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 UNI (19-3, 8-2 MVC) Date Opponent Time/Result at Valparaiso (12-11, 5-5 MVC) Oct. 19 Cedarville (exhibition) W 85-65 Game No. 24 – Wednesday, Feb. 5 – 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: The Valparaiso University men’s basketball team Nov. 17 North Dakota ESPN3 W 74-60 will round out a set of consecutive home games for the first time all season on Nov. 22 vs. Grand Canyon! FloHoops W 78-74 Nov. 24 vs. Nevada! FloHoops L 84-59 Wednesday as the team seeks its first set of back-to-back victories in conference Nov. 25 Cincinnati! FloHoops L 81-77(ot) play. Valpo will welcome the conference’s top team in UNI for Part 2 of the Nov. 27 Trinity Christian# ESPN3 W 98-71 battle between the league’s top two scorers – Valpo’s Javon Freeman-Liberty Dec. 3 at Eastern Michigan ESPN+ L 85-79 and UNI’s A.J. Green. Dec. 8 Central Michigan ESPN+ W 77-55 Dec. 16 at Charlotte 49ers TV L 67-57 Last Time Out: Valpo defended its home court with an 80-70 victory over Dec. 18 at High Point ESPN+ W 87-72 Illinois State on Saturday night at the Athletics-Recreation Center. Ben Krikke Dec. 21 at Arkansas No Video - WVUR Only L 72-68 Dec. 30 Loyola* The Valley ESPN+ L 66-63 had 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists, leading the team in all three Jan. 4 at Evansville* The Valley on E+ W 81-79(ot) areas. Javon Freeman-Liberty and Donovan Clay tossed in 12 points apiece Jan. 7 at Southern Illinois* ESPN+ L 63-50 on a night where seven Valpo players finished with seven points or more and Jan. 11 Drake* ESPN3 W 66-61 four had five or more rebounds. Jan. 15 at UNI* ESPN+ L 88-78 Jan. 18 Indiana State*The Valley on ESPN+ W 86-77 Following Valpo Basketball: Video – ESPN+ – Todd Ickow (play-by-play) Jan. 23 at Missouri State*CBS Sports Network L 67-60 Jan. 26 Evansville* MVCTV Network W 67-65 and Brian Jennings (analyst) Jan. 29 at Bradley* ESPN+ L 80-69 Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Garrett Willis (play-by-play) and Feb. 1 Illinois State* ESPN3 W 80-70 Danny Dalenberg (analyst) Feb. 5 UNI* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Twitter updates - @ValpoBasketball Feb. 9 at Loyola* ESPNU 3 p.m. Links for the audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com. Feb. 12 Southern Illinois* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Feb. 15 at Illinois State* MVCTV Network 6 p.m. : Matt Lottich (66-55) is in his seventh season Feb. 19 at Drake* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Head Coach Matt Lottich Feb. 22 Bradley* ESPN+ 7 p.m. overall at Valpo and fourth as head coach in 2019-20. Lottich led the team to Feb. 25 Missouri State* ESPN+ 7 p.m. 15 victories in his third season in charge in 2018-19, the program’s second Feb. 29 at Indiana State* TV TBD TBD campaign in the Missouri Valley Conference. In his first year as head coach March 5-8 MVC Tournament% TBD (2016-17), Lottich guided Valpo to its fifth Horizon League regular season championship in a six-year span as he led the team to 24 wins and an at-large All times Central. berth into the NIT. Lottich, hired as the 22nd head coach of the Valpo men’s Home games in bold and played at Athletics-Recreation Center. basketball program in April 2016, graduated from Stanford University in 2004 ! – Paradise Jam (U.S. Virgin Islands) and New Trier High School (Illinois) in 2000. # - Paradise Jam non-bracketed game $ - Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge Leading the Way: In each of the last two games, Valpo has had the same player % - 2020 MVC Tournament (St. Louis) hold outright team leadership in points, rebounds and assists. Javon Freeman- * - indicates Missouri Valley Conference game Liberty became the first Valpo player to accomplish that feat all season on Jan. 29 at Bradley, turning in a 21-point, seven-rebound, four-assist effort. Freshman Ben Krikke followed that up with a dominant night of his own on Feb. 1 vs. Illinois State, leading the team in points (17), rebounds (eight) and assists 