Peters Selected in 2017 NBA Draft

2017 Horizon League Player of the Year Alec Peters was drafted in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft Thursday evening by the Phoenix Suns with the 54th overall pick. Peters is the seventh Horizon League player taken in the NBA Draft since 2010, joining Oakland's Kay Felder (2016), Green Bay's Alec Brown (2014), Detroit Mercy's Ray McCallum (2013), Cleveland State's Norris Cole (2011), Butler’s Shelvin Mack (2011) and Gordon Hayward (2010).

(Courtesy Valparaiso Media Relations)
Peters was an NABC Third Team All-American as a senior at Valparaiso, leading the way as Valpo earned a third consecutive Horizon League regular season title. An Honorable Mention All-American selection by the AP for a second straight year and the Horizon League Player of the Year, Peters averaged 23 points and 10.1 rebounds per game - both tops in the league and ranking eighth and 16th, respectively, in the nation. Peters was the only player in the nation to rank among the top-20 in both scoring and rebounding. He posted 16 double-doubles on the year, good for 21st nationally, and also ranked 20th in the nation in free throw percentage (88.7%).

In the process, Peters rewrote the Valpo record books. The three-time First Team All-League honoree finished the season third in a single season in program history in scoring (666 points) and seventh in rebounding (293 rebounds) despite missing the last four games of the year. He finished his senior campaign second in program history in single-season scoring average and eighth in single-season rebounding average, as well as second in free throws made (172) and sixth in free throw percentage.

Over the course of the season, Peters broke five of the program’s career benchmarks, including breaking the team’s career rebounding and scoring records in back-to-back games. He also broke the program marks for field goals made, free throws made and games started, ranks second in 3-pointers made and games played, and ranks fourth all-time at Valpo in free throw percentage. Peters also left his mark on the Horizon League record book, as he ranks third in league history with 2,348 career points scored – the most by any Horizon League player since 1988 – and also is tied for third all-time with nine career league Player of the Week honors.

Peters is the first Crusader to be chosen in the NBA Draft since Bryce Drew was selected by the Houston Rockets in the first round with the 16th overall pick in 1998, and is the sixth Valpo player overall to be picked in the NBA Draft.