Valparaiso University

The Valparaiso University men's basketball team reached new ground while simultaneously going back to its roots to secure one of the most memorable victories in program history.
 
The Beacons upset RV/No. 24 Purdue 83-80 on Friday night at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette.
 
The program's ascension and momentum under fourth-year head coach Roger Powell Jr. added a significant victory on Friday night, doing so in a manner that has been synonymous with Valpo's storied past – a buzzer-beater. Or in this case, two.
 
Sophomore Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Rockford Auburn [212 Sports Academy]) hit a contested, game-tying 3 from right in front of the Valpo bench to beat the overtime buzzer after rebounding his own missed free throw with four seconds to play. Junior Justus McNair (Joliet, Ill. / Joliet West) dribbled the length of the court and hit a contested game-winning 3 from the right wing to beat the double overtime horn, sending Valpo into a state of pandemonium.
 
Valpo has had an increasing number of big moments in each of Powell's seasons – improving the program's win total with each passing year – but Friday's victory over a top-25 Purdue team in a "guarantee game" marked the highlight of the Powell Era to date.
 
Valpo achieved the first true road win against a ranked opponent in program history and the fifth total ranked win in program lore. The historic win came through a method that is rooted deeply in the program's identity – the buzzer beater. This one required two, with McNair etching himself alongside Bryce Drew and Ryan Broekhoff with the three most memorable shots in program history.
 
While McNair made the game shot of the night, Chaney made more shots than anyone else, totaling a career-high 35 points, Valpo's highest individual single-game scoring output since 2016.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo scored the game's first bucket as Chaney drove to the basket for two, but the Beacons missed their next five shots, including a few clean looks. However, Valpo did great work on the defensive end during that opening stretch, forcing Purdue into four straight misses, leading to a 2-2 score at the first media timeout. The Boilermakers eventually missed six in a row before finally making their second basket of the evening.
• Valpo faced a scoring drought of nearly eight minutes in length before Chaney notched the team's second basket of the game. However, Valpo got enough stops in that stretch to stay in the game, limiting the run to eight. Chaney's second basket made it a six-point game at 10-4 with 11:23 left in the first half.
• Chaney had a huge first half, pouring in 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting while playing 18 of the game's first 20 minutes. He accounted for 15 of the team's 20 first-half points. Chaney drained an impressive 3 to beat the halftime horn, Valpo's first made triple of the game after the squad had missed its first 10 attempts from deep.
• Valpo heated up late in the first half, making five of its final seven attempts prior to the intermission. On the defensive end, Valpo held Purdue to 40.7 percent from the field (11-of-27) and 30.8 percent from 3 (4-of-13) in the first half. The Boilermakers led 32-20 at the break.  
• Sophomore Carter Hopoi (Tauranga, New Zealand / Mount Maunganui College NZ) slammed home a dunk for Valpo's first second-half bucket. Valpo outscored Purdue 8-7 in the first five minutes of the second half, cutting slightly into the lead to make it 39-28 with 14:53 left in the second half. Valpo made three of its first four second-half shots, holding Purdue to 3-of-7 and 0-of-3 from 3 during that stretch.
• Valpo fought to within seven at 39-32 with 14:18 remaining thanks to an 8-2 burst including a fastbreak basket by Terron Garrett (St. Louis, Mo. / Vashon [Minera Area College]). The Beacons got to within seven a second time after holding Purdue without a field goal for over four minutes, then a third time on a Hopoi dunk to make it 43-36.
• The Beacons clawed to within five at 43-38 on a McNair basket. Purdue quickly stemmed the tide with a 3 on the other end, but Valpo got right back within six on another McNair hoop.
• Valpo fought to within four with 8:26 remaining when Hopoi added another dunk on a feed from Chaney to make it 46-42. That was Valpo's fifth make in its last six attempts at that juncture.
• After Purdue led 32-17, Valpo outscored the Boilermakers 31-16 to get even at 48 with 5:37 remaining. Hopoi swished a jumper at the 5:46 mark to tie the score.
• Chaney drained a go-ahead pull-up jumper with 4:49 remaining to put the Beacons ahead 51-50. McNair knocked down another go-ahead shot to make it 53-52 with 3:25 left. Chaney tied it with a pullup 3 at the 1:46 mark. McNair drained another one with 1:03 left in regulation to tie the game at 58.
• Purdue missed a 3 with 45 seconds left, then Valpo missed a turn-around jumper with 23 ticks remaining. The Beacons got one more stop at the end of regulation, sending the game to overtime.
• Purdue scored the first four points of the first overtime on free throws. Chaney scored Valpo's first points of the OT. Sader Servilus (Montreal, Quebec, Canada / Fort Erie International Academy) had a tip-in with 2:17 left in OT to cut the deficit to two.
• The Boilermakers built up a six-point lead at 68-62 with 1:13 left in the first overtime. Hudson Scroggins (Lake Bluff, Ill. / Lake Forest [Kimball Union Academy]) made a pair of free throws to get Valpo to within four, then Bruno Alocen (Barcelona, Spain / Manresa [Indiana State]) hit a 3 despite being fouled with 48 seconds left in OT to shrink the Purdue lead to one at 68-67. He missed the free throw, and Purdue made two at the stripe with six seconds left in OT to expand the lead to three at 70-67.
• With four seconds left in the first overtime, Chaney missed the front end of a 1-and-1, collected the rebound on his own miss, and beat the buzzer with a game-tying triple to level the score at 70 and force a second overtime.
• Chaney had a traditional 3-point play to give Valpo a 73-72 lead early in the second overtime. McNair had a traditional 3-point play to make it 77-74 Valpo with 2:54 left in the second overtime.
• Purdue made two free throws with 2:12 left in 2OT to trim the Valpo lead to one. Purdue took a 78-77 lead with a dunk with 39 seconds left in 2OT.
• Pettigrew hit a monster 3 with 25 seconds on the 2OT clock, giving Valpo an 80-78 lead.
• Purdue's Daniel Jacobsen tied the game on a hook shot with five seconds left to level the score at 80.
• Valpo had to go the length of the court with 4.4 seconds remaining in the second overtime in a tied game. McNair received the inbounds pass mid-backcourt and dribbled to the right wing, where he released a contested 3 just before the clock hit all zeros. The rest, as they say, is history.

