An MCL sprain left Jo Valrie unable to play for eight weeks and ended his breakout sophomore campaign prematurely a year ago.
Little did the 6-foot-5, 180-pound forward know the injury would spell doom for his Point Park men’s basketball team as well.
Valrie averaged 19.8 points and 10.1 rebounds per game en route to earning a River States Conference Player of the Year nod last season, while leading the Pioneers to a 23-7 campaign and a trip to the conference tournament semifinal.
With Valrie sidelined, however, a NAIA men’s basketball championship tournament at-large bid never materialized for Point Park.
“Similar to Florida State, we don’t get in because Jo was hurt,” said second-year Pioneers coach Kevin Reynolds referencing the undefeated Seminoles football team being left out of the NCAA Division I football playoffs this season. “I think we get in if Jo wasn’t injured but kind of like (quarterback Jordan) Travis getting hurt for Florida State, they lose one of their marquis players on their team and Alabama jumps them.
“People knew Jo wasn’t going to be available for the NAIA tournament, so that’s probably why we don’t get in, which is bad luck for us,” he added. “Kind of like bad luck for Florida State.”
Now a junior – and fully healthy – Valrie and his Point Park teammates are off to a fast start to the 2023-24 season and hoping to ensure luck doesn’t enter the equation this time around.
Led by Valrie’s 20.9 points and 11 rebounds per game, the Pioneers (10-0, 3-0) sit atop the Rivers States Conference East Division standings and appear poised to be a contender for a conference regular-season championship, which brings with it an automatic bid to the NAIA men’s basketball tournament.
“It hurt bad because we felt like we weren’t even finished yet,” said Valrie of the ending to last season. “We felt like we weren’t at the position we were supposed to be at. On the flip side, it caused a lot of motivation for this year, just having that chip on our shoulder to prove to everybody that we belong and that we are going to make it to the national tournament – and not just make it — but actually do well in it and make a good run in it.”
That starts with Point Park’s fast-paced, high-powered offense and its steadfast dedication to rebounding on the offensive and defensive sides of the court.
In addition to Valrie, the Pioneers have three players averaging double figures in points and average a conference-best 90 points per game as a team.
Senior guard Jalen Stamps averages 17.9 points and 4.6 assists per game, while graduate student guard Jamisen Smith contributes 14.9 points and junior guard Nathaniel Van adds 12 points and 5.3 rebounds.
“We play a fast tempo on O so we score a lot,” Reynolds said.
Rebounding and size, though, may just be Point Park’s greatest attribute.
Junior Jags Jhawar — a 7-foot-2 center from Punjab, India – averages 4.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, while 6-foot-10 junior center Nazareth Fisher scores 6.2 points with 8.2 rebounds per game.
The Pioneers average a conference-best 53.7 rebounds per game, 37.3 on defense and 16.4 on offense, while also making 45.4% of their 2-point field goals and shooting 36% from 3-point range.
Point Park concedes a conference-low 37.1% 2-point shooting percentage on defense, while allowing teams to shoot just 31% from 3-point range.
“Last year, we were one of the better 2-point field-goal percentage defensive teams in the NAIA,” Reynolds said. “We were one of the better 3-point field-goal percentage defensive teams. We are one of the best rebounding teams in all of college basketball, last year and this year. We rebound at a rate, for Division I people, we rebound at a rate of North Carolina and Michigan State.
“It’s a pretty good combination when things are clicking,” he added. “We did that last year. We are doing that this year.”
And, impressively, the Pioneers have managed to do it against Division I and Division II talent.
Point Park led Division I Horizon League opponent Robert Morris by as much as 10 points in the second half before falling, 66-56, in a Nov. 9 exhibition game, which saw Valrie sit out for the Pioneers and several of the Colonials’ regular starters miss the contest.
On Sunday, Point Park dropped a 74-64 exhibition decision to traditional Division II power Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but kept the game close for much of the contest.
“I was very impressed with how we played even without me,” Valrie said. “I believe in my teammates and the way they played, they were out there playing to win. I was very proud of them.
“It just showed to me that we were hanging in there with a mid-major D-I team, we definitely can beat any NAIA team, especially when we play as well with all the things I contribute with. It was a huge confidence builder.”
Reynolds felt the same way.
Before his tenure at Point Park, Reynolds led a Slippery Rock University men’s basketball program that had single-digit win totals in 13 of its 14 seasons prior to his arrival as head coach. In 10 years, he racked up 188 victories, six 20-win campaigns and three NCAA Division II tournament appearances.
Reynolds led the Rock to all but three of its 20-win seasons in the more than 100 years of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference program’s history.
After last year leading the Pioneers to a 13-win turnaround from their 10-16 campaign of a season before his arrival, Reynolds said his team might just be poised for big things this winter.
“We want to get to the NAIA tournament, we really do,” Reynolds said. “We know it’s not going to be easy. Just like last year, we feel like we have a talented team that can be successful in the NAIA tournament. We just don’t want to go to the NAIA tournament, we want to go there and compete, win some games and advance in the tournament. That’s the goal.”
John is a copy editor and page designer at the Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at jsanta@unionprogress.com.