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 (four). Before Freeman-Liberty accomplished the feat against the basketball, going all the way back to the first season on record in Braves, the last Valpo player to own the outright team lead in all 1917, where the team has not played back-to-back home games three categories in a game was Deion Lavender on Nov. 16, 2018 until after the calendar flipped to February. vs. Monmouth, when he had 15, eight and five. Krikke became the first Valpo freshman to solely lead the team in points, rebounds UNI 88, Valpo 78 (Jan. 15): A game of bursts saw Valpo rally from and assists in a game since at least the start of the 1989-90 season. 11 down early in the first half to take an 11-point lead by the end of the half, only to see UNI eventually push the lead back to double A Burst Off the Bench: Valpo outscored Illinois State 36-13 in figures in an 88-78 victory for the Panthers on Jan. 15 at the McLeod bench points on Feb. 1, a 23-point surplus in that area that marked Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa. A battle between the league’s top two Valpo’s largest of the season against a Division-I opponent. The 36 scorers did not disappoint, as sophomore standouts A.J. Green (UNI) points off the bench were also the most this year for the Brown & and Javon Freeman-Liberty (Valpo) led their teams by scoring 29 Gold in a DI game. Valpo has been outscored in bench points just and 28, respectively. The Panthers shot 57.7 percent from the field once through the first 10 Missouri Valley Conference contests, the and 54.5 percent from beyond the arc while also going 16-of-19 league opener vs. Loyola. The 36 bench points against the Redbirds (84.2 percent) at the foul line in the triumph. were Valpo’s most in a Division-I game since Jan. 13, 2018 when the team had 37 in an 81-76 loss to UNI. Series Notes: The all-time series is tilted heavily in UNI’s favor, though only five of the 29 meetings have come after 1991, so most Making Himself at Home: Donovan Clay continued to find of the history between the two foes is in the distant past. Valpo is success in conference home games on Feb. 1 vs. Illinois State, just 3-26 all-time against the Panthers, but one of those victories reaching double figures for the fourth time in five MVC contests at came 75-66 last season at the ARC. UNI has wins in four of the the ARC. The freshman is the team’s leading scorer in MVC-only five games since Valpo joined The Valley, including a victory at home games, averaging 15.0 points per game to go along with a the McLeod Center earlier this season. Valpo is 0-14 all-time in rebounding average of 5.2. On the road in conference play, Clay’s games played at UNI, but will look to win the home matchup for average is less than half of what it is at home at just 7.0 points per the second straight season. game. Home Cooking: Valpo improved to 8-1 at home with the Feb. Morgan’s Rebounding Rate: Zion Morgan had a five-rebound 1 victory over Illinois State. Valpo hasn’t finished with a losing performance on Feb. 1 vs. Illinois State, already the fourth time mark at the ARC since 1991-92, extending the streak to 28 seasons this season he’s had five rebounds or more despite playing limited this year. This is the first time under Matt Lottich Valpo has held minutes. Morgan has accrued 44 rebounds in just 184 minutes this a record of 8-1 or better through nine home games. The squad year. He leads the team in total rebounds per 40 minutes at 9.6 with started 9-0 at home in 2015-16 en route to a 17-1 ARC mark. The John Kiser second at 7.3. home success this year includes two victories over Mid-American Conference teams that qualified for postseason tournaments a year Hitting 80: Valpo reached the 80-point threshold for the sixth time ago in Toledo and Central Michigan. Valpo is 308-72 (.811) at the this season in the 80-70 win over Illinois State on Feb. 1. Valpo ARC over the last 24 years. improved to 6-0 this year and 28-2 under Matt Lottich when scoring 80+ points.