Fifth-year senior Owen Dease (Evansville, Ind. / Evansville Reitz [Texas A&M Corpus Christi]) and freshman JT Pettigrew (Lisle, Ill. / Bolingbrook) continued their recent red-hot play by once again exceeding or matching personal bests as the Valparaiso University men's basketball team picked up its best win yet on Wednesday evening at the Athletics-Recreation Center. The Beacons handed Illinois State its first league loss, prevailing 77-71 over the preseason favorites to win the Missouri Valley Conference. This marked Valpo's best win in five years based upon KenPom ratings.
 
How It Happened

• The two teams were back-and-forth early, with Tucker Tornatta coming off the bench to snap a six-all tie with 13:49 on the first-half clock by draining a 3.
• Freshman JT Pettigrew hit a pair of big 3s and knocked down three total shots in quick succession midway through the first half. His second 3 made it 19-13 Valpo with 8:24 left until the break, then he added a 3-point play to make it 22-13 with 7:34 left in the first.
• Dease swished a 3 with 5:53 left in the first half to give Valpo its first double-figure advantage at 25-14. Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Rockford Auburn [212 Sports Academy]) later tacked on a trey of his own to push the gap to 12, and Dease hit another one from distance that built it back to a dozen, which stood as the halftime margin with the hosts ahead 35-23.
• Valpo held Illinois State to just 28 percent shooting and 28.6 percent from 3 in the first half, while Valpo drained six of its eight 3-point shots before the break, busting out of a shooting slump from the previous few games.
• The Valpo lead increased to 15 on a dunk by Shon Tupuola (Brownsburg, Ill. / Brownsburg]) a minute in to the second half, but Illinois State rattled off the next six points to move to within single figures. The Valpo lead was 12 with 15:42 on the clock, but the Redbirds scored seven straight including a 3 by Johnny Kinziger with 14:02 to go that made it a five-point game.
• Dease responded with a big triple, but Illinois State went on another run – this time 7-0 – to tie the game at 48 with 9:55 to play. Brody Whitaker (Greencastle, Ind. / Greencastle [University of Indianapolis / Marian]) snapped a 50-all tie with 9:11 left by knocking down a big trey.
• Illinois State took the lead with 6:57 on the clock, its first lead since 4-3, but fortunately for the Beacons that was short-lived. After Illinois State regained the lead at 64-63, Dease guided in a go-ahead jumper to make it 65-64 Valpo with 3:25 to play. Chaney followed with a trey of his own to up the lead to four.
• Chaney hit another go-ahead shot with 1:49, giving Valpo the lead for good. The highlight of the late-game frenzy was a Valpo classic – the patented home run play – with Dease dunking home a full-court baseline inbound from Whitaker. That play made it a six-point lead with 26 seconds left and sent the crowd into a state of jubilation.

Inside the Game

• Illinois State entered the game ranked 88^th in the KenPom, making this Valpo's first top-100 KenPom win since Nov. 27, 2023 vs. James Madison (98) and best win in terms of KenPom rating since knocking off nationally-ranked Drake 74-57 on Feb. 7, 2021, when the Bulldogs were 55^th in the KenPom.
• Speaking of KenPom, Valpo moved up to 179 after the victory, the team's highest ranking since Jan. 9, 2021 (169).
• Valpo snapped a nine-game losing streak in games against the team picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference, topping the league's preseason favorite for the first time since Feb. 13, 2021 (W 70-57 at UNI). The Beacons improved to 3-14 against preseason favorites since joining the MVC.
• Illinois State entered the game with the top NET rating in the Missouri Valley Conference at 58.
• Valpo improved to 7-0 at the ARC against Illinois State since joining the Missouri Valley Conference and still have not lost to the Redbirds in Northwest Indiana since Jan. 19, 1981. Valpo is now 13-3 overall against Illinois State since joining the MVC.
• Dease's 28 points marked a career high, the third time in his last five games that he's set a personal best and second time in the last three contests. He outdid his previous best of 26 on Jan. 1 at Southern Illinois thanks in part to going 3-for-3 from long range and 9-for-9 at the stripe on Wednesday.
• Pettigrew matched his personal best of 21 that was set last game, Sunday vs. UIC.
• The Beacons knocked down nine of their 12 3-point attempts, shooting a season-high 75 percent from distance, outdoing the previous season high of 45.8 percent on Nov. 29 vs. Western Michigan. Two of their best three 3-point shooting percentages of the season have come in the last two games, when they've attempted just 11 and 12 3s after attempting at least 16 in each of their first 14 games.
• The 3-point percentage of .750 was the team's best since Jan. 18, 2007 at Western Illinois (.750 from 3, W 78-60). The Beacons notched the second-best 3-point percentage in the nation this season and best against a Division-I opponent. George Mason went 7-of-8 from 3 on Nov. 11, 2025 vs. Catawba. Valpo became the first team nationally to shoot 75 percent from 3 with at least nine makes since USC was 12-of-16 (75%) on Feb. 11, 2025 vs. Penn State.
• This was the first time a team shot above 70 percent from 3 against Illinois State since Jan. 11, 2006, when Missouri State made 71.4 percent of its 3-point attempts (5-of-7) in a win over the Redbirds.
• The Beacons continued to do a good job of getting to the free-throw line as they were 26-of-35, their third straight game with at least 24 makes and third straight game with at least 29 attempts.
• Dease and Pettigrew shared the team lead in rebounds with six apiece. Illinois State did grab 17 offensive rebounds to Valpo's four and outscored the Beacons 14-0 on second-chance points.
• Illinois State leading scorer Chase Walker got to 20 points, but he was just 8-of-19 from the floor thanks in large part to the defense of Tupuola.
• Dease led the team in plus-minus again at +8 followed by Pettigrew at +6.
• The Beacons shot 51.2 percent from the floor, the team's best against a D1 opponent since Nov. 19 at Cleveland State and third best overall on the season.
• Valpo limited Illinois State to 5-of-16 (.313) from 3, the ninth straight game Valpo has forced an opponent to miss at least two thirds of its 3-point attempts.
• Valpo led by as many as 15 in the game and held the lead for over 30 minutes with Illinois State in front for only 1:13.

Postgame Press Conference
Click here for postgame press conference.
 
Up Next
Valpo (8-8, 2-3 MVC) will hit the road for the next two games, visiting Murray State on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Murray, Ky. The game will air on ESPN+.