Dease, Pettigrew Honored as MVC Reveals Weekly Awards
The Valparaiso University men’s basketball team had a pair of players recognized as the Missouri Valley Conference revealed its weekly awards on Monday. Fifth-year senior Owen Dease (Evansville, Ind. / Evansville Reitz) was tabbed the league’s Newcomer of the Week, while freshman JT Pettgirew (Lisle, Ill. / Bolingbrook) secured the league’s Freshman of the Week honor.
Dease scored 18 points at UNI and 26 at Southern Illinois as part of a week where he averaged 17.0 points per game over three contests. He went 19-of-23 (82.6 percent) at the free-throw line for the week and also averaged 4.7 rebounds per game. Dease’s 26 points at Southern Illinois led all scorers and surpassed his career high. He had a plus-minus of +8 in that game and followed with a team-best +24 in Sunday’s win over UIC. He set a season high with seven rebounds against the Salukis and went 11-of-12 at the foul line in that game, a career high for makes.
Pettigrew averaged 15.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game over three contests this week including a career-high 21 points to lead the Beacons to a win over UIC on Sunday. He went 10-of-10 at the free-throw line against the Flames, becoming just the fifth freshman nationally this season to go perfect at the stripe with at least 10 attempts and the first Valpo player to do so since 2018. That marked Pettigrew’s second straight game scoring a career high after 18 on Thursday at SIU.
Pettigrew was tabbed the league’s Freshman of the Week for the first time, while Dease earned his second MVC Newcomer of the Week honor, becoming the first player in the league with multiple MVC Newcomer of the Week awards this season. The Beacons have collected five total weekly awards this season. This marked the 10th time that a Valpo player has won the MVC Newcomer of the Week honor since the program joined the Missouri Valley Conference.
This marks the 17th time Valpo has earned the league’s Freshman of the Week award since head coach Roger Powell Jr. arrived at Valpo prior to the 2023-24 season, which coincided with the year the league added a Freshman of the Week Award. Valpo has accounted for 17 of the 44 total MVC Freshman of the Week awards since the honor began, leading the league by a wide margin. Valpo’s three this season also represent a league most.
This is the first time Valpo has ever had both the league’s Freshman and Newcomer of the Week in the same week.