20 Games In...

Through 20 games, Valpo is .500 (10-10). A year ago today, they stood at the same record. But this year’s team is very different than the 24'-25’ Beacons squad.

With the addition of Shon Tupuola (and Carter Hopoi) Valpo is finally able to match up defensively with big men like Chase Walker. In last year’s contest against Illinois State, Walker was 9 of 11 from the field for 24 points. This year, with Tupuola walling up inside, Walker had to work much harder for his buckets. He was 8 of 19 and really struggled in the first half (2 of 11).

Rakim Chaney has also been a great point guard defender. Evan Miya’s analytics website rates him as the best defender on the team and top 20 in the conference.

With all these pieces, Valpo’s defense has gone from 233rd in the country at the end of last season to 108th today (kenpom.com). This is ahead of Baylor and multiple other Power Conference teams.

The offense didn’t improve as much (still somewhere in the 200 range on KenPom) but it’s improving as the season progresses with the emergence of Owen Dease. Since MVC started in mid December, Dease has averaged 17 points per game. Chaney has cooled somewhat since his rocket start (18 PPG in his first 5 games, 7 PPG in the 15 after). JT Pettigrew has been consistent (10 PPG in the first 10, 11 PPG in the last 10).

A good sign is that the scoring is more evenly distributed than last year, when All Wright and Cooper Schwieger needed to light up the scoreboard to give the team a chance. This season 6 different players are averaging 6 or more points per game, compared to just 4 last year.

Stats via ESPN (espn.com)

With all the improvement on defense (especially inside the paint) and the balance and depth they have this year, Valpo is a much stronger overall team than last year. KenPom views them as the 158th best team currently (they finished 205 last year). And the Beacons still have a lot of room for growth.

All Photos via Valparaiso University