TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The IUPUI basketball team will kickoff its 44th season and 17th at the Division I level on Friday (Nov. 13) when the Jaguars take on Indiana State at 7:05 p.m. inside the Hulman Center in Terre Haute. Friday's game will be broadcast on ESPN3 as Chase Eyrich (pxp) and Matthew Armstrong (analyst) call the action, while fans can also listen to the call on IUPUIJags.com as Morgan Adcock (pxp) describes the action.
The meeting will be the eighth all-time between the two teams with ISU owning a 5-2 advantage in the previous seven contests.
Second-year Head Coach Jason Gardner's squad is keyed by seniors
Marcellus Barksdale and Mason Archie and will rely heavily on contributions from four Division I-transfer -
Darell Combs,
Matt O'Leary,
Nick Osborne and
Jordan Pickett. Combs, O'Leary and Osborne combined to score 55 of the team's 85 points in the 85-55 exhibition win over Earlham on Nov. 6. Combs scored an easy 27 points in just 24 minutes, hitting 10-of-15 field goals and 4-of-8 from downtown. Friday's game also marks a homecoming trip for O'Leary, who prepped at nearby North Vigo High School. O'Leary's older brother, Chris, played wide receiver on the ISU football team and had an ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 moment during his career with a double lateral touchdown.
Gardner's team will be looking to avenge last season's loss in the opener at Indiana Farmers Coliseum as the Sycamores outlasted the Jaguars, 79-66 in overtime. Barksdale led the Jaguars with 12 points in that contest and Archie added 11, including a key three from in front of the Jaguars' bench late in regulation. ISU opened the overtime period with an 11-0 run and held the Jags to just 1-of-8 shooting in extra time.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
EXHIBIT A
IUPUI breezed to an 85-55 exhibition win over Earlham last Friday (Nov. 6), leading most of the game by 20-plus points after a 21-3 start to the contest. Junior
Darell Combs was better than advertised in his IUPUI debut, hitting for 27 points (10-15 FG, 4-8 3's, 3-4 FT) in just 24 minutes. He was joined in double-digits by
Nick Osborne (17 pts, 8-11 FG, 1-2 FT) and
Matt O'Leary (11 pts, 5-8 FG, 1-2 3's), who were also making their IUPUI debuts.
TRANSFER WATCH
Coming into the year, much of the hype has centered around the four Division I transfers eligible this season. In the exhibition game, three of the four suited up (Combs, O'Leary & Osborne) and combined on 55 of the squad's 85 points, while delivering nine assists against just two turnovers.
O'LEARY HOMECOMING
Friday's game marks a homecoming trip for junior
Matt O'Leary, coming in his IUPUI debut no less. O'Leary starred at Terre Haute North Vigo, earning honorable mention all-state honors after a senior year saw him average 17.1 points, 7.6 boards and 2.6 assists per game. O'Leary's brother, Chris, is a former wide receiver on the ISU football team and another brother, Marc, starred on the hardwood at Hanover College.
KEY EXHIBITION STATS
The two stats that jumped off the page from the Jaguars' exhibition win over Earlham both came on the interior as IUPUI won the glass 52-32 and outscored the Quakers 48-16 in the paint.
TRENDING UPWARD
Year one under Head Coach Jason Gardner saw huge gains for the IUPUI basketball program. The Jaguars increased their win total against Division I opponents from three to 10 last season and climbed from the basement of The Summit League to a sixth-place 6-10 finish a year ago. The Jags' non-conference wins included victories at Milwaukee and Pepperine and home wins over Ball State and South Alabama.
ATTENDANCE INCREASE
IUPUI boasted the nation's 30th largest increase in home attendance last season, gaining more than 900 patrons per game in year one at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The Jaguars averaged 1,527 fans per home game last season, led by the season-opening 3,159 at the game against Indiana State.
BALANCED ATTACK
For the first time in school history, IUPUI was without a double-digit scorer last season as then-junior
Marcellus Barksdale scored a team-high 9.5 points per game. All total, IUPUI had nine different players average between 4.4 and 9.5 points per game, with five of those individuals returning to the 2015-16 roster. Gardner tried virtually every combination available last season with 10 different players averaging more than 12 minutes per game. Barksdale was the lone IUPUI player to play more than 24 minutes per contest.
BETWEEN THE LINES
The Jaguars bring back six letterwinners from last year's team, most notably seniors
Marcellus Barksdale and
Mason Archie, II. Barksdale was an honorable mention All-Summit Leaguer last season after posting a team-high 9.5 points per game and 52 steals. He was second on the squad in rebounding (4.7 rpg) and (2.4 apg) was easily the team leader in minutes played (32.0 mpg). Archie, who started 19 games, averaged 7.6 points per game while sinking a team-high 33 treys. The other four returners are all sophomores -
Aaron Brennan (6.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg),
D.J. McCall (4.8 ppg, 2.9 rpg),
Leo Svete (4.4 ppg, 30 3's) and
John Hubler (0.3 ppg).
CELLUS WATCH
Senior
Marcellus Barksdale, the program's lone four-year senior this season, has quietly stacked up some impressive numbers in his IUPUI career. Barksdale, in his fifth year with the program, has accumulated 677 points, 431 boards and 224 assists heading into his final year. It's not unreasonable to think Barksdale could finish as the 23rd member of IUPUI's 1,000 Point Club, while also landing in the top 10 on the program's all-time list in rebounds and assists.
GRADS
Both Barksdale and Archie have earned degrees from IUPUI and are working towards graduate studies this season. Last year, IUPUI had four grads on the active roster with both Najee and Williams having had earned degrees prior to the season.
FRESHMAN STARTERS
Both Brennan and McCall were primarily starters a year ago, despite both being true freshmen. Brennan shot an efficient 52.2 percent from the floor while averaging 20.9 minutes per game. He also proved to be one of the team's better defenders, collecting 21 steals as an undersized forward. McCall, a versatile 6-foot-5 guard, started 15 of 31 games and averaged just more than 21 minutes a night. He was third on the squad with 89 boards and 38 assists in his rookie season.
THE TALL AND THE SHORT
True freshman
Noah Thomas will be IUPUI's tallest player this season at 6-foot-9 while the shortest players on the team will be 6-foot guards
T.J. Henderson and
Jordan Pickett.
HOOSIER TIES
Gardner, a former Indiana Mr. Basketball, has made a point to rebuild the program with Indiana high schoolers. Of the 15-man roster, 12 hail from the Hoosier state with the lone exceptions being
Darell Combs from Chicago and Kentucky natives
Marcellus Barksdale and
Evan Hall.
