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 Valparaiso (1-1, 0-0 MVC) Date Opponent Time/Result Oct. 19 Cedarville (exhibition) W 85-65 at SIUE (1-1, 0-0 OVC) Nov. 5 Toledo ESPN3 W 79-77 Game No. 3 – Tuesday, Nov. 12 – 7 p.m. CT Nov. 9 at Saint Louis FOX Sports MW/ESPN+ L 81-70 Nov. 12 at SIUE ESPN+ 7 p.m. Vadalabene Center (4,000) – Edwardsville, Ill. Nov. 17 North Dakota ESPN3 1:30 p.m. Nov. 22 vs. Grand Canyon! FloHoops Noon Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valparaiso University men’s basketball Nov. 23/24 Paradise Jam Game 2! FloHoop TBD team will play the second game of a five-day road trip on Tuesday night in Nov. 25 Paradise Jam Game 3! FloHoops TBD Edwardsville, Ill. as SIU Edwardsville provides the opposition. Valpo will Nov. 27 Trinity Christian# ESPN3 7 p.m. look to continue its encouraging start to the season by trying for its second Dec. 3 at Eastern Michigan ESPN3 6 p.m. win in three games. Dec. 8 Central Michigan ESPN+ 1 p.m. Dec. 16 at Charlotte TV TBD 6 p.m. Dec. 18 at High Point ESPN+ 6 p.m. Last Time Out: Valpo battled through adversity on Saturday night at Chaifetz Dec. 21 at Arkansas No Video - WVUR Only 7 p.m. Arena, erasing nearly all of a 14-point first-half deficit to pull within two with Dec. 30 Loyola* The Valley ESPN+ 7 p.m. 5:19 to play at Saint Louis. However, the defending Atlantic 10 champion Jan. 4 at Evansville* The Valley on ESPN+ 6 p.m. Billikens scored 11 of the game’s final 13 points to hold on for an 81-70 Jan. 7 at Southern Illinois* ESPN+ 7 p.m. victory. Valpo was led in scoring by sophomore guard Daniel Sackey, who ESPN3 Jan. 11 Drake* 3 p.m. had blitzed past his previous career high of 13 by halftime and finished with Jan. 15 at UNI* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Jan. 18 Indiana State*The Valley on ESPN+ 7 p.m. 22 on an efficient 7-of-9 shooting and 3-of-3 from 3-point distance. Javon Jan. 23 at Missouri State*CBS Sports Network 7:30 p.m. Freeman-Liberty finished with 19 points and scored 14 of those in a span of Jan. 26 Evansville* MVCTV Network 4 p.m. 4 minutes, 23 seconds, putting the team on his back during a run that helped Jan. 29 at Bradley* ESPN+ 6 p.m. Valpo pull within two. Feb. 1 Illinois State* ESPN3 7 p.m. Feb. 5 UNI* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Following Valpo Basketball: Video – ESPN+ Feb. 9 at Loyola* CBS Sports Network or ESPNU TBA Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Todd Ickow (play-by-play) and Feb. 12 Southern Illinois* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at Illinois State* MVCTV Network 6 p.m. Brandon Vickrey (analyst) Feb. 19 at Drake* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Twitter updates - @ValpoBasketball Feb. 22 Bradley* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Links for the video, audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com. Feb. 25 Missouri State* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Feb. 29 at Indiana State* TV TBD TBD Head Coach Matt Lottich: Matt Lottich (55-45) is in his seventh season March 5-8 MVC Tournament% TBD overall at Valpo and fourth as head coach in 2019-20. Lottich led the team to All times Central. 15 victories in his third season in charge in 2018-19, the program’s second Home games in bold and played at campaign in the Missouri Valley Conference. In his first year as head coach Athletics-Recreation Center. (2016-17), Lottich guided Valpo to its fifth Horizon League regular season ! – Paradise Jam (U.S. Virgin Islands) championship in a six-year span as he led the team to 24 wins and an at-large # - Paradise Jam non-bracketed game berth into the NIT. Lottich, hired as the 22nd head coach of the Valpo men’s $ - Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge basketball program in April 2016, graduated from Stanford University in 2004 % - 2020 MVC Tournament (St. Louis) * - indicates Missouri Valley Conference game and New Trier High School (Illinois) in 2000. Hometown Tour: A homecoming weekend of sorts continues for Valpo freshman Donovan Clay with Tuesday’s matchup. The Alton, Ill. native played in front of about 20 friends and family members on Saturday night at Saint 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 Louis, which is located