The Valparaiso men’s basketball team will play at Rhode Island on Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. CT, live on ESPN2 as part of ESPN’s College Hoops Tip Off Marathon, as ESPN announced the lineup for its annual event on Tuesday.
This year’s appearance in the Tip Off Marathon marks Valpo’s second all-time appearance in the event, as the Crusaders previously played Northern Illinois in November of 2012 – a 69-46 Valpo victory. This will be the fourth meeting all-time between Rhode Island and Valpo, with the first being the most famous – a matchup in the Sweet 16 of the 1998 NCAA Tournament which the Rams won 74-68. The Crusaders have won the two most recent meetings in 2000 (69-62) and 2001 (68-43), however.
As they did when they competing in the 2012 Tip Off Marathon, Valpo returns all five starters heading into the 2015-16 campaign. The Crusaders, who just concluded a foreign tour in Canada, bring back nearly 99% of their scoring from last year’s team and add two transfers, one freshman and one returning redshirt to the mix as well.