Game Notes (.pdf) I Live Audio I Live Stats

DENVER - The IUPUI basketball team will cap the current two-game road trip when the Jaguars square off with Summit League newcomer Denver (7-10, 0-2 Summit) inside Magness Arena (7,200) on Saturday (Jan. 18) night. Tip time is slated for 6:00 p.m. Eastern (4 p.m. MT) and the game can be heard on the free iHeartRadio app available on smartphones. Will Flemming (pxp) will call the action and coverage on 1260 WNDE will join in progress, following the Purdue broadcast. 

Saturday's game will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools as Denver joined The Summit at the start of the academic year. 

Both IUPUI (5-15, 0-3) and Denver come in seeking their first Summit League victories with both tasting defeat on Thursday night. The Jaguars dropped a 69-57 decision at South Dakota while Denver was handed a 67-64 loss by Fort Wayne. 

IUPUI led the Coyotes 49-47 on a Mitch Patton hook with just under 12 minutes to play, but scored just eight points for the remainder of the evening, connecting on just 2-of-14 shot attempts to end the game. Junior Khufu Najee scored a team-high 12 points and Donovan Gibbs added 11 points, seven boards and three assists in the defeat. USD's Brandon Bos scored a game-high 21 points, including hitting 4-of-6 from three-point range. Senior center Trevor Gruis added 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting. 

IUPUI led 33-32 at the break after closing the first half on a 10-0 run, but shot just 29.2 percent after halftime to fall for the third straight time. 

The Jags come into Saturday's game trying to avoid the program's first 0-4 start in league play since the 1999-00 season. That year, the program's second at the Division I level, IUPUI opened 0-8 in the Mid-Continent Conference before ultimately finishing at 4-12. 

Gibbs has been a recent bright spot for the Jaguars, averaging 10.3 points and a team-high 6.0 boards per game in Summit League play. The 6-foot-7 Louisville-native is shooting nearly 65 percent against conference foes and has climbed to sixth in the league in overall field goal percentage at 56.8 percent. 

In Summit League play, all five starters are averaging double-digits, led by Ian Chiles at 12.0 points per game and Patton's 11.0 points per game. Gibbs, Najee and Marcellus Barksdale are all netting 10.3 points per game. As a team, IUPUI has climbed to No. 15 nationally in free throw shooting at 75.7 percent overall. All five starters shoot better than 70 percent from the line, with Najee hitting 80.8 percent of his attempts. 

Second halves have been problematic in three Summit League losses as the Jaguars have been outscored by an average of 14.0 points per game after intermission in the three losses. 

Denver, which won a WAC title a year ago, has found a little tougher sledding in year one of The Summit League. The Pioneers have lost three straight, but boast wins over Colorado State, Wyoming, Belmont and Alcorn State this season. Junior guard Brett Olson leads the Pios at 14.5 points per game and has hit 91.7 percent of his free throw attempts this season. 

Senior forward Chris Udofia checks in at 12.2 points, 5.9 boards and 2.6 blocked shots per game and Cam Griffin averages 8.2 points and a team-high 6.8 boards a night. 

As a team, Denver is among the nation's best in terms of turnovers, committing just 10.6 miscues per game. The Pioneers shoot better than 35 percent from three-point range with four different players having made at least 10 triples this season.