2020–21 Valparaiso Crusaders men's basketball team

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
	† 2021 MVC Tournament winner ; As of February 5, 2021; Rankings from AP Poll

Valparaiso Crusaders men's basketball
2020–21 Valparaiso Crusaders men's basketball
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
2020–21 record	6–11 (3–5 MVC)
Head coach	Matt Lottich (5th season);
Assistant coaches	Luke Gore; Rob Holloway; Matt Bowen;
Home arena	Athletics–Recreation Center

The 2020–21 Valparaiso Crusaders men's basketball team represents Valparaiso University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Crusaders, led by fifth-year head coach Matt Lottich, play their home games at the Athletics–Recreation Center as members of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Previous season

The Crusaders finished the 2019–20 season 19–16, 9–9 in MVC play to finish in a tie for sixth place. As the No. 7 seed in the MVC Tournament, they defeated Evansville, Loyola–Chicago, and Missouri State to advance to the championship game where they lost to Bradley. All postseason play was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Reason for departure
Javon Freeman-Liberty	0	G	6'3"	175	Sophomore	Chicago, IL	Transferred to DePaul
John Kiser	33	G/F	6'5"	205	Senior	Noblesville, IN	Graduated
Ryan Fazekas	35	G/F	6'7"	220	RS Senior	Chesterton, IN	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Goodnews Kpegeol	0	G	6'5"	200	RS Sophomore	St. Paul, MN	Transferred from Southwest Mississippi CC.

2020 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight
Sheldon Edwards #13 SG	West Palm Beach, FL	Palm Beach Lakes / TLAP Sports Academy	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)
Sheldon Edwards #13 SG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A
Jacob Ognacevic #34 PF	Sheboygan, Wisconsin	Sheboygan Area Lutheran	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)
Jacob Ognacevic #34 PF	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A
Connor Barrett #35 SG	Chicago, Illinois	Loyola Academy	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)
Connor Barrett #35 SG	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources:

Roster

2020–21 Valparaiso Crusaders men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	0	Goodnews Kpegeol	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	RS So	North HS Kansas State/SW Mississippi CC	St. Paul, MN
G	1	Sigurd Lorange	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	So	Metis Videregaende Skole	Trondheim, Norway
G	2	Zion Morgan	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	RS Sr	Kenwood UNLV/Wabash Valley	Chicago, IL
G	3	Steven Helm	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	RS So	Valparaiso HS Carroll	Valparaiso, IN
G	4	Daniel Sackey	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Jr	Thornlea	Winnipeg, MB
G/F	5	Donovan Clay	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	So	Alton HS	Alton, IL
G	10	Eron Gordon	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	RS Sr	Cathedral HS Seton Hall	Indianapolis, IN
C	11	Emil Freese-Vilien	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	255 lb (116 kg)	So	Falkonergardens Gymnasium	Copenhagen, Denmark
G/F	12	Tyler Fricke (W)	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	Fr	Buffalo Grove HS	Arlington Heights, IL
G	13	Sheldon Edwards	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Fr	Palm Beach Lakes HS TLAP Sports Academy	West Palm Beach, FL
G	15	Luke Morrill (W)	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	So	Montini Catholic HS	Lombard, IL
F	21	Brock Pappas (W)	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	Jr	Washington Township HS	Valparaiso, IN
F	22	Mileek McMillan	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	Sr	Merrillville HS	Merrillville, IN
F	23	Ben Krikke	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	So	Jasper Place HS	Edmonton, AB
G	25	Nick Robinson	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	RS Sr	Kenwood Saint Joseph's	Chicago, IL
F	34	Jacob Ognacevic	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Fr	Sheboygan Lutheran HS	Sheboygan, WI
G/F	35	Connor Barrett	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Fr	Loyola Academy	Chicago, IL

Head coach

Matt Lottich (Stanford)

Assistant coach(es)

Luke Gore (Bethel (TN))
Todd Townsend (Marquette)
Rob Holloway (Eastern Illinois)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Roster
Last update: January 1, 2021

