Basketball Game Preview: Merrillville Pirates vs. Valparaiso Vikings

Merrillville is 1-9 against Valparaiso since January of 2019 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Merrillville Pirates will face off against the Valparaiso Vikings at 6:00 p.m.

Last Friday, Merrillville was just a bucket shy of victory and fell 48-47 to Penn. While losing is never fun, the Pirates can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 251st, while the Kingsmen are ranked 46th).

Meanwhile, Valparaiso beat Hammond Central 50-41 on Friday.

Valparaiso has been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight matches. That's provided a massive bump to their 10-14 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 58.4 points over those games. Merrillville's loss dropped their record down to 5-18.

Merrillville ended up a good deal behind Valparaiso when the teams last played back in January, losing 77-62. Can Merrillville avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.