approximately 25 miles from his hometown. Daniel Sackey followed with a career watermark of his own by Edwardsville is even closer at approximately 15 miles from Alton. scoring 22 on Nov. 9 at Saint Louis. Through Saturday’s games, Clay saw 18 minutes of action and accrued three points, three Valpo had two of the top five single-game scoring efforts in The rebounds and two steals in the game against the Billikens. Valley on the young season. This is the first time Valpo has had at least one player eclipse 20 points in each of the first two games Strong Sackey Showing: Valpo guard Daniel Sackey usurped his of the season since 2009-10, when Brandon Wood had 25 against career scoring watermark by halftime and finished the Nov. 9 game Ball State and 30 against North Carolina and Cory Johnson had 21 at Saint Louis with personal bests in points (22), made field goals against the Cardinals. (7), made 3-pointers (3) and made free throws (5). He became the first Valpo player to go perfect from beyond the arc with more than From Down Town: Valpo shot 47.1 percent from 3-point distance two attempts since Max Joseph on Jan. 20, 2018 vs. Drake. He and on Saturday night at SLU, the team’s top clip since 55.6 percent Joseph are the only two players to do so in the last four seasons. on Dec. 8 of last season at George Washington. Six different Valpo The last player to go unblemished from long range with more than players connected from distance, led by Daniel Sackey’s trio of three attempts was Alec Peters, who went 4-for-4 on Jan. 18, 2016 at triples after he had previously never hit more than one in a game. Youngstown State. Sackey also dished out four assists on Saturday at SLU following his eight-helper showing in the Nov. 5 season opener Series Notes: This marks the third consecutive year these two teams vs. Toledo. This marks the first time in the sophomore’s career that have faced off after Valpo’s appearance at the Valdabene Center on he has handed out four or more assists in back-to-back games. Nov. 15, 2017 marked the first all-time meeting. The Brown & Gold prevailed 94-69 in that trip to Edwardsville, before escaping with a Kiser Contributions: Senior John Kiser played a team-high 34 75-70 overtime victory on Nov. 21, 2018. All three Valpo games so minutes and chipped in nine points off the bench on Saturday far this season have come in all-time series where the most recent night at SLU. That scoring output tied a career high for the former meeting either went to overtime or ended on a buzzer-beater. Last walk-on, matching his personal best that was established on Nov. year’s game with the Cougars saw all five Valpo starters finish the 13, 2017 vs. Trinity Christian. He’s been consistent on the boards evening in double figures after the hosts outscored the guests 7-2 through the first two games, pulling down eight rebounds in each in the extra session. to lead the team in both contests. His production on the boards in each of the first two games has threatened his rebounding career Inside the Cougars high of nine, a mark he has reached on three occasions. Kiser also - Topped Quincy 61-52 in the season opener, but fell 87-60 at Iowa set up his teammates nicely in the Nov. 5 season opener against the in their most recent game on Friday night. Rockets, notching a career-high four assists. This is the second time - Cam Williams is the team’s top scorer through two games at 13.5 in Kiser’s career he’s had back-to-back games with eight rebounds per contest, while Anselm Uzuegbunem has a team-best rebounding or more, a feat he also accomplished in February of his sophomore average of 6.0. season against Illinois State and Loyola. - Went 10-21 last season including a 6-12 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference and a 7-8 home record. Freeman-Liberty Turning Heads: After hitting the game-winning - Picked to finish 11th of 12 in the OVC Preseason Media Poll and shot with less than four seconds remaining in the season opener 10th by the SIDs and head coaches. on Nov. 5 vs. Toledo, sophomore Javon Freeman-Liberty posted - Under the direction of first-year head coach Brian Barone, who his second straight 19-point effort on Saturday at Saint Louis. He was an assistant on staff for the last two seasons.