Valparaiso proves it’s the team to beat in Horizon League
Valparaiso and Oakland were picked to finish first and second respectively at the top of the Horizon League when the season began two months ago and when they met Friday night the Crusaders left little doubt they’re the team to beat, at least at this point.
Valparaiso’s defensive strength trumped Oakland’s offensive prowess in a 84-67 win that gave the Crusaders a 2-0 start to league play. Valparaiso also crushed the Golden Grizzlies on the boards grabbing 19 more rebounds.
[Louisville player endures walk of shame after going to wrong bench]
Oakland came into the game ranked sixth in the nation in scoring as a team and guard Kay Felder is the third-highest scoring individual in the land. But Valparaiso features the most efficient defense in the land and it proved to be the difference. It’s also a reason why the Crusaders are a threat to make a deep run in March if they can win the conference tournament and get to the big dance. It might be hard for coach Bryce Drew’s team to earn an at-large berth two months down the line with losses to Ball State and Belmont.
But March is still a long way off and a lot could change for both these teams between now and then.
Just a few weeks ago, Oakland took then-No. 1 ranked Michigan State to overtime and looked capable of more than just winning the Horizon League. Yet, it now finds itself losers of three of the past four games and searching for answers.
While Oakland has a dynamic talent in Felder who has proven capable of taking over games single-handedly in the past, it can’t afford to have him struggle to score as much as he did Friday. He scored 20 points for the Golden Grizzlies but he needed 28 shots to get there and probably should have elected to try to get his teammate more involved at times. He is the national assists leader after all at 9.2 per game. He dished six Friday.
[Clever BYU students troll Utah with hard hats, ‘safety first’ signs]
Valparaiso proved to be much more well-rounded on the offensive end, too. Sophomore Tevonn Walker led all scorers with 24 points but he was one of six Crusaders who scored at least eight points. Valparaiso had 18 assists on 28 made baskets.
Oakland will travel to Valparaiso in the third week of February and try to get some revenge. It’s possible these teams could see each other a third time in the confernece tournament but Oakland has work to do to make that happen.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
