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 Illinois State (7-14, 2-7 MVC) Date Opponent Time/Result at Valparaiso (11-11, 4-5 MVC) Oct. 19 Cedarville (exhibition) W 85-65 Game No. 23 – Saturday, Feb. 1 – 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 Nov. 17 North Dakota ESPN3 W 74-60 team will begin a home-heavy stretch on Saturday night as Illinois State comes Nov. 22 vs. Grand Canyon! FloHoops W 78-74 Nov. 24 vs. Nevada! FloHoops L 84-59 to the Athletics-Recreation Center. This will mark the first meeting of the year Nov. 25 Cincinnati! FloHoops L 81-77(ot) between the two teams as Illinois State enters the weekend as the final Missouri Nov. 27 Trinity Christian# ESPN3 W 98-71 Valley Conference squad that Valpo has not yet played. This will start a stretch Dec. 3 at Eastern Michigan ESPN+ L 85-79 where Valpo plays three of four at home for the first time all season. Dec. 8 Central Michigan ESPN+ W 77-55 Dec. 16 at Charlotte 49ers TV L 67-57 Last Time Out: Valpo is coming off an 80-69 defeat at the hands of Bradley on Dec. 18 at High Point ESPN+ W 87-72 Wednesday night in Peoria. The defending MVC Tournament champion Braves Dec. 21 at Arkansas No Video - WVUR Only L 72-68 Dec. 30 Loyola* The Valley ESPN+ L 66-63 shot 52.9 percent from the field on their way to improving their home record Jan. 4 at Evansville* The Valley on E+ W 81-79(ot) to 12-1. Valpo fought from 17 down with 12:21 to play to pull to within two Jan. 7 at Southern Illinois* ESPN+ L 63-50 with 3:38 to go, but the Braves scored 10 straight points after the final media Jan. 11 Drake* ESPN3 W 66-61 timeout to up the lead back to 12. Javon Freeman-Liberty led the way with 21 Jan. 15 at UNI* ESPN+ L 88-78 points, Ryan Fazekas nailed four 3s and scored 14 points and Donovan Clay Jan. 18 Indiana State*The Valley on ESPN+ W 86-77 poured in 13 of his 15 points after halftime. Jan. 23 at Missouri State*CBS Sports Network L 67-60 Jan. 26 Evansville* MVCTV Network W 67-65 Jan. 29 at Bradley* ESPN+ L 80-69 Following Valpo Basketball: Video – ESPN3 – Todd Ickow (play-by-play) Feb. 1 Illinois State* ESPN3 7 p.m. and Dave Huseman (analyst) Feb. 5 UNI* ESPN+ 7 p.m. Radio – WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) – Garrett Willis (play-by-play) and Feb. 9 at Loyola* ESPNU 3 p.m. 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 (65-55) 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 Trading Ws and Ls: Although eventually hoping to buck this trend, Valpo enters Saturday shooting to continue its pattern of trading off wins and losses this season. The team has not lost back-to-back games or won back-to-back games in Valley play through the first nine contests, with the Brown & Gold 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 consistently bouncing back and forth between a game under .500 and minutes remaining. The Brown & Gold followed that up by going the .500 mark in league play. This is the first time since at least 1982, into Redbird Arena and recording a 69-53 win on Feb. 5. when Valpo joined the Association of Mid-Continent Universities, that the team has not had back-to-back wins or back-to-back losses Scouting the Redbirds in the first nine games of the conference slate. - Picked to finish seventh in the MVC preseason poll. - Zach Copeland was a third-team preseason all-MVC selection. He Turnover Trends: Valpo won the turnover battle 18-10 on Jan. 29 at leads the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game and is shooting Bradley and has turned the ball over 10 times or fewer in consecutive 41.3 percent from 3-point range. He ranks fifth in the league in games for the first time all season after a season-low eight turnovers scoring and third with 2.7 made 3s per game. on Jan. 26 vs. Evansville. The game against the Braves marked the - Started the Valley season with a surprising 76-70 upset vs. UNI, team’s best turnover margin since Nov. 17 and Nov. 22, when Valpo then dropped seven straight games. won the turnover battle against North Dakota by nine and Grand - Losing streak ended with a 77-66 home victory over Evansville Canyon by eight. The eight-turnover advantage against Bradley tied on Wednesday. Five Redbirds finished in double figures, including with a game against Indiana State on Jan. 31, 2018 for Valpo’s best Jaycee Hillsman’s season-high 20-point output. turnover margin in league play since joining the MVC. - Under the direction of head coach Dan Muller, who has been in charge of the program since the 2012-2013 season. He was named Increased Thievery: Valpo swiped 10 steals in the Jan. 29 game at the 2017 MVC Coach of the Year. Bradley, already the team’s eighth game this season with 10 steals or more and the 15th game with nine steals or more. By comparison, Among the Nation’s Elite: Javon Freeman-Liberty ranks 20th the team had just four games a year ago with nine steals or more nationally in points per game at 20.3, 23rd in steals per game at and two with double-figure steal totals. As a team, Valpo has 8.4 2.23, 12th in field goals made (162), sixth in field goal attempts steals per game, up from 6.1 last season. (376) and 11th in total steals (49). Among sophomores, he’s fourth in the nation in scoring and third in steals. Freeman-Liberty and Unpack the Suitcase: By hosting Illinois State on Saturday and N.C. Central’s Jibri Blount are the only two players in the Top 25 UNI on Wednesday, Valpo will play back-to-back home games for nationally in both scoring and steals. the first time all season. This will be the first time in the history of Valpo basketball, going all the way back to the first season on record Freeman-Liberty Eyes the Record Book: Currently at 446 points, in 1917, where the team has not played back-to-back home games Javon Freeman-Liberty has an opportunity to finish the year among until after the calendar flipped to February. Valpo’s all-time scoring leaders, needing to get to 570 to join the program’s single-season Top 10. He finished his freshman season Home Cooking: Valpo clinched a winning record at home by with 60 steals, the most by a rookie in program history and the improving to 7-1 at the Athletics-Recreation Center with Sunday’s third-most by any Valpo player. This year he is at 49, just four away victory over Evansville. Valpo hasn’t finished with a losing mark from moving into a tie for 10th with Bryce Drew’s 1997-98 season at the ARC since 1991-92, extending the streak to 28 seasons with on Valpo’s single-season steals list. Sunday’s win. This is the fifth time in the last six seasons that Valpo has been 7-1 or better through the first eight home games. The Swiping and Dishing: Valpo currently leads the Missouri Valley home success this year includes two victories over Mid-American Conference in steals at 8.4 steals per game and ranks second in assists Conference teams that qualified for postseason tournaments a year at 15.3 per contest.