Valparaiso University men's basketball freshman JT Pettigrew (Lisle, Ill. / Bolingbrook) earned his second straight Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week Award on Monday.
 
Pettigrew averaged 16.5 points per game and 5.5 rebound per game this week, helping Valpo to a 2-0 week with victories over teams that were both in second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings at the time of the contest.
 
Pettigrew added four assists and five steals during the week, going 3-for-3 from 3 and 8-for-9 at the stripe. He led the Beacons in stopping Bradley's 10-game head-to-head winning streak on Wednesday, scoring 22 points – one shy of a career high. In Saturday's win at UIC, which cooled off a team that had won 11 of its previous 13 games, he had 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals to help the Beacons secure the season series sweep of UIC. His six rebounds on Saturday elevated his season total to 190, breaking Valpo's freshman rebounding record that had stood since 1999-2000.
 
Pettigrew earned his third MVC Freshman of the Week award this season. This was Valpo's 19^th time winning that award since head coach Roger Powell Jr. arrived at Valpo prior to the 2023-2024 season, which coincided with the year the league added a Freshman of the Week Award. Valpo has won 19 out of 49 total MVC Freshman of the Week Awards during that time, the most in the league and nearly triple the team with the second most (Evansville, seven).
 
Valpo will host Drake on Senior Night on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at tickets.valpoathletics.com.