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 27, 2020* 6:00 pm, SECN	at Vanderbilt	L 71–77	0–1	Memorial Gymnasium (0) Nashville, TN
December 1, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN3	at UIC	L 50–66	0–2	Credit Union 1 Arena (0) Chicago, IL
December 4, 2020* 6:00 pm, BTN	at Purdue	L 61–68	0–3	Mackey Arena (0) West Lafayette, IN
December 6, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPN3	Judson	W 85–45	1–3	Athletics–Recreation Center (66) Valparaiso, IN
December 9, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN3	SIU Edwardsville	W 80–58	2–3	Athletics–Recreation Center (60) Valparaiso, IN
December 12, 2020* 3:30 pm, ESPN3	at Central Michigan	L 79–84	2–4	McGuirk Arena (0) Mount Pleasant, MI
December 16, 2020 6:00 pm	Eastern Michigan Canceled due to lack of available scholarship players for Eastern Michigan[2]			Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
December 17, 2020* 5:30 pm, ESPN3	Purdue Northwest	W 89–71	3–4	Athletics–Recreation Center (74) Valparaiso, IN
December 19, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPN3	at Toledo	L 57–71	3–5	Savage Arena (0) Toledo, OH
December 21, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN3	Mount St. Joseph Canceled due to COVID-19 protocols[3]			Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
January 9, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+	Missouri State	L 68–81	3–6 (0–1)	Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
January 10, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+	Missouri State	L 68–78	3–7 (0–2)	Athletics–Recreation Center (80) Valparaiso, IN
January 16, 2021* 3:00 pm, FS1	at DePaul	L 58–77	3–8	Wintrust Arena Chicago, IL
January 20, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+	Loyola–Chicago	L 39–75	3–9 (0–3)	Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
January 23, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN3	at Illinois State	W 69–60	4–9 (1–3)	Redbird Arena Normal, IL
January 24, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN3	at Illinois State	W 70–66	5–9 (2–3)	Redbird Arena Normal, IL
January 28, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3	Bradley	W 91–85 ^2OT	6–9 (3–3)	Athletics–Recreation Center (77) Valparaiso, IN
January 31, 2021 3:00 pm, ESPN3	at Evansville	L 52–70	6–10 (3–4)	Ford Center Evansville, IN
February 1, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3	at Evansville	L 51–58	6–11 (3–5)	Ford Center Evansville, IN
February 6, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN3	No. 25 Drake			Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
February 7, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+	No. 25 Drake			Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
February 10, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3	Bradley			Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
February 12, 2021	at Northern Iowa			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
February 13, 2021	at Northern Iowa			McLeod Center Cedar Falls, IA
February 17, 2021	at Loyola–Chicago			Joseph J. Gentile Arena Chicago, IL
February 20, 2021	at Southern Illinois			Banterra Center Carbondale, IL
February 21, 2021 Marquee Sports Network	at Southern Illinois			Banterra Center Carbondale, IL
February 26, 2021	Indiana State			Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
February 27, 2021	Indiana State			Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source[4]

References

"NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments, all other winter and spring championships". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
"EMU-Valparaiso Men's Basketball Game Canceled". emueagles.com. Eastern Michigan Athletics. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
"Valpo Men's Basketball Announces Schedule Change". valpoathletics.com. Valparaiso University Athletics. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
"Men's Basketball Schedule". valpoathletics.com. Valparaiso University Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2021.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments, all other winter and spring championships". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-12-06.

[2] "EMU-Valparaiso Men's Basketball Game Canceled". emueagles.com. Eastern Michigan Athletics. Retrieved 16 January 2021.

[3] "Valpo Men's Basketball Announces Schedule Change". valpoathletics.com. Valparaiso University Athletics. Retrieved 16 January 2021.

[4] "Men's Basketball Schedule". valpoathletics.com. Valparaiso University Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2021.

Valparaiso Crusaders men's basketball
Venues	Hilltop Gym (1939–1984) ARC (1984–present)
Culture & lore	History "The Shot"
People	Head coaches NBA players
Seasons	1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 25 Drake	8	–	0	1.000	17	–	0	1.000
Loyola-Chicago	10	–	1	.909	15	–	3	.833
Evansville	6	–	4	.600	8	–	8	.500
Indiana State	7	–	5	.583	10	–	7	.588
Missouri State	5	–	5	.500	9	–	5	.643
Valparaiso	3	–	5	.375	6	–	11	.353
Northern Iowa	3	–	7	.300	5	–	11	.313
Bradley	3	–	7	.300	9	–	10	.474
Southern Illinois	2	–	6	.250	8	–	6	.571
Illinois State	2	–	9	.182	5	–	12	.294

† 2021 MVC Tournament winner As of February 5, 2021; Rankings from AP Poll