INDIANAPOLIS - Mercifully, the non-conference schedule came to a close for the IUPUI basketball team on Monday night (Dec. 28) as the Jaguars dropped a 92-54 outcome to No. 9/10 Butler inside Hinkle Fieldhouse. Kelan Martin led three Bulldogs in double-digits with 19 points off the bench and Roosevelt Jones contributed 17 points, five boards and five steals. Junior Darell Combs paced IUPUI with 11 points and freshman T.J. Henderson tallied 10 off the Jaguar bench. 

Butler (11-1) finished the night at 50 percent shooting and held IUPUI (4-11) to just 35 percent overall. 

"I take my hat off to Butler. They came out and took it to us," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "I told the guys that there are four seasons and this ends the first season and starts the second season. We're going to take a step back and evaluate how we've done so far and go from there. We've definitely challenged ourselves with the schedule, but now we've got to prepare for some tough places to play in The Summit League. 

"That's the new focus and that's what we're looking ahead to now."

Both teams struggled shooting the basketball early as the Jaguars fell into an 11-4 hole in the opening six-plus minutes. However, IUPUI closed within two on two different occasions, the second coming when junior Matt O'Leary buried a wing trey near the midpoint of the opening half. However, the Bulldogs took control with a 13-2 run late the half, capped by three straight Butler treys. Jordan Gathers connected twice, the second coming after he barely saved an errant pass from landing in the front row before hoisting an off-balanced trey. On the hosts next possession, a missed assignment left Martin wide open from the left wing in front of the Jaguars' bench for an easy triple. 

Butler converted the Jaguars' 10 first half turnovers into a 14-0 edge in points off turnovers in building a 43-24 lead at the break. The bleeding didn't stop at the break as Butler scored the first 10 points of the second half to end any and all doubt. Butler's primary second half objective was to lead senior sharpshooter Kellen Dunham out of a prolonged shooting slump. However, Dunham finished just 2-of-11 from the floor and empty from three-point range, scoring eight points on a night in which his teammates didn't really need him.

Martin canned 8-of-11 shots in just 19 minutes and Andrew Chrabascz hit 7-of-10 to score 15 points. Gathers provided a dependable long-range threat, hitting three of his four from deep to close with nine points. 

IUPUI continued to struggle to find the range, making 20-of-57 shots and 5-of-17 from deep. Aaron Brennan provided a bright spot off the bench with six points after sitting the bulk of the first half due to foul trouble. O'Leary tossed in eight points and three boards and Marcellus Barksdale contributed six points and six rebounds. Indianapolis-native John Hubler also had a memorable moment, canning his first collegiate field goal with a trey late in the contest.

"We've got a lot of work to do. We'll go back and look at the film and get to work," Gardner said. 

The loss dropped IUPUI to 0-15 all-time against ranked opponents and 0-5 all-time against Butler with all five meetings coming inside Hinkle Fieldhouse. 
 
After capping the non-conference slate at 4-11, the Jaguars will now move into Summit League play, beginning on New Year's Day at South Dakota. That game is slated to tip at 3:30 p.m. and will be heard on 107.5 FM as Morgan Adcock (pxp) will be on the call. Pregame coverage will begin at approximately 3:15 p.m..