Matt Lottich: Matt Lottich (63-53) Is in His Seventh Season All Times Central
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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 Indiana State (10-6, 3-2 MVC) Date Opponent Time/Result at Valparaiso (9-9, 2-3 MVC) Oct. 19 Cedarville (exhibition) W 85-65 Game No. 19 – Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020 – 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: It’s a Saturday night of Missouri Valley Nov. 17 North Dakota ESPN3 W 74-60 Conference hoops at the Athletics-Recreation Center as Indiana State makes its Nov. 22 vs. Grand Canyon! FloHoops W 78-74 Nov. 24 vs. Nevada! FloHoops L 84-59 way to Porter County to create the latest installment of a deep history between Nov. 25 Cincinnati! FloHoops L 81-77(ot) the two instate foes. Valpo avenged a pair of regular season losses to eliminate Nov. 27 Trinity Christian# ESPN3 W 98-71 head coach Greg Lansing’s team in the conference tournament a year ago in St. Dec. 3 at Eastern Michigan ESPN+ L 85-79 Louis, setting the stage for Saturday’s matchup that features two of the league’s Dec. 8 Central Michigan ESPN+ W 77-55 top three scorers. In addition to the game, fans who come out will enjoy halftime Dec. 16 at Charlotte 49ers TV L 67-57 entertainment courtesy of Tyler’s Amazing Balancing Act. 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: A game of bursts saw Valpo rally from 11 down early in Jan. 4 at Evansville* The Valley on E+ W 81-79(ot) the first half to take an 11-point lead by the end of the half, only to see UNI Jan. 7 at Southern Illinois* ESPN+ L 63-50 eventually push the lead back to double figures in an 88-78 victory for the Jan. 11 Drake* ESPN3 W 66-61 Panthers on Wednesday night. A battle between the league’s top two scorers did Jan. 15 at UNI* ESPN+ L 88-78 not disappoint, as sophomore standouts A.J. Green (UNI) and Javon Freeman- Jan. 18 Indiana State*The Valley on ESPN+ 7 p.m. Liberty (Valpo) led their teams by scoring 29 and 28, respectively. The Panthers, Jan. 23 at Missouri State*CBS Sports Network 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 Evansville* MVCTV Network 4 p.m. a team receiving votes nationally in the AP and USA Today Coaches’ polls, Jan. 29 at Bradley* ESPN+ 6 p.m. shot 57.7 percent from the field and 54.5 percent from beyond the arc while Feb. 1 Illinois State* ESPN3 7 p.m. also going 16-of-19 (84.2) percent at the foul line in the triumph. Feb. 5 UNI* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Feb. 9 at Loyola* CBS Sports Network or ESPNU TBA Following Valpo Basketball: Video – The Valley on ESPN+ – Jordan Bernfield Feb. 12 Southern Illinois* ESPN+ 7 p.m. (play-by-play) and Marcus Wilson (analyst) Feb. 15 at Illinois State* MVCTV Network 6 p.m. Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Todd Ickow (play-by-play) and Danny Feb. 19 at Drake* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Feb. 22 Bradley* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Dalenberg (analyst) Feb. 25 Missouri State* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Twitter updates - @ValpoBasketball Feb. 29 at Indiana State* TV TBD TBD Links for the audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com. March 5-8 MVC Tournament% TBD Head Coach Matt Lottich: Matt Lottich (63-53) is in his seventh season All times Central. overall at Valpo and fourth as head coach in 2019-20. Lottich led the team to Home games in bold and played at Athletics-Recreation Center. 15 victories in his third season in charge in 2018-19, the program’s second ! – Paradise Jam (U.S. Virgin Islands) campaign in the Missouri Valley Conference. In his first year as head coach # - Paradise Jam non-bracketed game (2016-17), Lottich guided Valpo to its fifth Horizon League regular season $ - Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge championship in a six-year span as he led the team to 24 wins and an at-large % - 2020 MVC Tournament (St. Louis) berth into the NIT. Lottich, hired as the 22nd head coach of the Valpo men’s * - indicates Missouri Valley Conference game basketball program in April 2016, graduated from Stanford University in 2004 and New Trier