Inside the Game

• This marked Valpo's first true road win over a Top-25 opponent ever (previously 0-44).
• This marked Valpo's first win against a ranked team since beating Drake on Feb. 7, 2021 at the ARC.  
• This marked Valpo's fifth all-time road win against a top-25 team, improving to 5-67. Valpo's previous wins: Feb. 7, 2021 vs. No. 25 Drake; Nov. 29, 2016 vs. No. 21 Rhode Island; March 13, 1998 vs. No. 13 Ole Miss (NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City, Bryce's Drew's "The Shot") and Dec. 17, 1988 vs. No. 19 Notre Dame (The Lutheran Miracle).
• This marked Valpo's 26^th game-winning shot in the final five seconds of the game since the start of the 1992-93 season and first since JT Pettigrew had one in the final five seconds against Drake last season.
• Since the start of the 1992-93 season, this marks the program's ninth true buzzer-beater. The only Valpo players with multiple true buzzer-beaters are McNair and Bryce Drew. Others include Jamie Sykes, Greg Tonagel, Erik Buggs, Ryan Broekhoff and Markus Golder.
• McNair hit the second true buzzer-beater of his career, as this marked Valpo's first true buzzer-beater since McNair beat Western Michigan 76-73 on Dec. 20, 2024.
• Valpo beat Purdue for the second time ever (third if you count a December 1995 game that was later ruled a forfeit in Valpo's favor.) The last time Valpo beat Purdue in a game was Dec. 22, 1965, a 114-96 Valpo win at home. Valpo snapped a 10-game head-to-head losing streak to the Boilermakers (12 if you count the game that was later forfeited by Purdue as a Valpo loss.)
• Valpo overcame a 15-point deficit to win, the team's largest comeback since coming from 16 down to win at Southern Illinois on Feb. 22, 2025.
• Valpo picked up its first true road win against a Big Ten opponent (previously 0-38 at Big Ten arenas, not counting the game at Purdue that was later ruled a forfeit).
• This marked Valpo's first win over a power-conference opponent since Nov. 21, 2016 vs. Alabama (neutral).
• This represented Valpo's first road win over a power-conference opponent since Nov. 24, 2015 at Oregon State
• This was Valpo's first win against a Big Ten opponent since Dec. 28, 2004 against Penn State. Valpo had dropped 19 straight against the Big Ten Conference.  
• Purdue had won 19 straight home games vs. MVC dating back to Nov. 27, 1978 (Indiana State).
• Sophomore Rakim Chaney had 35 points, the most by a Valpo player since Alec Peters had 35 on Dec. 22, 2016 vs. Santa Clara. The last time a Valpo player had more than 35 points in a game was Peters' 39-point performance on Jan. 10, 2016 at Detroit.
• Chaney had 35 points, eight rebounds, six assists and no turnovers, going 14-of-22 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3 before fouling out in 41 minutes. He had Valpo's first 35-point, eight-rebound, six-assist game on record.
• Chaney became the first Division-I player nationally with a 35-point, eight-rebound, six-assist, no-turnover game since Colorado State's Antwan Scott on Jan. 16, 2016. Prior to that, it was Arizona's Ivan Radenovic on March 3, 2007 at Stanford.
• Chaney well exceeded his previous career high of 24 on Nov. 12, 2025 vs. Nicholls. His eight rebounds matched a personal best set on Nov. 16, 2025 vs. Bryant. His six assists were one shy of a career high.
• McNair scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting, while Pettigrew had 11 points and eight boards. Pettigrew has scored in double figures in 10 straight games dating back to last season.  
• Valpo played its first double overtime game since the final game of the 2025-26 season, a 90-84 MVC Tournament loss to Bradley. Valpo picked up its first double overtime victory since beating Indiana State 79-72 on Feb. 5, 2022.
• Valpo is off to a 2-0 start to a season for the first time since 2017-18. This marked Valpo's first win in a road opener since Nov. 15, 2017 at SIUE (94-69), snapping an eight-game road opener losing streak.
• Valpo won despite being outrebounded 46-37. The Beacons won the turnover battle 11-9. Valpo committed single-figure turnovers despite playing two overtimes.
• Valpo held Purdue to 37.5 percent from the field and 17.9 percent from 3.
• Valpo pulled out the win despite the fact that Pettigrew was sidelined for a significant stretch due to cramping, plus Chaney, Hopoi and Kai Yu (Zhuhai, Guangdong, China / Link Prep [Bradley/Liberty]) all fouled out.
• The win came in front of a sellout crowd at Mackey Arena, spoiling Purdue's home opener and part of the school's Homecoming weekend.

Up Next
Valpo (2-0) will visit South Dakota State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Brookings, S.D. The game will air on Midco Sports Plus.