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 Drake (12-4, 2-1 MVC) Date Opponent Time/Result at Valparaiso (8-8, 1-2 MVC) Oct. 19 Cedarville (exhibition) W 85-65 Game No. 17 – Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020 – 3 p.m. CT Nov. 5 Toledo ESPN3 W 79-77 Athletics-Recreation Center – 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: After completing a stretch of five out of six on Nov. 17 North Dakota ESPN3 W 74-60 the road, the Valparaiso University men’s basketball team will return to the Nov. 22 vs. Grand Canyon! FloHoops W 78-74 Nov. 24 vs. Nevada! FloHoops L 84-59 Athletics-Recreation Center for a Saturday afternoon affair with Drake. This Nov. 25 Cincinnati! FloHoops L 81-77(ot) will mark just the second home game played by Valpo since Dec. 8 and the first Nov. 27 Trinity Christian# ESPN3 W 98-71 chance for students to catch the team after returning from the holiday break. Dec. 3 at Eastern Michigan ESPN+ L 85-79 Dec. 8 Central Michigan ESPN+ W 77-55 Last Time Out: Valpo dropped a road matchup with Southern Illinois Dec. 16 at Charlotte 49ers TV L 67-57 63-50 on Tuesday night in Carbondale. John Kiser equaled career bests in Dec. 18 at High Point ESPN+ W 87-72 points (nine), rebounds (nine) and steals (three) to account for the team’s top Dec. 21 at Arkansas No Video - WVUR Only L 72-68 Dec. 30 Loyola* The Valley ESPN+ L 66-63 individual performance of the evening. The team had 15 offensive rebounds, Jan. 4 at Evansville* The Valley on E+ W 81-79(ot) led by Donovan Clay’s six. Clay had nine total boards, establishing a personal Jan. 7 at Southern Illinois* ESPN+ L 63-50 watermark. Valpo used a late 10-0 run to cut a 13-point lead to three at 46-43 with Jan. 11 Drake* ESPN3 3 p.m. 6:44 remaining, but the Salukis pulled away. Javon Freeman-Liberty slammed Jan. 15 at UNI* ESPN+ 7 p.m. home a poster dunk in the first half that checked in at No. 5 on SportsCenter’s Jan. 18 Indiana State*The Valley on ESPN+ 7 p.m. Top 10 plays on Tuesday evening. Jan. 23 at Missouri State*CBS Sports Network 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26 Evansville* MVCTV Network 4 p.m. Jan. 29 at Bradley* ESPN+ 6 p.m. Following Valpo Basketball: Video –ESPN3 – Todd Ickow (play-by-play) Feb. 1 Illinois State* ESPN3 7 p.m. and Brian Jennings (analyst) Feb. 5 UNI* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Garrett Willis (play-by-play) and Feb. 9 at Loyola* CBS Sports Network or ESPNU TBA 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 (62-52) 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 holds a 6-4 all-time record against Drake in a series that dates back to the 1944-45 campaign. Valpo swept both meetings in 2017-18 but dropped both showdowns last year, falling 70-59 on Jan. 26 at the ARC and 84-79 on Feb. 16 in Des Moines. 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 Region Returns: Although somewhat bizarre considering the squeezing 15 on Nov. 17 vs. North Dakota. The offensive rebounding geographical distance between Northwest Indiana and Des Moines, total for the game in Carbondale exceeded each of the squad’s first the Drake roster is filled with players who call the 219 area code two Missouri Valley Conference contests combined (12 total). John home. Five players in the program played their prep basketball for a Kiser and Donovan Clay shared the team lead with nine rebounds Northwest Indiana high school – D.J. Wilkins (Merrillville), Tremell apiece as Clay established a personal best and Kiser matched his Murphy (Griffith), Anthony Murphy (Griffith), Jonah Jackson career watermark. It was Clay’s second straight game leading the (Merrillville) and Roman Penn (Bishop Noll) are all names that team on the glass and the third time this season he has done so. Two basketball fans in the area will recognize. Penn, Wilkins and Anthony of his three games with seven caroms or more have been the last two Murphy comprise 60 percent of the Bulldogs’ starting lineup as the contests. The freshman’s previous rebounding career high was eight local trio has started all 15 games this season. on Nov. 27 vs. Trinity Christian. He had an eye-popping offensive rebound total of six in the game against the Salukis. Zion Morgan Scouting the Bulldogs was also a factor on the boards in the game at SIU, finishing with - Dropped the conference opener at Bradley (80-72), but have six caroms, his second-highest total of the season. followed with back-to-back home wins over Indiana State (80-76) and Loyola (65-62). Nine Times Nine: Senior John Kiser has yet to enjoy a double-figure - Liam Robbins had 20 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked scoring or rebounding output in his career, but he has totaled nine shots in the victory over Loyola on Tuesday. efforts of exactly nine points or nine rebounds. His nine-point, nine- - Robbins leads the team in scoring (13.1 points per game) and rebound performance at Southern Illinois on Jan. 7 allowed him to rebounding (5.8 rpg), while Bishop Noll alum Roman Penn is second match career bests in both areas. It was his sixth career nine-point at 11.5 points per game to go along with a team-best 95 assists. In effort (fifth this season) and his third career nine-rebound output (first fact, Penn’s 5.9 assists per game lead The Valley, while Robbins is this season). In addition, the former walk-on matched a career high the top shot blocker at 2.6 per game, over double the second-place in steals in the game against the Salukis, replicating his three-steal average of 1.2. showing from Feb. 5, 2019 at Illinois State. He has led the team in - Under the direction of second-year head coach Darian DeVries, rebounds six times this season, the most on the team. who was named the 2018-19 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year. He previously served as an assistant at Creighton. Increased Thievery: Valpo swiped 11 steals in the Jan. 7 game at - Loyola and Cincinnati are the only two common opponents thus Southern Illinois, already the seventh game this season with 10 steals far. Valpo had a close loss to the Ramblers while Drake had a close or more and the 11th game with nine steals or more. By comparison, win, but Valpo had a better performance against the Bearcats with the team had just four games a year ago with nine steals or more an overtime setback to a team that beat Drake 81-59. and two with double-figure steal totals. As a team, Valpo has 8.6 - Picked to finish fifth in the MVC Preseason Poll despite winning a steals per game, up from 6.1 last season. share of the regular season title last year by going 12-6 in league play and 24-10 overall in a season that culminated with a CIT appearance. The Stripe a Key: The team’s success in the win column has been - Merrillville product D.J. Wilkins was a third team preseason all- tied closely with its success at the free-throw line this season. Valpo conference choice. is 5-1 when shooting free throws at 70 percent or better, with the only defeat coming in overtime against Cincinnati. Conversely, the #SCTop10 Again: Javon Freeman-Liberty slammed home a poster team is 2-7 against Division-I opponents when shooting below 70 dunk in the first half of Tuesday’s game at Southern Illinois, gaining percent at the foul line.