Wright Delivers Big Game in Setback at Indiana State
Valparaiso University men’s basketball freshman All Wright (Durango, Mexico / Link Year) turned in the highest known scoring output ever achieved by a Valpo rookie by tallying 32 points, but the Beacons fell 80-62 to Indiana State on Wednesday night in Terre Haute. Sophomore Cooper Schwieger (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Link Year]) contributed 17, as the two combined for 49 of the team’s 62 points.
How It Happened
- Early 3s by Kaspar Sepp (Tartu, Estonia / Fairmont Academy) and Wright helped Valpo jump out to a 6-0 lead, but Camp Wagner made two early triples for the hosts. Valpo held a 12-10 lead at the first media timeout with 14:00 left in the first half behind three early assists from Sepp.
- Indiana State had a scoring drought of over four minutes, while Valpo continued to move it well, assisting on six of the team’s first seven baskets and scoring the next five points to build up a 17-12 lead at the under-12 timeout.
- Valpo hit a stagnant stretch offensively, and Indiana State used two old-fashioned 3-point plays in short order to shrink the lead to one at 19-18 at the 7:41 mark, then a Samage Teel 3 made it a 9-0 run and gave the Trees the lead. That eventually compounded into a 16-2 Sycamore spurt, forcing a Valpo timeout with the Beacons trailing 28-21 at the 3:54 mark of the opening half.
- An eventful finish to the first half saw Wright hit big shots for the Beacons and score the team’s final 10 points of the half, while Teel and Camp Wagner often had the response on the other end of the court. Wright finished the half with 13 points including three 3s, while Schwieger tallied 13 in the opening half on 6-of-8 shooting, but Valpo trailed 39-31. Wright hit a 3 in the closing seconds of the half, but Teel responded with a 3 of his own to beat the halftime buzzer and build the lead back up to eight. Wright and Schwieger combined for 26 of the team’s 31 points before the break.
- Indiana State hit three 3s in the first five minutes of the second half, expanding the lead to double figures at 52-40. An 11-1 run helped Indiana State open the lead to 60-41 with 11:22 to play, and the hosts were in control for the game’s duration.
Inside the Game
- Wright became the first Valpo freshman to score 30 or more since Alec Peters on Dec. 14, 2013, when Alec Peters poured in 30 vs. Loyola Marymount. That was Peters’ second 30-point game as a freshman as he also had one at Evansville, and prior to that no Valpo rookie scored 30 points in a game since Raitis Grafs on Jan. 10, 2000 vs. Belmont.
- Wright became the first Valpo rookie in the modern era dating back over 35 years to score over 30 points in a single game.
- Wright’s 32 points were the most by a Missouri Valley Conference freshman since Bradley’s Darrell Brown had 34 on Nov. 21, 2016 vs. Hofstra and marked the most by a Valley rookie in a league game since Indiana State’s Marico Stinson had 37 on Dec. 30, 2006 vs. Drake.
- Wright’s 32 points marked the highest by a Valpo player this season, and the most by any Beacon since Isaiah Stafford’s 32 on Jan. 31, 2024 at Drake. Since the start of the 2011-12 season, only Wright, Stafford, Ben Krikke, Javon Freeman-Liberty, Alec Peters (x5) and LaVonte Dority have games of 32 points or more.
- Wright recorded the third-highest point total by any Missouri Valley Conference player this season and the second-highest in league play. UNI’s Leon Bond III had 37 points on Dec. 16 vs. Montana and SIU’s Ali Dibba had 33 at Belmont on Jan. 8.
- Wright has scored 20 points or more in each of the last three games and has six games this season with 20+ points. He has reached double figures in seven straight games.
- Schwieger’s 17 points marked his highest total in the last eight games and extended his streak to 15 in a row with 12 points or more. His 12 rebounds, part of his fifth double-double of the season, marked his highest total since 15 at Belmont on Jan. 14.
- Free-throw shooting was a Beacon bright spot, as Valpo made 19 of its 24 free throws for 79.2 percent, outscoring Indiana State at the stripe 19-9. Wright went 11-of-13 at the free-throw line and Schwieger and Wright combined for 20 of the 24 attempts.
- Outside of Schwieger and Wright, no other Valpo player scored more than redshirt freshman Carson Schwieger’s (Overland Park, Kan. / Blue Valley Southwest [Wright State / Link Year]) five points. Sepp and Tyler Schmidt (Valparaiso, Ind. / Victory Christian Academy [Olivet Nazarene]) handed out five and four assists, respectively.
- Valpo was 1-of-11 from 3 in the second half, shot 24 percent overall after halftime and finished the game at 5-of-22 (22.7 percent) from long range.
- Wednesday’s game was the exception rather than the rule as it snapped a streak of 11 straight games decided by no more than 11 points and was the first lopsided game in league play for the Beacons this year.
- Indiana State hit 15 3s, the most by a Valpo opponent since Indiana State had 17 on Feb. 8, 2023. This was just the fourth time since the start of the 2007-08 season that a Valpo opponent has drained 15 3s or more.
Up Next
Valpo (10-14, 3-10 MVC) will return home to host Murray State on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Athletics-Recreation Center as part of the department’s All-Sports Reunion Weekend. The Valpo Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2025 will be celebrated at halftime. For ticket information, visit tickets.valpoathletics.com.