INDIANAPOLIS - Happy to have the non-conference slate behind them, the IUPUI basketball team will enter its second season beginning on Friday (Jan. 1) when the Jaguars open Summit League play at South Dakota (8-6, 0-0 Summit). Game time is 3:30 p.m. Eastern and the contest will be heard on 107.5 FM in Central Indiana as Morgan Adcock is on the call. 

IUPUI (4-11, 0-0) played one of the nation's 25 toughest non-conference schedules, facing six major conference opponents and hosting just three games in the first 15. Among the toughest were games at No. 9 Butler and at No. 11 Purdue.  

"At the end of the day, it comes down to us winning three (conference) tournament games in Sioux Falls at the end of the year," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "That's our ticket to the NCAA Tournament. None of this stuff really matters now and we start fresh from here. We're battle tested and we've played in some hostile environments all season long."

At the midpoint in the season, IUPUI has been led by the four Division I-transfers as Darell Combs, Matt O'Leary, Jordan Pickett and Nick Osborne have combined to score 42.8 points and grab 16.6 rebounds per game. Combs has scored in double-digits in 13 of 15 games and leads the squad at 15.7 points per game while O'Leary is second on the team in scoring (9.9 ppg), rebounds (5.5 rpg) and assists (2.0 apg). 

Senior Marcellus Barksdale has continued to be his usual steady self, averaging 7.0 points and 5.1 boards per game and recently moved into the program's top 15 all-time in rebounding. He's on the cusp of entering the program's top 15 all-time in assists and recently surpassed the 3,000 minute mark for his career. 

IUPUI is just 2-6 all-time against South Dakota and 0-4 in the four meetings inside DakotaDome. The two schools split last year's series with each side holding serve on their home court. 

JAGUAR TIDBITS
TOP FOUR
    IUPUI's top four scorers this season are all Division I transfers who sat out last season. The quartet of Darell Combs, Matt O'Leary, Jordan Pickett and Nick Osborne have teamed to score 42.8 points per game. Senior Marcellus Barksdale is the team's top returning scorer from a year ago and is scoring 7.0 points per game this year. 

78 STRAIGHT
    Senior swingman Marcellus Barksdale has started 78 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 27 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 782 points, 508 boards, 247 assists and 134 steals. He also surpassed the 3,000 career minute mark against Butler on Dec. 28. 
    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. 

OPENING STATEMENTS
    IUPUI is 9-8 all-time in Summit League openers and 8-9 to start calendar years (first game in January) since joining the Division I ranks in 1998. 

NEW YEAR'S
    The last time IUPUI played on New Year's Day was in 2013 when the Jags rang in the new year at Maryland. The Jaguars lost that game in College Park, 81-63.
    Prior to that, the only other time IUPUI had played on New Year's Day was in 1977 when the then Metros lost to Oakland, 101-97.  

CLOSED WITH A THUD
    IUPUI capped the non-conference gauntlet with a thud, dropping true road games at Memphis and #9/10 Butler by a combined 74 points. The 92 points allowed at Butler on Monday night were the most by an IUPUI foe under Head Coach Jason Gardner. 

BUTLER TAKEAWAYS
    IUPUI dropped to 0-5 all-time against Butler and 0-15 in games against nationally ranked opponents in the program's Division I era (1998-present)... freshman T.J. Henderson was one of the bright spots, hitting for double-digits (10 pts, 3-10 FG) for the third time this season and collected a career-high three steals... sophomore John Hubler made his first career field goals with a right wing trey late in the contest... senior Mason Archie (2 pts, 2 reb) returned to the starting lineup as sophomore Jordan Pickett missed the game due to injury. 

SMART CATS
    With fall semester grades recently posted, four Jaguars earned Academic Advisor's List with a 3.0 GPA or better - Marcellus Barksdale, Aaron Brennan, Matt O'Leary and Noah Thomas. O'Leary, a management major, topped the bunch with a 3.93 GPA during the fall.  

10 STRAIGHT
    Junior guard Darell Combs has scored in double-digits in 10 straight games and 13 of the 15 this season. Over the past 10 games, he's 57-of-129 (.442) from the floor and 20-of-46 (.435) from deep. 

PERFECT AT HOME IN THE NON-CONFERENCE
    IUPUI finished the home portion of the non-conference slate with a perfect mark this season, going 3-0 in those contests. It marks IUPUI's first perfect non-conference slate since the 2010-11 season when the Jaguars had just two non-conference home games (IU-Northwest & IU-East). 

HOME COOKING
    In going 3-0 at home this season, IUPUI is averaging 82.0 points per game and shooting 51.2 percent from the floor (85-of-166) in wins over Kentucky State, Miami and Southern Utah. 

HALL BOUND
    It was recently announced the former basketball standout Odell Bradley will be inducted in the IUPUI Hall of Fame on Saturday, Jan. 16. The 2004 Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year and honorable mention All-American will later be recognized at halftime of that afternoon's game as the Jaguars host Denver at 1:00 p.m. at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. 

#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. 

SECOND HALVES
    After playing the first halves of games virtually even this year, the IUPUI basketball team has been outscored 616-506 in the second halves and overtime periods this season - which equates to 7.3 points per contest. 

5,400 MILES
    This year's non-conference slate saw the Jaguars log more than 5,400 travel miles, most coming through the air. Twelve of IUPUI's first 15 games were on the road, including trips to Milwaukee (Marquette), Raleigh, N.C. (NC State), Atlanta (3 games), Muncie (Ball State), Springfield, Mo. (Missouri State), Omaha (Creighton) and Memphis. 

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 13-5 (4-0 this season) when shooting a higher percentage from the floor than their opposition while going 1-27 (0-11 this season) when being outshot by opponents. 

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 46 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.  

11 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. Sophomore John Hubler became the 11th different Jag to make a three this season, doing so at Butler on Dec. 28. 

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.