First Look at 2018-19 VU Men’s Basketball Team Comes Thursday Night

First-Look-at-2018-19-VU-Mens-Basketball-Team-Comes-Thursday-Night The Valparaiso University men's basketball team will kick off the 2018-19 season on Thursday evening as it welcomes Indianapolis to the ARC for an exhibition game.

Thursday’s Matchup
Valpo welcomes UIndy to town for Thursday night’s exhibition game, the lone exhibition on the slate for this season. The Greyhounds posted a 19-9 record last season and went 12-6 in GLVC play. UIndy is replacing its top three scorers, however, as its leading returning scorer is senior forward Jesse Kempson, who averaged 12.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game a season ago.

Valpo has not played UIndy, previously known as Indiana Central, in regular season action for over 40 years, as the last matchup was a 71-70 Valpo win on Feb. 25, 1978. The Greyhounds have given Valpo a pair of tough battles in exhibition play in the recent past, however, as UIndy won 88-83 in 2009 and Valpo edged out a 75-67 victory in 2015.

The Non-Conference Campaign
Valpo jumps into non-conference action next Tuesday evening as it hosts Concordia University Chicago in its regular season opener. The challenging slate away from home then starts up at the Myrtle Beach Invitational Nov. 15-18, where Valpo will face Western Kentucky, either Monmouth or West Virginia, and then one of Saint Joseph’s, UCF, Wake Forest or Cal State Fullerton.

Valpo will travel to take on West Virginia (Nov. 24) and UNLV (Nov. 28) in a road trip right after the Thanksgiving holiday, and then has road games in December at George Washington (Dec. 8) and Texas A&M (Dec. 19). Home games against SIUE (Nov. 21), UC Riverside (Dec. 2), High Point (Dec. 4) and Ball State (Dec. 17) are on the docket as well, before non-conference action concludes with a post-Christmas tune-up against Purdue Northwest (Dec. 29) as Valpo gears up for MVC action.

Who’s Back
Valpo heads into its second season of Missouri Valley Conference play this season, coming off of a 15-17 overall record a year ago and a 6-12 mark in its first season of MVC action. The 2017-18 campaign marked the first time in the last eight years that Valpo has not earned a bid to postseason tournament play.

A pair of MVC postseason honorees highlight the corps of seven returnees for Valpo in 2018-19. Junior Bakari Evelyn led Valpo in assists and finished second on the team in scoring last season in his first year of action. The only Valpo player to start all 32 games last year, Evelyn was a member of the MVC All-Newcomer Team and averaged a team-high 14.1 points per game in MVC play.

Junior college transfer Markus Golder made an immediate impact on Valpo in his first season as well. The junior was named to the MVC All-Bench Team after averaging 9.5 points per game and leading Valpo on the year with 138 total rebounds. A high flyer who electrified the fanbase with his dunking ability, Golder also proved to be the team’s top shooter on the season, finishing the year best on the team in both 3-point percentage (42.9%) and free throw percentage (83.1%).

Evelyn and Golder are two of seven members of Valpo’s large junior class. Up front, juniors Jaume Sorolla and Derrik Smits again look to split time at the center position after combining to average 12.4 points, seven rebounds and two blocks per game a season ago. On the wing, junior John Kiser averaged 18.2 minutes per game in his first season on scholarship and led Valpo in rebounding in eight of his 26 appearances. In the backcourt, junior Micah Bradford came off the bench last year and paced Valpo in assists in conference play.

Valpo’s seventh and final returnee from last year is sophomore forward Mileek McMillan. McMillan joined the starting five just after the start of MVC play and started each of Valpo’s final 18 games of the season. He will look for playing time at both the 4 and 5 spots this season.

What’s New
Valpo’s lone senior is a graduate transfer, Deion Lavender. The 6’3” guard spent the last two seasons at UAB, appearing in 52 games for the Blazers. As a sophomore in 2016-17, Lavender led UAB and ranked eighth in Conference USA in assists and also ranked ninth in the conference in assist/turnover ratio. He brings MVC experience to the Valpo program as well, as he spent his freshman year at Southern Illinois.

Local product Ryan Fazekas is eligible this season for the first time after sitting out last year as a transfer from Providence. The junior wing made 19 starts in his two years with the Friars and connected on 56 3-pointers. A standout at Marquette Catholic H.S. in Michigan City, Fazekas led the school to the Indiana 1A state title in 2014.

Valpo welcomes a trio of freshmen to the fold this season as well. Javon Freeman finished his senior year fifth in the voting for Mr. Basketball in the state of Illinois, leading Whitney Young to the Illinois 4A state title in 2017 and a second consecutive championship game appearance in 2018.

Daniel Sackey is a speedy guard from Winnipeg who was ranked #16 in his class in Canada and won the Slam Dunk Contest at the 2018 BioSteel All-Canadian Game. Langston Stalling is another local product, coming from Bowman Academy in Gary where he averaged 18.6 points per game as a senior. Stalling is attending Valpo on a Lilly Scholarship.