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DENVER, Colo. - The IUPUI men's basketball team will hit the road in hopes of snapped a four-game skid when the Jaguars take on Denver (10-14, 4-7 Summit) on Saturday night inside Magness Arena at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Saturday's game marks the first of three consecutive road games in Summit League play. 

IUPUI (8-17, 4-7) was recently on the wrong side of three home decisions including Wednesday's 69-54 loss to surging Fort Wayne. Despite 14 points and six rebounds off the bench from DavRon Williams, the Jaguars got down by 13 in the first half and never got closer than six in the second half. The Jaguars shot a putrid 35 percent from the floor while Fort Wayne connected on better than 50 percent for the game. 

The Jaguars continued the trend of excellence on the glass, winning the boards 36-33 over the bigger Mastodons. Both Marcellus Barksdale and Khufu Najee also collected six boards to match Williams' game-high effort. 

IUPUI is 2-1 all-time against Denver, including a 52-49 victory earlier this season. In that contest, IUPUI outrebounded the Pioneers 34-18 and used a balanced attack in which 10 different Jaguars contributed points in the win. Barksdale scored a team-high 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting and Najee added nine in the victory. After scoring just 13 first half points, Denver rebounded to make a run early in the second half before IUPUI ultimately held on to improve to 2-1 to start Summit League play. 

Cam Griffin led Denver with 15 points and Brett Olson chipped in 13 on just 4-of-6 shooting. 

QUICK HITTERS
- IUPUI is amidst its second-longest losing streak of the season, having lost four straight entering tonight's game. The Jags lost six straight from Nov. 25-Dec. 15 earlier this season.
- IUPUI is 6-1 this season when leading at the half, including going 4-0 in Summit League games.
- IUPUI has surpassed last year's win total (6) and the program's league win total from the last two years combined (2).
- In 11 league games, IUPUI is and outrebounding opponents by more than three boards per game, but the Jags are -2.1 turnovers per game in Summit League play. 
- Sophomore Justus Stanback became the 11th different Jaguar to lead the team in scoring this season with his 10 points against South Dakota State on Feb. 7. IUPUI has had 10 different players score in double-figures in a game and boasts nine players scoring between 4.5 and 8.3 points per game. No IUPUI player has scored in double-digits in more than eight of the team's 24 games.
- DavRon Williams has led IUPUI in rebounding in 14 of 25 games and leads the league in FG percentage (58.4%)
- More than 46.9% of IUPUI's points have come from the bench this year as Jags' subs average 28.4 points per game.    
- This marks the 43rd season of IUPUI basketball, beginning with the 1972 campaign.
- IUPUI will play every home game at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum this season in year one of a five-year pact. IUPUI last played home games at the Coliseum from 1975-79. The building was home to the Indiana Pacers from 1967-74.  
- More than half of IUPUI's 13-man roster is newcomers this year. All total, the Jaguars welcome seven new faces this year with four Division I transfers and three true freshmen.

PERSPECTIVE
    IUPUI has already surpassed the program's win total from each of the past two years (6) and the program's league win total from the last two seasons combined (2 - 1 each in 2013 & 2014). Bear in mind, three of IUPUI's six wins a season ago came against non-Division I competition. 

FOURTH GRAD
    IUPUI gained national publicity earlier this season, entering the season with three players having already completed their degree requirements (Marcellus Barksdale, Khufu Najee and DavRon Williams). That group grew to four at the end of December as fourth-year junior Mason Archie, II finished his undergraduate course work as the Indianapolis-product is now pursuing his Master's degree. 

THIEFS
    IUPUI is 39th nationally with 7.8 steals per game, ranking second in The Summit League to Omaha in that statistic. Junior Marcellus Barksdale ranks among the national leaders with 47 steals this season. 
    In Summit League games, IUPUI averages a league-high 7.2 steals per game. 

CLASS ACT
    Senior Khufu Najee learned just prior to the game against South Dakota that he's among 30 national finalists for the 2015 Senior CLASS Award. The California-native is the second player in school history to be among the 30 finalists, joining John Ashworth (2011). 
    However, Najee is not being considered among the final 15 candidates as the list was pared on Feb. 10. 

UNCOMMON BALANCE
    Nine different IUPUI players are averaging between 4.6 and 8.2 points per game, led by Marcellus Barksdale's 8.2 scoring average. IUPUI has had 11 different leading scorers (including ties) with P.J. Boutte, Marcellus Barksdale, Leo Svete, D.J. McCall, Khufu Najee, DavRon Williams, Jalen McCallum, Elijah Ray, Mason Archie, Justus Stanback and Aaron Brennan have each led the squad at least once. 
    IUPUI has 10 players averaging double-digit minutes and an 11th (Stanback) sits at 9.4 points per game. 

LOW LEADER
    Barksdale's 8.2 points per game scoring average would easily be the lowest total to lead the Jaguars in a single-season in program history. The lowest scoring output to lead the Jaguars in a season is 12.4 points per game by Charles Price in 2001-02. 
    Barksdale's 8.2 scoring average is the lowest team-leader in the country this season. 

HITTING 70
    IUPUI is 4-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points and 4-17 when failing to reach that number. 

SLIM WINS 
    IUPUI is 6-3 in games decided by five points or less this season and have won their eight games by a combined 40 points. IUPUI's largest margin of victory this season was over South Dakota by 15 points. 

GLASS EATERS
    After being clobbered on the glass for much of the non-conference season, IUPUI is +3.3 rebounds/game in Summit League play, ranking second in the league. It's been a collective effort as DavRon Williams leads the squad at 5.2 boards/game in Summit League play and 10 Jags are grabbing at least 1.5 boards per contest. 

FIRST HALVES
    IUPUI is allowing just 25.2 points per game in the first halves of Summit League games, and foes have shot just 37.9 percent (105-of-277) overall against the Jags in the first halves of Summit League games.
    IUPUI is 4-0 in Summit League play when leading at the half and 0-6 when tied or trailing. 

KNOCK DOWN
    IUPUI is 8-4 this season when shooting a higher field goal percentage than its opponent and 0-13 when being outshot. 

57 STRAIGHT
    Junior Marcellus Barksdale has now started 57 straight games, dating back to the 2012-13 season opener. Barksdale is the only Jag to start every game this season. 

BENCHMARKS
    Marcellus Barksdale hit some career milestones at N.C. Central on Dec. 29, scoring his 500th career point and grabbing his 350th career rebound. 
    He hit two more against South Dakota as delivered his 200th assist and gathered his 100th career steal. 

MR. INDISPENSABLE
    While Gardner has shown a deep and versatile bench, the one constant for the Jaguars this season is junior guard Marcellus Barksdale. The 6-foot-5 veteran is playing 31.6 minutes per game (6.7 more than his closest competitor), ranking among the league's top players. Barksdale leads the team in scoring (8.2 ppg), free throws made (65) and steals (47) and is second in rebounding (4.6 rpg) and assists (2.4 apg). 

BENCH PRODUCTION
    Through 25 games, IUPUI's bench has scored 709 of the team's 1,512 points, equivalent to 46.9 percent of the team's scoring. The IUPUI bench has outscored the opposition in 22 of the season's 25 games.


The full IUPUI Game Notes can be seen by clicking here