Game #8 - #21/#25 Rhode Island Tuesday Nov 29 7pm in the ARC

[bbtds]

I seem to remember South Carolina in the first game of the 1998-1999 season being ranked in the UPI poll. This was the game in the RCA Dome where Valpo played opposite Indiana.

That was the beginning of the Lubos Barton era at Valpo. He was huge in those wins against South Carolina and Seton Hall.

[oklahomamick]

We didn't play very much zone against Ball St.  That surprised me because our zone was very successful against Bama and BYU

[NativeCheesehead]

While the situation at UWM that played out last season was indeed a train wreck, might i remind wh that the AD who hired the coach who beat us in the tourney and reped the Horizon in the NCAA tournament is a woman?

[covufan]

https://twitter.com/MichaelOsipoff/status/803749277528944641

[vu84v2]

I seem to remember South Carolina in the first game of the 1998-1999 season being ranked in the UPI poll. This was the game in the RCA Dome where Valpo played opposite Indiana.

That was the beginning of the Lubos Barton era at Valpo. He was huge in those wins against South Carolina and Seton Hall.

Lobos Barton's quote after the South Carolina game when he was asked what he thought of the RCA Dome..."big as Czech airport". Ivan Vujic also picked up Homer in celebration.

I remember South Carolina being #25 in the UPI poll, but not ranked in the AP. Indeed, they had a horrible season. Still, those were two amazing games because Valpo fans knew none of the new players (Barton, Tonagal, Vuijic, etc.) and they played great against two big conference schools.

[historyman]

I think this is going to be our biggest home crowd of the year so far. The parking lots that fill up about 1/2 hour before the game were already full about 6 pm.

[vu72]

I think this is going to be our biggest home crowd of the year so far. The parking lots that fill up about 1/2 hour before the game were already full about 6 pm.

Glad to hear it.  The ticket office shows about 2500?? 

[a3uge]

URI is going to have to really pick it up to "it won't even be close win"

[ValpoDad89]

Couldn't play a half of basketball anymore closer than that. Glad we are up 1 and stats wise, everything is pretty much even.

Need to start the 2nd Half off really strong.

[FWalum]

 Up eight with six to go and I can hear the Rhode Island people now saying they got homered by the referees.

[VUOR63]

10 ticks left, up by 3.  We could sure use Alec Peters' 3 free throws on that whiffed call in the first half.

[VUOR63]

Big win.  Now, if we can avoid getting beat by 40 to Kentucky, we should be in good shape.

[jloose128]

What a game!

[vu72]

A fantastic win in as great a college game as I have seen in many years.  Great coaching as EC Mathews disappeared.  Alec was Alec. Wonderful for the program and I wonder, were any recruits in audience??

[crusaderjoe]

Notre Dame 1988 can now officially fade into history.

[mj]

Everyone ok with renaming it "Matt Lottich Court"?

[DMvalpo18]

I love it when a guy watches 1 game and becomes a match-up expert:

From the URI board:

Forget last year. Two different teams.

I watched their game against Ball St today. They came back to get the win but trust me, this Valpo team can not hang with us. Peters may get his but we will shut everyone else down.

We will have a huge advantage at the guard positions and I think we will be just fine around the basket as well. Haas will do his best to contain Peters.

They have very little depth. Our style of defense is going to wear them down.

This game isn't a toss-up. We will win handily.

Please note we will have to deal with a couple of real Valpo homers on the ESPN3 broadcast. Will be nice to shut them up with a resounding victory.

Can you tell I'm confident in this one?

Anybody noting what this idiot has to say now?

[oklahomamick]

For a second, I thought we were going to choke it away.  Great game.  Big credit to the players and coaching staff. 

I've seen a lot of funny comments on twitter comparing old and new staffs....These are the players Bryce recruited.  And very good players at that.  One being probably the best in the history of the program.  We have seen that Coach Lottich can coach.  Let's see how the players that he recruited turn out. 

But for now...this was awesome.  Wish there was a larger crowd.  Great result and fun times to be a Crusader.  And the homerun ball pretty much worked again! It's been a fun ride to end last year in NYC and a great ride to the start of the year.   

[EddieCabot]

Awesome win!  Already getting lots of recognition from national publications.

http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2016/11/29/valparaiso-picks-up-key-non-conference-win-over-no-21-rhode-island/

[SanityLost17]

26 games to go (including 3 HL tournament games -- in Detroit).  Assuming a loss to Kentucky and a hypothetical loss in the HL championship game to a team like Oakland, we likely need to go 22-2 in the remaining 24 to get an at large.  We simply cannot finish with more than 5 loses based on how bad our SOS will be by the end of HL play.   Tall order for a team that has not shown much depth. 

[agibson]

I remember South Carolina being #25 in the UPI poll, but not ranked in the AP. Indeed, they had a horrible season.

Interesting! You really meant UPI. I assumed it was a typo for AP. I didn't know UPI ever had a basketball poll. Do they still?

[agibson]

Great win from Valpo tonight! Tremendous fight, and great adjustment from Alec in particular, in a game officiated like none other we've seen this season.

Nice of them to let the students on the court. I wonder what Lottich had to say.

Tremendous game from Jubril, and others.

This "brick wall at the 3PT line" begins to seem like a Lottich signature defense. I don't remember ever seeing it from Bryce. Their player, with 10 s left, saw his lane, dutifully drove the basket, and was then all "Wait... I can't hit this - we'll lose!" and threw it out to the heavily guarded perimeter. For Alec Peters to eventually block the three pointer.

Not a big crowd at the ARC. Pretty good for a Tuesday. Student section wasn't even full. But, the atmosphere was very good! Atmosphere per ticket sold, or atmosphere per student in attendance, and it was phenomenal!

Great game!

[agibson]

OK, with a a combination of reading this thread, my kids being the right age, and the opportunity to take time off to get there, I am going to take my family to the game tomorrow.

Any chance that was you guys ringing the Victory Bell fifteen minutes, rather late, after the final whistle? Maybe your dad at some distance. Son in a vintage Vilcinskas jersey that looked almost Vlicinskas-sized on him?

In any case, I hope the kids had a good time!

[hailcrusaders]

Glancing over the box score, we only went 3-10 from three but found other ways to score.

We had 17 turnovers to URI's 9. I would not have thought we'd win if I didn't know any better.

Tthought we played outstanding defense this evening. Almost reminiscent of last year's game.

EC Matthews was held to a quiet six points, also reminiscent of last year's game 

[hailcrusaders]

Not a big crowd at the ARC. Pretty good for a Tuesday. Student section wasn't even full. But, the atmosphere was very good! Atmosphere per ticket sold, or atmosphere per student in attendance, and it was phenomenal! Great game!

Anyone know the attendance? Would have guessed between 3,000 and 3,500 from ESPN3. I had a dream the other night I was there and the crowd was no more than 2,000...glad to see that was not the case