This is the kind of positive PR that the university needs.
Hopefully this win sparks an interest in the program and we can start packing the ARC again.
Concur with sparking interest in the program hopefully the locals will talk about this and show up. I’m still stunned. Terrible shooting performance from 3, both teams, Purdues bad shooting kept us in it but so did the free throw disparity! Off top of my head…top wins in program history
Ole miss game
Florida state OT game
Lutheran Miracle
purdue game
the NiT run. Any of those wins.
3 OT Mid Con title match versus Western Illinois
justice with his 2nd coast to coast buzzer beating win of his college career. Western Mich and tonight
Best road win in program history.
A home NIT game would do so much for the program and the school.
Valpo is up to 121 in KenPom. Highest rank since 2017.
HOW ABOUT THOSE BEACONS?!
Down 15 on the road at Mackey. Three players foul out. Rakim Chaney goes for 35. And then Justus McNair delivers the dagger at the buzzer in double overtime.
Valpo 83, Purdue 80. An absolutely unforgettable night.
Here's my full recap of the madness at Mackey: I almost passed out; I have no voice left! Good to see several VU regulars at the game as well!
Read Here: The Magic at Mackey
I’ll eat crow all day! It tastes great. No one expected this. Even POs article focused on a historical * vs the actual game.
probably the best coaching performance I have seen at valpo for a big game. The staff had them ready to play. The first 10 mins of the game valpo could have lost it. Roger kept them mentally in it.
They were more physical than Purdue. That rattled Purdue and they were not expecting it
so many unsung heroes in the game for valpo Yu taking it right at the big, scroggins big FTs, Sader muscling Jacobson down low at end of game. Carter was fantastic
Kudos to Roger and the staff.
The headline - “Miracle Win” - is wrong and somehow cheapens what VU did last night.
This wasn’t a “Miracle” win. It was a gritty, never-say-die, refuse-to-give-up win. Tenacious. Unafraid. Didn’t back down.
Our team was all of those things. Unexpected win? Yes. A “miracle” win? No way.
Paul
A few thoughts while looking at this one in the rearview mirror.
With four seconds left in double OT, during the timeout, I turned to my wife in Mackey and said, “This is it. Get ready. Valpo is going to hit a shot to win the game. It’s the only thing that can happen in this moment that makes sense.” I couldn't have been the only one who knew this, @valpodad seemed to know it too, it was that sicko basketball fan intuition. 😜 .
I said it because, given everything that had happened to that point, it just felt like the only ending fitting for that game.
A few weeks ago, I talked with Rakim about Purdue. I told him we’d be in the stands, ready to watch them catch Purdue slipping. Rak simply replied, “We can get ’em”, he knew.
And they did.
Call it confidence. Call it belief. Call it whatever you want. Some of us believed this was possible. I wrote it in my game preview. It was going to take a lot, but if the right things came together, Valpo had a chance.
The right things came together.
Now let’s enjoy this moment. Let’s relish it. But then let’s turn this energy into something bigger.
This fan base has an opportunity to take the momentum from this win and pour it directly into the ARC. Pack the place. Get behind this team. Help turn one unforgettable night at Mackey into momentum for an MVC run and, hopefully, a postseason bid.
The time is now. Are we going to rise to the challenge as fans and start packing the ARC like this team deserves?
You all know I’ll be there.
I was at a family dinner watching the score roll on my phone, at first I was seen in a negative light but after it went to double OT others joined me 
Growing up in a die-hard Illinois household I remember the Illinois 2005 run like it was yesterday, literally shed a tear watching the replay of the Bruce Weber interview of Roger Powell.
Sports center top 10
Q1 win
P4 Big Ten win
Q1 NET win
The list goes on and on.
Only 9 TOs in 50 minutes of sell-out road basketball in the second game for a young team and season. None of us could have expected that.
I was watching the game with my wife and son, and a few times my wife and I were reminiscing about sitting behind Digger Phelps at the Lutheran Miracle in 1988 when he mistakenly assured the players on his top-20 team in a timeout huddle, "We will not lose!" Throughout the second half of last night's game and overtime, we put a different spin on his words and kept repeating "Valpo refuses to lose."
Certainly, we did not feel that way throughout the first half, when we were only hoping for a respectable final score. However, when Chaney hit the 3-pointer to end the first half and the team came out in the second half with players slapping the court every time they dropped back on defense, we also seemed to adopt a different attitude. I commented that I wondered what Coach Powell said at half time, especially since this seemed such an emotional game for him given his history as a player against Purdue and with his former coach in the building announcing on television.
Despite the adversity of a disparity in free throws, key players fouling out, a sold-out Mackey on a celebratory night for the fans and with their new university president in attendance (so was ours), horrible first-half shooting, our third center out with injury and unavailable when needed, a 6'4" player eventually guarding their 7'4" scoring machine at times, somehow Valpo turned on their gritty defense and held Purdue just enough until Chaney's offensive spark could light a fire in the rest of the offense.
Like Homer Drew's big victory over Notre Dame, let's hope this proves to be the signature win and turning point for the program Coach Powell has been predicting for so long and we have all been awaiting!
Carters dunk with 10 mins to go in regulation was the turning point.
I agree with 78Crusader. I don't think the MBB Website headline should be "Miracle Win". That does not seem to match the culture that Roger is trying to instill with the players. Watching the guards slap the floor ready to play defense, or watching Carter dunk on them, or watching Sader shove the 7 footer around in the key, "Miracle Win" seems like it is not what the players were thinking, or should be thinking. Maybe they could switch to something like "Valpo survives Purdue", or "Valpo needs double overtime to pull out victory".
Carters dunk with 10 mins to go in regulation was the turning point.
Carter may end up being one of the key stories as this team moves along. Clearly his footwork in WAY better then last year and he clearly was not intimidated by one of the best 5s we’ll see all year.