INDIANAPOLIS - After a seven-day break for finals, the IUPUI basketball team will be back in action when it welcomes an old familiar foe to Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Saturday (Dec. 19) at 1:00 p.m.. The Jaguars will host former Summit League opponent Southern Utah (2-6) back to the Circle City on Saturday in a game that will be broadcast on HTSN, ESPN3 and 107.5 FM. Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Bob Lovell (analyst) will be on the television call while Morgan Adcock (pxp) will describe the action on 107.5 FM. Pregame coverage will begin at approximately 12:45 p.m..

IUPUI (3-9) received a much needed break after a recent road gauntlet that's included games at Purdue, Missouri State and Creighton. The road weary Jags dropped a 90-65 outcome at Creighton last Saturday, despite a 19-point effort from junior Darell Combs. The Jaguars were within nine point early in the second half, but saw the host Bluejays pull away, using a long-range assault that included 12 made threes in just 21 attempts (57.1 percent). Junior Matt O'Leary added 14 points and seven boards on 5-of-9 shooting.

Southern Utah (2-6) lost at Saint Mary's on Wednesday night by a 92-36 score and is just 1-4 away from home this season. The Thunderbirds are led by reserve James McGee's 12.1 points per game and Travon Langston checks in at 12.0 points and 6.3 boards per game. IUPUI and Southern Utah have squared off 32 times as former league foes with the Jaguars owning a decisive 21-11 on-court advantage in the series. Southern Utah left the league at the conclusion of the 2012 season, since moving to the Big Sky Conference. Senior Marcellus Barksdale is the lone current IUPUI player to have faced the T-Birds, having averaged 14.5 minutes per game in the two meetings during the 2011-12 season.

IUPUI won the most recent meeting between the two schools, 66-53 in Cedar City on Feb. 11, 2012 behind 22 points from Alex Young and 14 from Ian Chiles.

Combs leads this year's group in scoring at 15.9 points and 2.3 assists per game while hitting nearly 77 percent from the foul line. Sophomore Jordan Pickett is the only other IUPUI player averaging double-digits at 10.3 points per game while O'Leary is third on the team at 9.8 points per game. Junior Nick Osborne paces the Jags in rebounding at 6.5 caroms per game and is shooting almost 54 percent from three-point range.

JAGUAR TIDBITS
#SCTOP10
    Junior guard Darell Combs found himself on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 on Dec. 10 after burying a 60-footer at the end of the first half of the loss at Missouri State. Combs' play was the No. 3 play that night. 

HOME COOKING
    IUPUI is undoubtedly looking forward to being home for just the third time this season when the Jags host Southern Utah. Offensively, IUPUI is scoring 82 points per game at home and shooting better than 49 percent from the field in wins over Kentucky State and Miami. 

TOUGH TRIP
    IUPUI is coming off a tough three-game road stretch that netted losses at Purdue, Missouri State and Creighton by an average margin of 22 points per game. 
    Defensively, the Jags gave up at least 80 points in all three games, including 90 to Creighton - the most against IUPUI since Head Coach Jason Gardner took over.
    IUPUI shot a season-low 32.3 percent at Creighton (21-of-65) and 21.7 percent from three (5-of-23).  

GOOD NUMBERS
    IUPUI is coming off a season-high 16 offensive boards at Creighton, led by Nick Osborne's four caroms. The Jaguars also had a season-low 10 turnovers in the game at Creighton. 

SEVEN UP
    Junior guard Darell Combs has scored in double-digits in seven straight games and 10 of the 12 this season. Over the past seven games, he's 42-of-92 (.457) from the floor and 15-of-39 (.385) from three-point range. 

SECOND HALVES
    After playing the first halves of games virtually even this year, the IUPUI basketball team has been outscored 480-409 in the second halves and overtime periods this season - which equates to nearly six points per contest. 

4,400 MILES
    Coming into tonight's game, IUPUI has already logged more than 4,400 travel miles, most of which have been through the air. Ten of IUPUI's first 12 games have come on the road, including trips to Milwaukee (Marquette), Raleigh, N.C. (NC State), Atlanta (3 games), Muncie (Ball State), Springfield, Mo. (Missouri State) and Omaha (Creighton). 

