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 Bradley (19-9, 10-5 MVC) Date Opponent Time/Result at Valparaiso (14-14, 7-8 MVC) Oct. 19 Cedarville (exhibition) W 85-65 Game No. 29 – Saturday, Feb. 22 – 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: Another pivotal game in the Missouri Valley Nov. 17 North Dakota ESPN3 W 74-60 Conference standings is on tap for Saturday night at the Athletics-Recreation Nov. 22 vs. Grand Canyon! FloHoops W 78-74 Nov. 24 vs. Nevada! FloHoops L 84-59 Center. It’s Hall of Fame Night, the penultimate home game of the season and Nov. 25 Cincinnati! FloHoops L 81-77(ot) the final weekend home contest of the year. The 2020 Valpo Athletics Hall of Nov. 27 Trinity Christian# ESPN3 W 98-71 Fame Class will be honored at halftime. It’s also a crucial game in the Missouri Dec. 3 at Eastern Michigan ESPN+ L 85-79 Valley Conference standings as Valpo continues to battle for a first-round bye Dec. 8 Central Michigan ESPN+ W 77-55 at Arch Madness. Dec. 16 at Charlotte 49ers TV L 67-57 Dec. 18 at High Point ESPN+ W 87-72 : Valpo trailed by as many as 19 points before making a furious Dec. 21 at Arkansas No Video - WVUR Only L 72-68 Last Time Out Dec. 30 Loyola* The Valley ESPN+ L 66-63 late rally on Wednesday night at the Knapp Center, forcing overtime in an Jan. 4 at Evansville* The Valley on E+ W 81-79(ot) eventual 77-75 defeat to host Drake. Mileek McMillan poured in a career-high Jan. 7 at Southern Illinois* ESPN+ L 63-50 20 points including six 3s and Javon Freeman-Liberty scored 19, but both fouled Jan. 11 Drake* ESPN3 W 66-61 out either late in the fourth or in overtime. Drake’s Liam Robbins went off for Jan. 15 at UNI* ESPN+ L 88-78 a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs closed the first Jan. 18 Indiana State*The Valley on ESPN+ W 86-77 half on a 16-0 run and 21-2 spurt, but Valpo had several second-half bursts of Jan. 23 at Missouri State*CBS Sports Network L 67-60 Jan. 26 Evansville* MVCTV Network W 67-65 its own including an 11-0 run that cut the lead to two. Jan. 29 at Bradley* ESPN+ L 80-69 Feb. 1 Illinois State* ESPN3 W 80-70 Following Valpo Basketball: Video – ESPN+ – Todd Ickow (play-by-play) Feb. 5 UNI* ESPN+ L 63-51 and Brian Jennings (analyst) Feb. 9 at Loyola* ESPNU L 70-68 Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Ben Ariano (Vin Scully style) Feb. 12 Southern Illinois* ESPN+ W 55-38 Twitter updates - @ValpoBasketball Feb. 15 at Illinois State* MVCTV Network W 78-70 Links for the audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com. Feb. 19 at Drake* ESPN+ L 77-75(ot) Feb. 22 Bradley* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Feb. 25 Missouri State* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Head Coach Matt Lottich: Matt Lottich (68-58) is in his seventh season Feb. 29 at Indiana State* ESPN3 1 p.m. 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 will look to extend a trend of home dominance in the all- time series between the two teams. The hosts have won all eight matchups, leading the Braves to a 5-3 all-time edge. The two teams have split the four meetings over Valpo’s first two seasons in The Valley before Bradley won the 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 first matchup this year. Valpo had a double-figure victory (61-50) in a career-high 20 points on Feb. 19 at Drake, shattering his previous last year’s ARC meeting, led by Javon Freeman-Liberty’s 17-point mark of 16 set on Nov. 17 of this season against North Dakota. He output. tied Eron Gordon (Dec. 18 at High Point) for the most 3-pointers made by a Valpo player in a game this season by draining six in the Bradley 80, Valpo 69 (Jan. 29): In the first meeting between the overtime defeat to the Bulldogs. McMillan became the first Valpo two teams, Valpo incurred an 80-69 defeat in Peoria. The defending player to convert a half a dozen 3s in a conference game since Ryan MVC Tournament champion Braves shot 52.9 percent from the field Fazekas on Jan. 5, 2019 at Missouri State. McMillan became just on their way to improving their home record to 12-1. Valpo fought the fourth Missouri Valley Conference player to hit six or more from 17 down with 12:21 to play to pull to within two with 3:38 3s in a league game this season, joining UNI’s A.J. Green (three to go, but the Braves scored 10 straight points after the final media times), Illinois State’s Zach Copeland and Bradley’s Nate Kennell. timeout to up the lead back to 12. Javon Freeman-Liberty led the McMillan had previously made no more than four 3s in any of his way with 21 points, Ryan Fazekas nailed four 3s and scored 14 first 88 career games. McMillan entered the season with 32 career points and Donovan Clay poured in 13 of his 15 points after halftime. made 3s over 101 contests, and now has made 25 3s in 15 games in MVC play. He went 6-of-26 from 3 during the conference slate Home Cooking: Valpo is 309-73 (.809) at the ARC over the last and is 25-of-57 in league play. He has the most made 3s on the two and a half decades. Valpo hasn’t finished with a losing mark team in Valley action. McMillan has been in double figures in six at the ARC since 1991-92, extending the streak to 28 seasons this of the last 11 games. year. With a win on Saturday over Bradley, Valpo would improve to 10-2 at home, securing a double-figure home win total for the Tight Battles: Valpo dropped to 6-5 in games decided by five points ninth time in the last 10 years. or fewer with the two-point loss at Drake on Feb. 19. It was Valpo’s seventh game of the season decided by three points or fewer, with the Steals Champ: With his first steal of the game with 13:35 remaining team 4-3 in such contests and five decided by two points or fewer. in the second half on Feb. 19 at Drake, Valpo sophomore Javon This season marks Valpo’s largest number of games decided by three Freeman-Liberty became the program’s single-season steals king. points or fewer since also having seven such contests in 2014-15. He snapped a deadlock with Lubos Barton, who finished the 2001- 02 season with 63 steals. Freeman-Liberty is now up to 65 steals Working Overtime: Valpo played its third overtime game of the this year and 125 for his career, 20 away from entering the career season with the 77-75 loss at Drake on Feb. 19 and the team’s first Top 10. Freeman-Liberty has a chance to finish among The Valley’s extra session since an 81-79 win at Evansville on Jan. 4. Valpo also all-time leaders for steals in a single season as the threshold for played OT on Nov. 25 vs. Cincinnati in the U.S. Virgin Islands, cracking the Top 20 is 76. Freeman-Liberty is in position to become losing 81-77. the first player to lead the MVC in steals in consecutive seasons since Hersey Hawkins of Bradley did so in 1986, 1987 and 1988. In the National Rankings: Freeman-Liberty is ranked in the Top 50 nationally in the following categories: points per game (19.4, 41st), Sophomore Scoring Record: Javon Freeman-Liberty is up to 543 steals per game (2.32, 14th), field goal attempts (447, seventh), field points for the season, putting him in position to break the Valpo goals made (197, 13th) and total steals (65, seventh).