2020–21 Valparaiso University men's basketball team

The 2020–21 Valparaiso University men's basketball team represented Valparaiso University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Valpo, led by fifth-year head coach Matt Lottich, played their home games at the Athletics–Recreation Center as members of the Missouri Valley Conference. They finished the season 10–18, 7–11 in MVC play to finish a three-way tie for fifth place. As the No. 6 seed in the MVC tournament, they lost to Missouri State in the quarterfinals.^[1]

2020–21 Valparaiso University men's basketball
Conference	Missouri Valley Conference
Record	10–18 (7–11 MVC)
Head coach	Matt Lottich (5th season)
Assistant coaches	Luke Gore Rob Holloway Matt Bowen
Home arena	Athletics–Recreation Center
Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 17 Loyola Chicago †	16	–	2		.889			26	–	5		.839
Drake	15	–	3		.833			26	–	5		.839
Missouri State	12	–	6		.667			17	–	7		.708
Indiana State	11	–	7		.611			15	–	10		.600
Evansville	7	–	11		.389			9	–	16		.360
Valparaiso	7	–	11		.389			10	–	18		.357
Northern Iowa	7	–	11		.389			10	–	15		.400
Bradley	6	–	12		.333			12	–	16		.429
Southern Illinois	5	–	13		.278			12	–	14		.462
Illinois State	4	–	14		.222			7	–	18		.280
† 2021 MVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

In February 2021, the school officially retired the use of the Crusaders name and mascot due to its use by certain hate groups.^[2][3]

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^[4] to advance to the championship game where they lost to Bradley.^[5] All further postseason play was canceled shortly thereafter due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.^[6]

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

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
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)
	Star ratings: 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)
	Star ratings: 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)
	Star ratings: 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	Rank#	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[7]			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[8]			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	L 77–80	6–12 (3–6)	Athletics–Recreation Center (123) Valparaiso, IN
February 7, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+		No. 25 Drake	W 74–57	7–12 (4–6)	Athletics–Recreation Center (119) Valparaiso, IN
February 10, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3		Bradley	L 52–76	7–13 (4–7)	Athletics–Recreation Center (88) Valparaiso, IN
February 13, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Iowa	W 70–57	8–13 (5–7)	McLeod Center (713) Cedar Falls, IA
February 14, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Northern Iowa	L 60–74	8–14 (5–8)	McLeod Center (953) Cedar Falls, IA
February 17, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+		at No. 22 Loyola–Chicago	L 52–54	8–15 (5–9)	Joseph J. Gentile Arena  Chicago, IL
February 20, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN+		at Southern Illinois	W 66–65	9–15 (6–9)	Banterra Center  Carbondale, IL
February 21, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Southern Illinois	L 64–67	9–16 (6–10)	Banterra Center  Carbondale, IL
February 26, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3		Indiana State	L 43–58	9–17 (6–11)	Athletics–Recreation Center  Valparaiso, IN
February 27, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN+		Indiana State	W 70–58	10–17 (7–11)	Athletics–Recreation Center (128) Valparaiso, IN
MVC tournament
March 5, 2021 8:00 pm, ESPN+	(6)	vs. (3) Missouri State Quarterfinals	L 55–66	10–18	Enterprise Center  St. Louis, MO
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Source^[9][10][11]

References

1. "Valparaiso vs. Missouri State - Box Score - March 5, 2021 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
2. Oren, Paul. "Mascot debate at Valparaiso has proponents and opponents, just as it did in the 1940s". The Times of Northwest Indiana. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
3. "You are being redirected..." www.athleticbusiness.com. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
4. "Valparaiso vs. Missouri State - Game Recap - March 7, 2020 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
5. "Valparaiso vs. Bradley - Game Recap - March 8, 2020 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
6. "NCAA cancels March Madness tournaments, all other winter and spring championships". NBC News. Retrieved December 6, 2020.
7. "EMU-Valparaiso Men's Basketball Game Canceled". emueagles.com. Eastern Michigan Athletics. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
8. "Valpo Men's Basketball Announces Schedule Change". valpoathletics.com. Valparaiso University Athletics. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
9. "Men's Basketball Schedule". valpoathletics.com. Valparaiso University Athletics. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
10. "2020-21 Valparaiso Crusaders Schedule and Results". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
11. "2020-21 Valparaiso Schedule". ESPN. Retrieved July 8, 2021.