2018-19 Men’s Basketball Game Notes Contact: AARON LEAVITT Offi ce: 219.464.6953 Valpo Sports Media Relations [email protected] Cell: 219.476.6680 Athletics-Recreation Center www.valpoathletics.com 1009 Union Street Valparaiso IN 46383 2018-19 Schedule and Results Valparaiso (9-6, 2-0 MVC) Date Opponent Time/Result Nov. 1 Indianapolis [exhibition] L 60-57 Game #16 - Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019 - 7 p.m. Nov. 6 Concordia University Chicago W 121-65 Bradley (8-7, 0-2 MVC) Nov. 15 vs. Western Kentucky ! L 83-71 Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind. Nov. 16 vs. Monmouth ! W 64-53 Nov. 18 vs. Wake Forest ! L 69-63 Next Up in Valpo Basketball: Coming off a dominant win in its MVC road Nov. 21 SIUE W 75-70 (ot) opener, the Valparaiso University men’s basketball team looks to make it a Nov. 24 at West Virginia # L 88-76 Nov. 28 at UNLV $ W 72-64 3-0 start to Missouri Valley Conference play on Tuesday night as Valpo hosts Dec. 2 UC Riverside W 82-73 Bradley at the ARC. Dec. 4 High Point L 55-53 Dec. 8 at George Washington W 82-79 Last Time Out: Valpo outscored Missouri State 30-8 over the fi nal nine minutes Dec. 17 Ball State L 77-61 of the fi rst half, taking a tie game and turning it into a 22-point halftime lead Dec. 19 at Texas A&M L 71-49 en route to an 82-66 victory on the road Saturday afternoon in Springfi eld, Mo. Dec. 29 Purdue Northwest W 97-61 Seven Valpo players scored at least seven points in the win, led by Ryan Fazekas Jan. 2 Illinois State * W 58-56 pacing four in double fi gures with 18 points as he connected on six 3-pointers. Jan. 5 at Missouri State * W 82-66 Jan. 8 Bradley * 7 p.m. Following Valpo Basketball: Video – ESPN+ – Todd Ickow and David Jan. 12 at Southern Illinois * 3 p.m. Huseman Jan. 15 at Loyola * 7 p.m. Jan. 19 UNI * 3 p.m. Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Garrett Willis and Danny Dalenberg Jan. 23 at Indiana State * 6 p.m. Links for the video, audio and live stats will be available at ValpoAthletics.com. Jan. 26 Drake * 7 p.m. Jan. 29 Missouri State * 7 p.m. Head Coach Matt Lottich: Matt Lottich (48-32) is in his sixth season overall Feb. 2 at Evansville * 1 p.m. at Valpo and third as head coach in 2018-19. Lottich led Valpo to 15 victories Feb. 5 at Illinois State * 7 p.m. in his second season in charge in 2017-18 and guided the the program through Feb. 10 Loyola * 3 p.m. the transition to the MVC, which ended the campaign ranked eighth nationally Feb. 13 Indiana State * 7 p.m. in conference RPI. In his fi rst year as head coach, Lottich guided Valpo to its Feb. 16 at Drake * 2 p.m. fi fth Horizon League regular season championship in the last six years as he Feb. 20 Southern Illinois * 7 p.m. led the team to 24 wins and an at-large berth into the NIT. Feb. 23 at UNI * 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at Bradley * 7 p.m. Mar. 2 Evansville * 1 p.m. Series Notes: Despite being located just three hours apart, there is very little Mar. 7-10 at State Farm MVC Tournament history between Valpo and Bradley. The two programs have met just fi ve times, (St. Louis, Mo.) three of which came in a four-season stretch in the early 1980’s before the last two meetings came in Valpo’s fi rst season as an MVC member last year. Bradley All times Central. owns a 3-2 advantage in the series, but the two squads split the two meetings Home games in bold and played at in conference play last season - Bradley winning 80-71 in Peoria, and Valpo Athletics-Recreation Center. winning 77-64 at the ARC. ! – Myrtle Beach Invitational (Conway, S.C.) # - Myrtle Beach Invitational non-bracketed game @ValpoBasketball... $ - Mountain West/Missouri Valley Challenge * - indicates Missouri Valley Conference game Valpo Men’s Basketball @ValpoBasketball #GoValpo 2018-19 Men’s Basketball Game Notes Contact: AARON LEAVITT Offi ce: 219.464.6953 Valpo Sports Media Relations [email protected] Cell: 219.476.6680 Athletics-Recreation Center www.valpoathletics.com 1009 Union Street Valparaiso IN 46383 ...and @ValleyHoops fi ve games. - Valpo was selected to fi nish in seventh place in the MVC preseason poll with 173 points. - Darrell Brown leads Bradley, averaging 15.3 points per game and shooting 42.1% - Valpo has fi nished worse in the fi nal standings than its preseason projection just from 3-point