INDIANAPOLIS - Following a five-day break, IUPUI returns to the court on Saturday, Dec. 4, to take on the Summit League Preseason favorite Oral Roberts at 4:30 p.m. The game is the opener of a men’s and women’s doubleheader. Saturday’s contest against the Golden Eagles will also be IUPUI’s Summit League Food Fight Game.

 

Help IUPUI’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) as they compete against other Summit League schools in a battle to raise the most canned food donations, other holiday contributions including wrapping paper, tape, etc. All contributions will be given to the Ronald McDonald Home on the IUPUI campus. Fans bringing canned food or other charitable items will receive a t-shirt; mesh tote bag; or other give away item (while supplies last). The first 100 students to enter the women’s game will receive a 2010-2011 Red Zone gameday shirt. Doors open at 3:30 p.m.

·         The Jaguars will have a quick turnaround before welcoming Centenary to The Jungle for a 7 p.m. tip on Monday, Dec. 6.

·         The Jaguars competed in the WBCA Classic on the campus of the University of Notre Dame last weekend and fell to Notre Dame, Butler, and Wake Forest.

·         Despite the losses, the Jaguars competed hard throughout all three games and learned some valuable lessons in the tournament.

·         “I’m really glad we played in this tournament,” said head coach Austin Parkinson added. “Our players competed well against taller and stronger players for three days. As the tournament went on we got better and we took some steps in the right direction.”

·         After losing the opener to Notre Dame, IUPUI came right back the next day and hung with local rival Butler for almost 30 minutes before an 11-2 Bulldogs run helped Butler pull away to a 63-51 win.

·         In the finale, the Jags went up against Wake Forest, who entering the tournament was first in the ACC averaging 96.0 ppg.

·         The Jaguars held Wake Forest 33 points below that average, but were unable to overcome their shooting woes and lost, 63-33.

·         “Coming in against an ACC Team that averages more than 80 points per game, we played as well as we have all year defensively,” said Parkinson. “We took five charges and put it together on the defense end, but offensively we struggled in the first half. In the second half we ran our offense much better and got a lot of open looks that just didn’t fall.”

 

·         The Golden Eagles come into The Jungle on Saturday with a 4-5 overall record and a 1-0 Summit League record after using a buzzer-beater by Jaci Bigham to down Western Illinois, 68-66, Thursday evening.

·         ORU will be playing its third road game in six days when it takes on the Jaguars Saturday afternoon. Oral Roberts has defeated Missouri State in addition to Western Illinois in the first two legs of its trip.

·         Oral Roberts was the preseason favorite to capture the Summit League Championship this season and sophomore Kevi Luper was tabbed the preseason Player of the Year.

·         To this point, Luper has not disappointed as the 5-10, sophomore guard is averaging 24.2 ppg, one of three ORU players averaging over 10.0 ppg..

·         Fellow sophomore Jaci Bigham and junior Jordan Pyle are the other two double-digit scorers for the Golden Eagles scoring 15.4 ppg and 16.0 ppg, respectively.

·         Pyle is also grabbing 10.2 rebounds per game, making her one of two players in the early going to average a double-double.

·         In the three games at the WBCA Classic, IUPUI had a standout performer from its bench in all three games.

·         In the first game against No. 16 Notre Dame, Demetria Nunley-Lash came off the bench and scored a team-high seven points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, both marking career highs.

·         In the second game against Butler, Janna Eichelberger dominated the glass with a career-high 14 rebounds and fell two points shy of a double-double.

·         Eichelberger continued her dominance on the glass in the finale with 11 rebounds, marking the second time in her career she has posted back-to-back double-figure rebounding performances.

·         Last weekend, the Jaguars had two freshmen make their first career starts in an IUPUI uniform.

·         Both Dawn Luster and Demetria Nunley-Lash got the starting nod against Butler and both played well in over 20 minutes of action.

·         Nunley-Lash, who scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds against No. 16 Notre Dame in the previous game, scored three points and had one block and one steal against the Bulldogs.