High School (Illinois) in 2000. Series Notes: It’s the continuation of a long-time series this weekend as Valpo 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 and Indiana State match up on the hardwood for the 87th time. The Bench Mob: After Valpo fell behind 17-9 at the 12:47 mark of the Brown & Gold were responsible for ending the Sycamore season first half on Jan. 15 against UNI, head coach Matt Lottich went to a year ago, as Valpo cruised to a 77-55 triumph on Thursday in St. the bench, with the quartet of Zion Morgan, Ben Krikke, John Kiser Louis. Indiana State had won both regular season meetings, 70-53 and Eron Gordon replacing 80 percent of the starting lineup and on Jan. 23 in Terre Haute and 87-82 in overtime on Feb. 13 at the joining Javon Freeman-Liberty on the floor for a key stretch. The ARC. The tournament win was Valpo’s first as a member of the new group scored eight straight points to tie the game, capping an MVC. Valpo is 18-24 all-time when hosting Indiana State and 33-53 11-0 run. All four players made key contributions in the contest. overall against the Trees. Morgan dished out five assists to lead the team and match a season high. The JUCO transfer received a healthy DNP on Jan. 11 vs. Among National Leaders: Valpo ranks 32nd nationally in steals per Drake, but responded well with five points, five assists and two steals game (8.7), 35th in assists per game (15.9), 20th in total steals (156) in the game in Cedar Falls. Krikke had his highest point total against and 20th in total assists (287). Freeman-Liberty is 16th in points a Division-I opponent with 13. Kiser was second on the team with per game (20.9), 15th in steals per game (2.5), fifth in field goal five rebounds while also hitting a 3, upping his season percentage attempts (315), eighth in field goals made (139), 10th in total points to 39.4, second on the team. Gordon scored eight points on 4-of-6 (377) and sixth in total steals (45). Among sophomores, he’s fifth shooting before fouling out, finishing the evening with a team-best in points per game, third in steals per game and first in total steals. +8 in the +/- department. Valpo had 29 bench points in the game, its highest total since also receiving 29 bench points in a win over Freeman-Liberty Eyes the Record Book: Javon Freeman-Liberty Central Michigan on Dec. 8. Those two games tied for Valpo’s has already surpassed his season point total from a year ago, when highest bench-point total against a Division-I opponent this season. he finished with 364 points, tying for 17th for points by a Missouri Valley Conference freshman since 2000. He is already at 377 Other Tidbits Wrapping Up UNI (Jan. 15) points this year, giving him an opportunity to finish the year among - Valpo had just two turnovers in the first half and finished with 11 Valpo’s all-time leaders. He needs to get to 570 to join the program’s for the game, winning the turnover battle 14-11. single-season Top 10. The sophomore star has already surpassed - Valpo attempted just six free throws, its third game this year with the 100-steal milestone for his career and finished his freshman fewer than 10 attempts (all losses). UNI went 16-of-19 at the stripe, season with 60, the most by a freshman in program history and as the 84.2 percent marked the highest free-throw percentage by a the third-most by any Valpo player. This year he is at 45, just eight Valpo opponent with more than five attempts this season. away from moving into a tie for 10th with Bryce Drew’s 1997-98 - Valpo shot 49.2 percent from the field, its highest shooting season on Valpo’s single-season steals list. percentage since a victory at High Point on Dec. 18. However, the Panthers shot 57.7 percent, the highest shooting percentage by a Watch List: Javon Freeman-Liberty was named to the 2019-20 Lou Valpo opponent since a loss at Eastern Michigan back on Dec. 3. Henson Award midseason Watch List on Jan. 9. The award, named - Despite battling an illness leading into the game and missing after the former Illinois and New Mexico State head coach, honors morning shootaround, sophomore Daniel Sackey had 10 points, the nation’s top Division-I mid-major player.