range. Brown led the Braves last time out with a season-high 32 points. once in the last eight years. Looking For 3-0 ...looking back at last year - Valpo is looking to get to 3-0 in MVC play on Saturday - a mark it has reached in - Valpo went 15-17 in its fi rst season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference. conference play just twice this century. - The Brown and Gold posted a 6-12 record in MVC play in a conference which - Despite winning fi ve regular season titles in its last six seasons in the Horizon ended the season ranked eighth in the nation in conference RPI. League, the 2015-16 season was the only time in that stretch Valpo won each of its - The 2017-18 campaign marked the fi rst time in the last eight years that Valpo has fi rst two league games, starting 6-0 en route to a 16-2 league record. not earned a bid to postseason tournament play. - The 2002-03 Valpo squad also started 6-0 on its way to a 12-2 record and a Mid-Con- - Sophomore Bakari Evelyn was named to the MVC’s All-Newcomer Team, while tinent Conference regular season championship, the only other time this century sophomore Markus Golder earned a spot on the conference’s All-Bench Team. Valpo has won at least three straight games to open conference play. - Last season, it took Valpo until its 11th MVC game to earn its third conference win. ...in the win at Missouri State - The game was tied at 16-16 with less than nine minutes remaining in the fi rst half Challenging Start to Conference Play before Valpo out-scored MSU 30-8 to close the period. - Valpo’s schedule in the fi rst quarter-plus of MVC play shaped up to be a tough - Valpo scored on 14 of its fi nal 18 possessions of the fi rst half. slate entering the season. - The Bears got no closer than 13 points in the second half - MSU had a shot with - Valpo will face each of the conference’s top four teams in the preseason poll within 11:09 to play which would have cut Valpo’s lead to 10, but missed, and Valpo followed the fi rst fi ve games of MVC action. with 3-pointers from Ryan Fazekas and Bakari Evelyn on its next two possessions. - Valpo has already defeated Illinois State (#2) and takes on Bradley (#4) on Tuesday, - Valpo won its fi rst MVC road game of the season after not winning a conference and then faces Southern Illinois (#3) and Loyola (#1) on the road in its next two games. road contest until the regular season fi nale at Drake last season. - Four players scored in double fi gures, while two others fi nished with nine points as High Five well. Ryan Fazekas led the way with 18 points on a season-best tying six 3-pointers. - Graduate transfer Deion Lavender has shown the ability to fi ll up the stat sheet in - Bakari Evelyn scored 13 off the bench, while Markus Golder fi nished with 11 points his fi rst 15 games in a Valpo uniform. and Derrik Smits 10 points - both coming in just 18 minutes of action. - Last time out in the win over Missouri State, Lavender set a career best with 10 rebounds and added seven points and fi ve assists without committing a turnover. ...in the win over Illinois State - Five times already in his Valpo career, Lavender has tallied at least fi ve points, fi ve - Valpo was down 10 with 2:07 to play when ISU’s Matt Chastain tipped in a miss rebounds and fi ve assists in the same game. - Valpo had just a 1.3% win probability at that point. - That matches the most such games by a Valpo player in a single season since Lubos - Valpo had three offensive rebounds in the fi nal 80 seconds, leading to second-chance Barton reached the marks six times as a junior during the 2000-01 season. baskets from Markus Golder and Derrik Smits. Golder also drew a pair of offensive fouls in the backcourt in the fi nal 40 seconds. Centers of Attention - Golder hit the fi rst two of three free throws with 5.1 seconds to play to cut ISU’s - The combined play of Valpo centers Derrik Smits and Jaume Sorolla has proven lead to 56-55, but missed the third and the Redbirds’ Zach Copeland grabbed the crucial to winning since joining The Valley. rebound and was fouled with 2.9 seconds to play. - Since joining the MVC, in Valpo’s eight conference wins, Smits and Sorolla have - Copeland missed the front end of the one-and-one, Golder grabbed the rebound combined to average 16.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.