·         Luster, was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line and added one assist, one steal, and block.

·         Over the past three games, IUPUI has made the most of its chances at the line than it did in the early stages of the season.

·         In the first three games, the Jags shot below 60.0 percent from the line in all three games and cumulatively shot 52.3 percent (23-44).

·         In all three games last weekend, the Jaguars shot over 70.0 percent in all three games, including going 12-for-16 against Wake Forest, its highest shooting percentage of the season.

·         Over the last three games, IUPUI has reached the line 44 times and converted 32, resulting in a 72.7 percentage.

·         The last time the Jaguars shot 70.0 percent or better from the line in three straight games was against Oral Roberts (Jan. 19), IPFW (Jan. 24), and Oakland (Jan. 26) during the 2008-09 season.

·         #Kerah Nelson# broke out of her early-season slump with a brilliant performance against IU-Southeast on Nov. 23.

·         Nelson scored a career-high 27 points on a career-high 13 made field goals.

·         Nelson added four assists and committed just one turnover, marking her fewest amount of turnovers since Nov. 28, 2009, when she had just one turnover against Ohio State.

·         The 27-point outburst was the sixth 20-plus point performance of her career.

·         IUPUI’s victory over IU-Southeast gave the Jaguars their first win of the year and the first of the Austin Parkinson era.

·         The Jaguars trailed by 10 with 15:59 to play, before going on a 21-2 run to recapture the lead, a lead it would not relinquish.

·         The comeback victory marked the first time since Feb. 14, 2009, that IUPUI has overcome a double-digit deficit to win.

·         On Feb. 14, 2009, the Jaguars overcame an 11-point deficit with 11:07 to play to defeat Oral Roberts.

·         Turnovers were the Achilles heel for IUPUI during the 2009-10 season.

·         The Jaguars averaged 23.4 turnovers per game last season compared to 17.2 for its opponents and had fewer turnovers than its opponents in just six of 29 games.

·         In the season opener against Wright State on Nov. 12, IUPUI showed an improvement in its ball security turning the ball over 18 times, while forcing the Raiders into 21 turnovers.

·         IUPUI continued that trend against IU-Southeast by forcing the Grenadiers into 22 turnovers, while only committing 15 turnovers.

·         Only once during the 2009-10 season did the Jaguars force their opponent to more than 20 turnovers while committing fewer than 20 turnovers (Jan. 16, 2010 vs. Centenary).

·         IUPUI countered its 15 turnovers with 19 assists in a five-point win over IU-Southeast.

·         It marked the first time since Feb. 28, 2009, that IUPUI posted an assist-to-turnover ratio great than 1.1.

·         Six games in to her freshman season, #Del’Niqua Bellamy# has shown she is one of the top defenders in head coach Austin Parkinson’s rotation.

·         In IUPUI’s win over IU-Southeast, Bellamy and Jasmine Horne combined to hold Whitney Duncan to three points on 1-of-6 shooting in the second half after scoring nine points on 4-of-4 shooting in the first half.

·         Bellamy followed that up with a career-high four steals in the WBCA finale against Wake Forest.

·         The four steals are the most for an IUPUI player this season.

·         Women’s Basketball Head Coach Austin Parkinson announced on Wednesday, Nov. 10, that Claire Holba (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton) signed a National Letter of Intent to join the women’s basketball program for the 2011-12 campaign.

·         “We are thrilled that Claire has chosen to be part of the IUPUI basketball family,” said Parkinson. “Both athletically and academically, she embodies the type of player and person we want bring in to our program.”

·         Holba had a breakout season for the Trojans last season averaging 17.8 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game, while shooting 56.5 percent from the floor.

·         Despite a 7-14 record for Chesterton, Holba was a Northwest Times First-Team All-Area selection, an Indiana Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) First-Team Under Class All-State honoree, and earned AP Honorable-Mention All-State distinction. She also was selected to the Indiana Junior Girls All-Star Team.