Chaney Repeats as MVC Freshman of the Week
For the second consecutive week, Valparaiso University men’s basketball freshman Rakim Chaney (Rockford, Ill. / Rockford Auburn [212 Sports Academy]) has been named the Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Week, as announced by the league office on Monday.
As Valpo played without three of its top eight scorers due to illness and had four additional players battle foul trouble, the play of Chaney helped the Beacons overcome adversity in a 90-75 road win at Cleveland State in the team’s lone game of the week on Wednesday with a team-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting and 3-of-4 from 3. He also squeezed four rebounds and dished out a career-most seven assists while adding one block and one steal.
Chaney had his fifth straight game in double figures, his fourth straight with at least 15 and was one point shy of his career high. He became the first Valpo player with a 23-point, seven-assist game since Ron Howard had 25 and seven on Jan. 27, 2005 at Southern Utah. He became the second freshman in the country with a 23-point, seven-assist game this season (NJIT’s David Bolden). Chaney owns two of the top three scoring outputs by an MVC freshman this season, and his seven assists on Wednesday were the most by an MVC rookie against a Division-I opponent this season.
This marks the 16th time a Valpo player 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 16 of the 39 total MVC Freshman of the Week awards since the honor began. The Beacons lead the league by a wide margin, over twice as many as Evansville, which has the second most with seven.