INDIANAPOLIS - After playing seven of the season's first eight games away from home, the IUPUI basketball team will host Miami (Ohio) at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday (Dec. 5) at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in a game televised on ESPN3 and HTSN. Saturday's game is Revenge of the Fifth Day to celebrate the new Star Wars movie, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens".
One lucky fan will walk away with a Lego Death Star valued at $399 while IUPUI students in attendance will be given one of three collectible Jaguars Star Wars t-shirts (one per student while supplies last). Students will also be treated to FREE pizza courtesy of the Kelley School of Business Indianapolis and the Division of Student Affairs as they board the shuttles at The Tower to ride to the game. Student shuttles will run at 12:15, 12:30 and 12:45 on Saturday.
In addition, the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion will be in attendance as fans are invited to dress as their favorite Star Wars character.
IUPUI (2-6) comes in looking to snap a four-game slide on the heels of a three-point loss at Ball State on Tuesday. Junior #
Darell Combs# fueled a furious comeback with a career-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, but the Jaguars ultimately fell one possession short as a desperation three well short at the horn. Junior #
Matt O'Leary# chimed in with 10 points and five boards and #
Nick Osborne# added eight points and seven boards in the loss. Offensively, IUPUI shot just 38.7 percent from the floor and 7-of-22 (31.8 percent) from three, but really struggled at the foul line, making just 3-of-10 attempts. On the glass, IUPUI outrebounded the Cardinals 42-35 as all nine Jaguars grabbed at least two rebounds in defeat.
Saturday's game will be heard locally on 107.5 FM as Morgan Adcock (pxp) will describe the action.
IUPUI comes in 0-4 all-time against Miami as Saturday's game will be the first meeting between the two schools since 2010.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
3,000 MILES
Through just eight games, IUPUI has already logged more than 3,000 travel miles, most of which have been through the air. Seven of IUPUI's first eight games have come on the road, including trips to Milwaukee (Marquette), Raleigh, N.C. (NC State), Atlanta (3 games) and Muncie (Ball State).
COMBS CAREER NIGHT
Junior
Darell Combs tried to single-handedly shoot IUPUI back into the game at Ball State on Tuesday, scoring 22 points (8-12 FG, 3-5 3's, 3-4 FT) in the 61-58 loss. Eleven of his 22 games in the final 2:17 of the contest as IUPUI trimmed a 10-point deficit down to a one-possession game.
OFF THE GLASS
IUPUI grabbed a season-high 42 boards at Ball State on Tuesday, outrebounding the Cards by seven caroms. Consequently, IUPUI yielded just five second chance points to Ball State - the fewest by an IUPUI foe this season.
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 11-5 (2-0 this season) when shooting a higher percentage from the floor than their opposition while going 1-22 (0-6 this season) when being outshot by opponents.
BENCH PRODUCTION
IUPUI's bench checks in scoring nearly 25 points per game this season. Sophomore
Jordan Pickett has played a large role in that output, scoring 13.5 points per game in his four games that he's come off the bench.
WORKING OVERTIME
In just 39 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.
71 STRAIGHT
Senior swingman
Marcellus Barksdale has started 71 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 729 points, 470 boards and 238 assists.
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. IUPUI had already had 10 different players make at least one three through just four games, coming off a season in which nine Jags made a trey a year ago.
8 IN DUBS
Senior
Marcellus Barksdale became the eighth different IUPUI player to score double-digits in a game this season, scoring a season-high 13 at Georgia State on Friday. He joins 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 already hit eight 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 last Monday night (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 on 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.
DEBUTS
Five of IUPUI's nine players that saw the floor at Indiana State on Friday (Nov. 13) were making their IUPUI debuts. All five showed well, including the two true freshmen
Evan Hall and
T.J. Henderson coming off the bench.
Darell Combs (16 pts, 9-14 FT, 4 ast)
Matt O'Leary (7 pts, 7 reb)
Nick Osborne (9 pts, 8 reb)
T.J. Henderson (4 pts, 1 ast, 26 min)
Evan Hall (13 pts, 6-8 FG, 3 reb)
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.
