CRUSADER GAME NOTES Valparaiso at IPFW Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - 6 p.m. CST 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 leaves town Tuesday evening for its first of two games on a brief road swing prior to Horizon DATE OPPONENT TIME RESULT League play, taking on IPFW. Valpo carries a two-game win- Nov. 1 Indianapolis ! 4 p.m. L 88-83 Nov. 13 at Ball State 6 p.m. L 88-78 ning streak into the contest against the Mastodons. Nov. 15 at #6/4 North Carolina 3 p.m. L 88-77 Nov. 19 IU-South Bend 7:05 p.m. W 78-56 Last Time Out: Valparaiso exemplified the giving spirit of Nov. 22 at #2/2 Michigan State # 11 a.m. L 90-60 the holiday season on Saturday evening as the Crusaders Nov. 27 at Georgia Southern # 6:30 p.m. W 97-89 Nov. 28 vs. Troy # 2 p.m. L 80-64 handed out 27 assists on 33 baskets in an 83-57 victory over Nov. 29 vs. Arkansas-Fort Smith # noon W 86-74 Concordia (Wis.) at the Athletics-Recreation Center. Valpo Dec. 5 at #23/20 Butler * 6 p.m. L 84-67 put together a 27-5 run over the mid to late stages of the first Dec. 9 at #5/5 Purdue 6 p.m. L 86-62 Dec. 12 Toledo 2 p.m. W 81-49 half to pull away from the Falcons for good. Brandon Wood Dec. 19 Concordia (Wis.) 7:05 p.m. W 83-57 paced Valpo with 21 points while also tallying six rebounds Dec. 22 at IPFW 6 p.m. and a game-high six assists. Cory Johnson scored 20 on 9-of- Dec. 27 at Akron 1 p.m. 13 shooting from the floor, while Ryan Broekhoff set new Dec. 31 Milwaukee * 7:05 p.m. Jan. 2 Green Bay * 7:05 p.m. career highs with 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds Jan. 8 at Detroit * 6 p.m. in just 17 minutes of the action. Michael Rogers chipped in Jan. 10 at Wright State * 3 p.m. 11 points off the bench to round out four Crusaders in double Jan. 14 Youngstown State * 7:05 p.m. figures in the scoring column. Jan. 16 Cleveland State * 1 p.m. Jan. 21 at UIC * 7 p.m. Jan. 23 at Loyola * 3 p.m. Series History: The Crusaders and Mastodons have met on Jan. 29 at Milwaukee * 7 p.m. the hardwood every year since 2003-2004, including a pair of Jan. 31 at Green Bay * 1 p.m. mettings in 2006-2007. Valpo holds a 7-1 lead in the all-time Feb. 4 Wright State * 7:05 p.m. Feb. 6 Detroit * 1 p.m. series, but IPFW earned its only victory at the ARC last sea- Feb. 8 UIC * 7:05 p.m. son on Dec. 10, leading start to finish in a 63-46 victory over Feb. 11 at Cleveland State * 6 p.m. the Crusaders. Valpo connected on just 31.1% of its field Feb. 13 at Youngstown State * 6:05 p.m. goal attempts on the game, with Howard Little the only Cru- Feb. 17 Loyola * 7:05 p.m. Feb. 20 at TBA (BracketBusters) TBA sader to reach double figures in scoring with 11 points. David Feb. 26 Butler * 8 p.m. Carson paced three Mastodons in double digits with 16 points. Mar. 2-9 at Horizon League Championships All times Central. Home games in bold and played at Athletics-Recreation Center. Following the Crusaders: As always, Tuesday’s game can be ! - indicates exhibition game heard live on the Valpo Sports Radio Network (WAKE, 1500 # - at Legends Classic (Campus sites/Statesboro, Ga.) AM, Valparaiso; WEFM, 95.9 FM, Michigan City; WLPR, 89.1 * - indicates Horizon League game FM, Merrillville). Veteran broadcaster Todd Ickow returns for his 19th season on play-by-play for the Crusaders, while 2009-2010 CRUSADER ROSTER Valpo alumnus Andy Viano will handle the color commen- tary. Links for the VSRN audio and live statistics can be found # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown/High School [Prev. School] at www.valpoathletics.com. 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 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 (607-404 overall; 338-282 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 Valparaiso at IPFW Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - 6 p.m. CST 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 were giving up an average HORIZON LEAGUE of 81.7 points per game in their first nine games of the season, HORIZON LEAGUE STANDINGS (as of Dec. 21) but in the last two games have stepped up the intensity on the STATISTICS (as of Dec. 21) TEAM HL OVR defensive end of the floor. Valpo has given up just 106 points SCORING PPG Green Bay 3-0 10-3 total in its last two games, wins over Toledo and Concordia, and 1. Brandon Wood - Valpo 20.3 Detroit 2-0 7-4 held the two squads to just 33.7% shooting from the floor. 2. Rahmon Fletcher - UWGB 18.2 Wright State 2-0 7-4 3. Gordon Hayward - Butler 17.4 Butler 1-0 8-3 Enjoying Easy Wins: Valpo enjoyed two very easy victories in its 4. Norris Cole - CSU 17.3 Loyola 1-1 8-2 5. Cory Johnson - Valpo 15.8 Milwaukee 1-1 8-4 last two outings, beating Toledo by 32 and Concordia by 26. It Valparaiso 0-1 5-6 marks the first time since January 2/7, 2006, when the Crusaders REBOUNDING RPG Cleveland State 0-2 4-8 downed Oakland by 31 and Longwood by 32, that Valpo has beaten 1. Andy Polka - Loyola 9.7 UIC 0-2 3-6 back-to-back opponents by at least 25 points. In addition, the 32- 2. Gordon Hayward - Butler 8.7 Youngstown State 0-3 4-6 3. Randy Berry - UWGB 7.3 SCHEDULE point win over Toledo matched the largest win by a Crusader squad 4. Cory Johnson - Valpo 6.6 over another D-I school in the last eight seasons. 5. Jeremy Buttell - UIC 6.5 Tuesday, December 22 Arkansas-Little Rock at Wright State, 6 p.m. ASSISTS APG Helping Each Other Out: The Crusaders found each other all 1. Courtney Stanley - Loyola 5.4 Central Michigan at Detroit, 6 p.m. over the court for open shots against Concordia on Saturday, tally- High Point at Youngstown State, 6 p.m. 2. Bryquis Perine - UWGB 4.7 UIC at Akron, 6 p.m. ing 27 assists on their 33 baskets. The 27 helpers marked the most 3. Ricky Franklin - UWM 3.6 Valparaiso at IPFW, 6 p.m. by a Valpo squad since the Crusaders totaled 27 assists at Chicago 4. Andy Polka - Loyola 3.5 Albany at Loyola, 7 p.m. State on Feb. 5, 2007. It also increased their season average to 5. Two tied at 3.4 Buffalo at Green Bay, 7 p.m. 17.1 assists/game, by far the most in the league and among the FIELD GOAL PCT. FG% Butler at UAB, 7 p.m. top-25 in the nation. Despite 19 turnovers, Valpo’s assist/turn- 1. Cory Johnson - Valpo .570 Cleveland State at Ohio State, 7:30 p.m.