Valpo to face BYU in NIT Semifinals

Horizon League regular season champion Valparaiso continues its march to a possible NIT title as it faces BYU on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET in Madison Square Garden.

The Crusaders are the lone number one seed in the NIT to make the semifinals. The second semifinal will pit George Washington against San Diego State.

Valpo's semifinal game will be televised on ESPN with Bob Wischusen, Fran Fraschilla and Kaylee Hartung on the call. The Crusaders are the first Horizon League team since Detroit in 2001 to advance to the semifinals in New York City. Saint Louis in 1990 was the last Horizon League team to make the championship game.

First Meeting Since 1948
Tuesday night's matchup will be the third game all-time between the two programs and first meeting in over 67 years. The Cougars won the last meeting between the two schools, 62-57, on Dec. 8, 1948. Valparaiso won the first meeting between the schools in 1946.

Similar Coaching Paths
Both Valpo's Bryce Drew and BYU's Dave Rose spent many years with their programs in assistant roles being being elevated to the head coach position. Drew was with the Crusaders for six seasons as assistant or associate head coach befor taking the reigns of the program for the 2011-12 season. Drew has a 123-48 record with the Crusaders and has been named Horizon League Coach of the Year three times in his five seasons as head coach. Rose joined the BYU program in 1997 and spent eight years as an assistant or associate head coach before becoming head coach prior to the 2005 season. Rose is a three-time Mountain West Coach of the Year and his teams have won at least 20 games every season he has been head coach.

Contrasting Styles
Tuesday night will be a matchup of contrasting styles as Valparaiso and BYU both rank among national leaders in conflicting stat categories. The Crusaders head into the semifinals giving up only 62.2 points per game, which ranks as the ninth-fewest points allowed in NCAA DI this season, while the Cougars rank sixth in the nation in scoring offense at 84 points per game.

Valparaiso faced three teams during Horizon League play that rank in the top-10 in the nation in scoring offense. Oakland (1st), Detroit (8th) and Green Bay (9th) all averaged 83.7 points per game or better this season. The Crusaders went 6-1 against those three times this season with the only loss coming to Green Bay in overtime in the Horizon League Championship semifinals.

Worth Noting
- Valparaiso junior forward Alec Peters has been on an offensive tear the last eight games. Over the last eight games, Peters is averaging 25.3 points and 10.3 rebounds per game on 56 percent shooting from the field.
- Valparaiso senior center Vashil Fernandez - who became the first player in Horizon League history to be voted the League's Defensive Player of the Year twice - has 111 blocks this season and leads the nation with an average of 3.26 per game. He needs six more blocked shots to set the Horizon League single season record for blocked shots.
- The victory over Saint Mary’s last Tuesday was Valpo's 29th of the season, setting a program record for single-season wins. One more win would make Valpo just the third team in Horizon League history to win 30 games in a single season. The other two teams to reach 30 wins was the 2007-08 Butler squad (30-4) and the 2009-10 Butler team (33-5).
- Valpo currently ranks sixth nationally with a +9.4 rebound margin. The Crusaders held the advantage on the glass in 17 of 18 Horizon League games, including a double-figure advantage 11 times. BYU has a +4.7 rebound margin on the season and is 20-3 when it outrebounds its opponent.
- The Cougars entered Tuesday night's game 26-10 on the season, but BYU is just 10-8 in road or neutral contests this season. Valpo is 12-5 in games away from the ARC.