 Union Street * Valparaiso, IN * 46383 www.valpoathletics.com 2009-2010 CRUSADER SCHEDULE The Matchup: Valparaiso concludes a brief two-game homestand Saturday evening as the Crusaders host Concordia DATE OPPONENT TIME RESULT (Wis.) to round out the non-league home slate. The Crusad- Nov. 1 Indianapolis ! 4 p.m. L 88-83 Nov. 13 at Ball State 6 p.m. L 88-78 ers have taken on the Falcons ten times in program history Nov. 15 at #6/4 North Carolina 3 p.m. L 88-77 and own a 7-3 edge in the all-time series, but all the prior Nov. 19 IU-South Bend 7:05 p.m. W 78-56 meetings occurred in the 1930s and 1940s, with the last Nov. 22 at #2/2 Michigan State # 11 a.m. L 90-60 matchup taking place early in the 1942-1943 campaign. Nov. 27 at Georgia Southern # 6:30 p.m. W 97-89 Nov. 28 vs. Troy # 2 p.m. L 80-64 Nov. 29 vs. Arkansas-Fort Smith # noon W 86-74 Last Time Out: Valparaiso put together a complete game in Dec. 5 at #23/20 Butler * 6 p.m. L 84-67 its return to the ARC, locking down on defense while lighting Dec. 9 at #5/5 Purdue 6 p.m. L 86-62 Dec. 12 Toledo 2 p.m. W 81-49 up the scoreboard on the offensive end in an 81-49 victory Dec. 19 Concordia (Wis.) 7:05 p.m. over Toledo last Saturday afternoon. The Crusaders used a Dec. 22 at IPFW 6 p.m. 23-8 run starting midway through the first half to push their Dec. 27 at Akron 1 p.m. lead into double figures for good, and then came out of the Dec. 31 Milwaukee * 7:05 p.m. Jan. 2 Green Bay * 7:05 p.m. locker room following halftime with a 14-0 spurt to ice the Jan. 8 at Detroit * 6 p.m. game. Cory Johnson and Brandon McPherson tied for game- Jan. 10 at Wright State * 3 p.m. high scoring honors with 15 points, the former going 7-of-10 Jan. 14 Youngstown State * 7:05 p.m. from the field while the latter was one of three Crusaders to Jan. 16 Cleveland State * 1 p.m. Jan. 21 at UIC * 7 p.m. knock down a trio of 3-pointers. Johnson also pulled down a Jan. 23 at Loyola * 3 p.m. game-best nine rebounds and came up with three steals. Bran- Jan. 29 at Milwaukee * 7 p.m. don Wood added 13 points, five rebounds and six assists. Jan. 31 at Green Bay * 1 p.m. Feb. 4 Wright State * 7:05 p.m. Feb. 6 Detroit * 1 p.m. The Road Ahead: Valpo hits the road for two non-league Feb. 8 UIC * 7:05 p.m. matchups sandwiching the Christmas holiday, playing at IPFW Feb. 11 at Cleveland State * 6 p.m. Dec. 22 and at Akron Dec. 27. The Horizon League cam- Feb. 13 at Youngstown State * 6:05 p.m. paign then begins in earnest, as the Crusaders host Milwaukee Feb. 17 Loyola * 7:05 p.m. Feb. 20 at TBA (BracketBusters) TBA Dec. 31 and Green Bay Jan. 2 at the ARC. Feb. 26 Butler * 8 p.m. Mar. 2-9 at Horizon League Championships Following the Crusaders: As always, Saturday’s game can All times Central. Home games in bold and played at Athletics-Recreation Center. be heard live on the Valpo Sports Radio Network (WAKE, ! - indicates exhibition game 1500 AM, Valparaiso; WEFM, 95.9 FM, Michigan City). Vet- # - at Legends Classic (Campus sites/Statesboro, Ga.) eran broadcaster Todd Ickow returns for his 19th season on * - indicates Horizon League game play-by-play for the Crusaders, while Valpo alumnus Andy Viano will handle the color commentary. WVUR, Valpo’s stu- dent station, will also be broadcasting the game over its air- 2009-2010 CRUSADER ROSTER waves. Links for the VSRN audio and video through the # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown/High School [Prev. School] Horizon League Network, as well as live statistics, can be found 1 Michael Rogers G 6’6" 215 Jr. Kingston, Jamaica/Redemption [N.Y.] Christian 3 Hrvoje Vucic C 7’1” 220 Fr. Split, Croatia/Faust Vrancic at www.valpoathletics.com. 4 Cory Johnson F 6’7” 225 R-Jr. Duluth, Minn./Duluth East (Iowa State) 5 Cameron Witt F 6’9” 215 So. Launceston, Tasmania, Australia/Launceston SPORTS MEDIA RELATIONS 10 Brandon McPherson G 6’1" 210 R-Sr. Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North 11 Nick Shelton G 5’11” 150 So. Frankenmuth, Mich./Frankenmuth Requests to cover home games should be made through 14 Howard Little G 6’3” 205 Jr. Chicago, Ill./Stoneridge [Calif.] School Aaron Leavitt, Associate Director of Sports Media Relations, 15 Erik Buggs G 5’10” 155 So. Memphis, Tenn./Mitchell by contacting 219-464-6953. Seating is available courtside at 20 Tommy Kurth G 6’1” 175 Fr. Osceola, Ind./Penn 23 Matt Kenney G 6’3” 205 Fr. Mooresville, Ind./Mooresville the ARC for working media. Media guides, game notes and 32 Brandon Wood G 6’2” 190 R-So. Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo (Highland C.C./Southern Ill.) statistics from both schools will be available to working media. 33 Chris Halvorsen F 6’8” 190 Fr. St. Paul, Minn./Henry Sibley During the week, all player and coach interview requests 42 Milos Milosevic F 6’7” 235 So. Bar, Montenegro/Oakmont [Calif.] H.S. (Yuba College) should be directed to Aaron Leavitt. Media planning to attend 45 Ryan Broekhoff G 6’6” 185 Fr. Frankston, Victoria, Australia/Australian Institute of Sport Head Coach: Homer Drew (William Jewell ‘66) - 21st season at Valpo (606-404 overall; 337-282 at Valpo) practice should call ahead to Leavitt to confirm practice time. Associate Head Coach: Bryce Drew (Valparaiso ‘98) - 5th season Game-day interviews prior to the match are not permitted. Assistant Coaches: Luke Gore (Bethel [Tenn.] ‘01) - 8th season; Coach Drew and requested players, as well as requested visiting rd Chris Sparks (Valparaiso ‘00) - 3 season personnel, will be available following the game. Student Assistant: Jake Diebler (Valparaiso ‘09) - 1st season Graduate Assistant: Dan Hartfield (Green Bay ‘09) - 1st season CRUSADER GAME NOTES Concordia (Wis.) at Valparaiso Saturday, December 19, 2009 - 7:05 p.m. Men’s Basketball Contact: Aaron Leavitt [email protected] 219.464.6953 (phone) * 219.464.5762 (fax) 1009 Union Street * Valparaiso, IN * 46383 www.valpoathletics.com Finding the Defense: The Crusaders had given up 80 or more HORIZON LEAGUE points in each of their first seven games against D-I opponents HORIZON LEAGUE STANDINGS (as of Dec. 17) this season, but completely flipped the script in that regard against STATISTICS (as of Dec. 17) TEAM HL OVR Toledo. Valpo hounded the Rockets into 37% shooting, including SCORING PPG Detroit 2-0 6-4 just one three-pointer, and also forced 18 turnovers to hold To- 1. Brandon Wood - Valpo 20.2 Green Bay 2-0 9-3 ledo to just 49 points on the night. 2. Rahmon Fletcher - UWGB 17.3 Wright State 2-0 6-4 3. Gordon Hayward - Butler 16.9 Butler 1-0 7-3 Enjoying an Easy Victory: If the 32-point victory over the Rock- 4. Norris Cole - CSU 16.2 Loyola 1-1 7-2 5. Cory Johnson - Valpo 15.4 Milwaukee 1-1 7-4 ets seemed like a large margin of victory for Valpo, that’s because Valparaiso 0-1 4-6 it was. Not since Jan. 2, 2008, when the Crusaders downed Indi- REBOUNDING RPG Cleveland State 0-2 4-7 ana Wesleyan 93-46, had Valpo won by at least 32 points. In addi- 1. Andy Polka - Loyola 9.6 UIC 0-2 2-6 tion, the 32-point win matched the largest win by a Crusader squad 2. Gordon Hayward - Butler 8.2 Youngstown State 0-2 4-5 3. Randy Berry - UWGB 7.0 over another D-I school in the last eight seasons. 4. Cory Johnson - Valpo 6.8 SCHEDULE 5. James Eayrs - UWM 6.7 Saturday, December 19 Helping Each Other Out: For the seventh time this season, Valpo West Virginia at Cleveland State, 1 p.m. ASSISTS APG recorded a positive assist/turnover ratio against Toledo, handing 1. Courtney Stanley - Loyola 5.2 Xavier at Butler, 1 p.m. out 18 assists while matching a season low with just nine turn- *Youngstown State at Green Bay, 2 p.m. 2. Bryquis Perine - UWGB 4.6 Bowling Green at Detroit, 2:30 p.m. overs. The Crusaders lead the Horizon League with a 1.22 assist/ 3. Shelvin Mack - Butler 3.5 Northern Illinois at UIC, 3 p.m. turnover ratio, one of just two positive ratios in the league. Valpo’s 4. Five tied at 3.4 Maryland Eastern Shore at Wright State, 6 p.m. success in handling the basketball is a big reason it also currently FIELD GOAL PCT. FG% Miami (Ohio) at Milwaukee, 7 p.m. leads the league both in scoring offense (75.0 PPG) and field goal 1. Cory Johnson - Valpo .556 Concordia (Wis.) at Valparaiso, 7:05 p.m. percentage (.467). 2. Thomas Kennedy - Detroit .500 Geoff McCammon - Loyola .500 Sunday, December 20 Dialing Long Distance: Valparaiso put together one of its best 4.