After scoring 2,267 points over four seasons at NAIA Olivet Nazarene, Valparaiso University men's basketball fifth-year senior Tyler Schmidt (Victory Christian Academy / Olivet Nazarene) didn't skip a beat in his NCAA Division-I debut on Monday. The hometown product and former attendee of Valpo youth basketball camps as a child racked up 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting to lead the Beacons in an 83-63 season-opening setback to Liberty at the neutral-site Athletes in Action Total Athlete Tipoff in Xenia, Ohio.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo scored the game's first four points and created good looks at the cup in the game's first four minutes. The Beacons led 6-4 at the 15:47 mark of the first half, but a 12-0 run helped the Flames build up a 16-6 lead with 11:28 on the first-half clock.
• Schmidt finally stemmed the tide with a jumper at the 11:10 mark, and he accounted for six straight Valpo points.
• Valpo got to the free-throw line and whittled into the Liberty lead, slicing the gap to six at 28-22 with 6:04 left in the half. The Flames hit three 3s in the final six minutes of the half and owned a 42-32 edge at the break.
• Junior forward Devon Ellis (Schaumburg, Ill. / Conant [Maryland Eastern Shore / Link Year]) scored the first points of the second half, but then the Flames went on a 9-0 run to build the lead to 17.
• Valpo had a 6-0 burst midway through the half with Schmidt accounting for two of the three baskets. The two teams played even over the game's final nine minutes, but the 20-point Flames' advantage that existed midway through the second half stood as the difference.

Inside the Game

• Schmidt's 17 points in 24 minutes came on 7-of-8 shooting. He squeezed five rebounds, went 2-of-2 at the line and drilled his only triple try.
• Schmidt became the first Valpo player to post a single-game shooting percentage of .875 or better with at least eight attempts since Nick Robinson went 7-for-8 on Dec. 17, 2020 vs. Purdue Northwest. He was the first Valpo player to accomplish that feat against a Division-I opponent since Donovan Clay went 8-for-8 from the field on Dec. 30, 2019 vs. Loyola Chicago.
• Three Beacons finished in double figures – all transfers into the program making their Valpo debuts – Schmidt, Ellis (13 points) and Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro (LaSalle, Quebec, Canada / Orangeville Prep [Western Michigan]), who was a perfect 8-of-8 at the stripe en route to 12 points.
• Ellis had his 17^th career double-figure scoring output at the D1 level, while De La Cruz Monegro registered his 15^th. Schmidt has scored in double figures 98 times at the collegiate level.
• De La Cruz Monegro became just the fifth Valpo player to go perfect at the foul-line with the minimum of eight attempts in the last seven years, joining Cooper Schwieger (9-for-9 on Jan. 20, 2024 vs. UIC), Kobe King (8-for-8 on Jan. 17, 2023 vs. UIC), Nick Robinson (8-for-8 on Nov. 12, 2019 at SIUE) and Markus Golder (8-for-8 on March 7, 2019 vs. Indiana State).
• Ellis, De La Cruz Monegro and redshirt sophomore Isaiah Shaw (Phoenix, Ariz. / Davidson Academy [GCU]) all started in their Valpo debuts. Senior Darius DeAveiro made his 38^th career start, while sophomore Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Wright State / Link Year]) made his 32^nd.  
• Sophomore Kaspar Sepp (Tartu, Estonia / Fairmont Academy) paced the team in rebounding with eight. He led the squad on the glass four times a year ago. Schwieger corralled six boards.
• Valpo went just 2-of-15 from 3-point territory, while Liberty knocked down 10 of its 24 3-point attempts.
• The Beacons went 17-of-21 at the free-throw line, shooting 81 percent at the stripe.
• The season opener came against a formidable foe as Liberty entered the game with 149 wins over the last six seasons, the eighth most nationally in that span.

Thoughts from Head Coach Roger Powell Jr.
"We knew this was going to be a tough matchup for us and a good challenge for our first game of the year with all the new guys and trying to jell guys together. I thought it was a great game for us to play to challenge us. They play a different style and they have some dynamic guards who can make shots at a high level. Obviously, we didn't shoot the ball well, when you go 2-for-15 against a team like this, it's going to be hard to win, but we've got to look at the film, regroup and reevaluate with a stretch of home games coming up. Hats off to Ritchie McKay and Liberty, they're a great team and they're going to be a difficult matchup for a lot of teams this year."
 
On Tyler Schmidt: "I'm super excited about having him here. He's continued to improve and has continued to make plays in practice. He was out over the summer, so we didn't get to see him a whole lot. Now, he's earning more time and more trust. He's played a lot of college basketball, so I'm not surprised he's been able to be productive. Today was a good outing for him. I'm excited to build that into more as we go through the season."  
 
Up Next
The Beacons (0-1) will begin a stretch of five straight home games on Friday by hosting Concordia Ann Arbor at 7 p.m. For ticket information, visit www.tickets.valpoathletics.com.