MAKE SHOTS - WIN GAMES
    Simple math tells you that making more shots than your opponents will win games. Those numbers hold true for IUPUI in the two seasons Jason Gardner has been at the helm. 
    IUPUI is 12-5 (3-0 this season) when shooting a higher percentage from the floor than their opposition while going 1-25 (0-9 this season) when being outshot by opponents. 

BENCH PRODUCTION
    IUPUI's bench checks in scoring 21 points per game this season and has outscored the opponents' bench in seven of 12 games this season. Sophomore Jordan Pickett has played a large role in that output, scoring 13.5 points per game in the four games he came off the bench. Other key reserves have been Aaron Brennan (4.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and Evan Hall (4.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg). 

SVETE SAYS ADIEU
    Sophomore Leo Svete left the program on Dec. 4 and intends on transferring. Svete, a 6-foot-5 guard, appeared in 37 games over two seasons and averaged 4.4 points per game as a freshman in 2014-15. The Granger, Ind.-native scored 14 against Purdue last season in his second collegiate game. 

WORKING OVERTIME
    In just 43 career games on the IUPUI sidelines, Head Coach Jason Gardner has already taken his team to overtime eight times (2-6 overall), including twice this season. 

T.J. EARNS ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
    Freshman T.J. Henderson was chosen to the Legends Classic Kennesaw State subregional's All-Tournament Team and was subsequently awarded his first career start against South Alabama last Tuesday (Nov. 24) in game two of that regional. The 6-foot guard averaged 12.0 points and shot 8-of-15 from the floor in the two games at Kennesaw State.  

75 STRAIGHT
    Senior swingman Marcellus Barksdale has started 75 straight games for the Jaguars, dating back to the opener of the 2013-14 season. Classmate Mason Archie is second on the active roster, having made 26 career starts. 
    Barksdale is the program's lone four-year senior and has quietly stacked up some impressive numbers in his IUPUI career. Barksdale, in his fifth year with the program, has accumulated 759 points, 488 boards, 241 assists and 132 steals.
    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. 

10 HAVE HIT
    Head Coach Jason Gardner knew he'd have more weaponry this season as evidenced by the sheer number of shooters on the roster. In the season's first four games alone, IUPUI had had 10 different players make at least one three, coming off a season in which nine Jags made a trey a year ago. 

9 IN DUBS
    Sophomore Aaron Brennan became the ninth different Jaguar to hit for double-digits in a game this season, tallying 10 points in the win over Miami (Dec. 5). He joins Barksdale, Combs, Archie, O'Leary, Pickett, Hall, Henderson and Osborne on that list.

O'L3ARY
    After making just eight treys for the entire 2013-14 season at Loyola, Matt O'Leary has shown he's a dependable three-point threat in an IUPUI uniform. The 6-foot-8 O'Leary has hit 14 treys this season, including four in his career-high 17-point effort at NC State. 

UPSET THWARTED
    IUPUI had upset on the mind at Marquette (Nov. 16) before ultimately falling in overtime, 75-71. The Jaguars had a potential game-winning three blocked at the end of regulation and were outscored 6-2 in the extra frame. 
    Darell Combs scored 16 of his game-high 21 points after halftime, including 12 straight at one point. The Jaguars trailed by as many as 10 in the first half, but battled back to knot the score at 36 at the break.  

CHARITABLE EFFORT
    IUPUI was a perfect 10-of-10 at the foul line at Marquette (Nov. 16). The last time previously IUPUI had been perfect at the line was on Feb. 6, 2014 when the Jags made all 11 in a loss at North Dakota State. 

FOR OPENERS
    IUPUI's season-opening win at Indiana State was the first season-opening victory since 2012 when the Jaguars started with a home win over Utah Valley. It was the first season-opening road win since 2009 when the Jaguars opened with an 88-82 win at Drake that season. 

SEEING RED
    Sophomore guard D.J. McCall and freshman forward Noah Thomas are expected to redshirt the 2015-16 season. Two duo be joined by Syracuse-transfer Ron Patterson in anchoring the practice squad this season.