Here come the Crusaders Valpo Men's Basketball Team
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Meeting Valpo as a team:
Valpo lost to Bradley in the Finals of Arch Madness last March and then lost their best player Javon Freeman-Liberty to transfer. Since that point, they've also lost Senior Nick Robinson to COVID-19 opt-out. Despite this, Valpo fights every night and is going to give you their best shot. They gave Drake their first loss of the year and nearly beat Loyola on Wednesday in Chicago.
What Valpo does well:
Valpo tends to take care of the basketball well. They're 119th in the country in steal % from the opposing team and 86th in the country in block % from the opposing team. Valpo has been a pretty solid defensive team this year. They're 127th in adjusted efficiency on the defensive end and 127th in the country in block %.
What Valpo doesn't do well:
Valpo's offense is 262nd in the country in offensive adjusted efficiency and 267th in the country in effective field goal %. Since Missouri Valley Conference play has started, Valpo is dead last in the conference as a team in effective FG %. Like SIU, Valpo is among the bottom teams in offensive rebounding, they're 333th in the country in that stat. Valpo also struggles shooting the 3 ball, they're 314th in the country at 3 point shooting % (29.9%).
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Meeting the Valpo players:
Valpo's leading scorer is 6'9 Sophomore Ben Krikke, averaging 12.3 points per game. Krikke is 302nd in the country in effective field goal % and 304th in the country in true shooting %. Krikke is also 268th in the country in block %.
Valpo's second leading scorer and leading rebounder is 6'7 Sophomore Donovan Clay with 10.5 points per game and 5.6 rebounds per game. Clay gets the load of the minutes on Valpo, he's 153rd in the country in % of minutes played and 2nd in the Missouri Valley. Clay is 278th in the country in block % and 6th in the Missouri Valley since league play started.
Valpo's leading assister is 5'9 Junior Daniel Sackey. Sackey is 117th in the country in assist rate and 4th in the Missouri Valley since league play began. Sackey is also 200th in the country in steal %, 3rd in the Missouri Valley since conference play started.
Two under the radar players to look out for are 6'5 Senior Zion Morgan and 6'3 Senior Eron Gordon. Morgan, a transfer from UNLV from 2017, scored 15 points against Loyola on Wednesday and seems to be getting into form after missing most of the season. Gordon, a transfer from Seton Hall from 2018, is 139th in the country in free throw rate and 1st in the Valley in that stat since league play started.
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Last Season:
On January 7th, 2020; the Salukis defeated Valpo 63-50 in Carbondale. The Salukis were led by 23 points by Marcus Domask on 5-6 shooting from 3.
On February 12th, 2020; Valpo defeated the Salukis 55-38 at home ending the Salukis 7 game winning streak. Ben Krikke led all Valpo scorers with 15 and added 7 rebounds. The Salukis couldn't find their shot at all shooting 23.6% (13-55).
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Past SIU/Valpo matchups on YouTube:
2019:
1/19 Valparaiso 65 SIU 61 (Home)
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Links:
I really don’t want to drop to 10th. A split here would go a long way but we’d be at the mercy of UNI/ISU series next weekend. A sweep would take it out of play.
Will we come out strong and actually compete? I would like to see Filewich and D'Avanzo start; their high-low plays have worked really well when they're out their together.
Need to start playing some better basketball with only 4 games left before Arch Madness.
Domask in street clothes. Looking quite likely at this point that the “week-to-week” injury was season-ending.
Decent start
Lottich inherited a pretty solid program and ran it directly into the ground
Looking like the 3 is either going to make us or break us yet again, at least early in the game driving to the basket or getting the ball down low is not a priority.
If SIU played any defense, they'd be rolling right now. Unfortunately, Valpo is matching SIU's hot offense.
I would like to know how Valpo has had at least 2, perhaps 3-4 wide open 3's. I don't mean where the defender is even 2' away. I'm talking wide open.
I would like to know how Valpo has had at least 2, perhaps 3-4 wide open 3's. I don't mean where the defender is even 2' away. I'm talking wide open.
That wide open corner 3 they just missed was perplexing. I think the most discouraging part of this season is SIU looks completely lost on defense a lot. Domask isn't a bad defender by any stretch but there's no way losing him should impact the team's defense that much.
I would like to know how Valpo has had at least 2, perhaps 3-4 wide open 3's. I don't mean where the defender is even 2' away. I'm talking wide open.
That wide open corner 3 they just missed was perplexing. I think the most discouraging part of this season is SIU looks completely lost on defense a lot. Domask isn't a bad defender by any stretch but there's no way losing him should impact the team's defense that much.
Agreed. Part of the issue is not enough quickness to execute the various switches and rotations.
Valpo is one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country and they have 5 offensive rebounds to SIU's 0 so far.
D'Avanzo having a heck of a first half. Best he's played this year.
D'Avanzo is having a huge first half - I am happy for him. That being said, I still hope that SIU has a MAJOR upgrade at that position next year.
SIU 39
Valpo 34
Halftime
Glad SIU went into the half with the lead. They're going to need to make adjustments like they made in the Bradley win a few weeks ago. Don't know if SIU can win another track-meet half like that. Need to emphasis defense.
D'Avanzo the leading scorer with 12. Trent Brown with 9 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists.
