Live Stats I Live Video (HTSN I ESPN3) I Live Audio I Game Notes (.pdf) I Tickets

INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will open a three-game homestand on Thursday night (Feb. 5) when the Jaguars host Oral Roberts inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. Fans as asked to wear black as part of a BLACK OUT promotion in support of the IUPUI basketball team. Thursday's game will be televised on HTSN and ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) call the action from courtside and the game will also be heard in Central Indiana on WNDE 1260 AM as Will Flemming (pxp) is on the call. 

In addition to the on-court action, the IUPUI Women's Tennis and Volleyball teams will be recognized during the evening and the always entertaining Indy Air Bears will perform at halftime. In addition, nationally acclaimed jazz musician Rob Dixon will perform Thursday's national anthem. 

On the court, Head Coach Jason Gardner's squad has alternated wins and losses for 13 straight games, including the most recent 63-59 loss at Western Illinois last Friday. IUPUI took a late lead on a P.J. Boutte trey, but Western countered with a go-ahead three on the next possession. Redshirt freshman Leo Svete misfired on a potential game-winner and the Fighting Leathernecks iced the win at the foul line as Mohamed Conde hit both ends of a one-and-one in the closing seconds. Senior Khufu Najee, a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award, hit for a team-high 12 points while Svete pumped in 11 off the bench. 

IUPUI comes in at 12-23 all-time against Oral Roberts, including having lost the last six meetings in the series. The Jaguars lost at ORU earlier this season, 69-61. 

QUICK HITTERS
- IUPUI has alternated wins and losses for 13 games now, playing .500 basketball since losing six from Nov. 25-Dec. 15.
- IUPUI is 6-1 this season when leading at the half, including going 4-0 in Summit League games.  
- IUPUI has now played overtime in four of eight home games and five games overall this season. 
- IUPUI has already surpassed last year's win total (6) and the program's league win total from the last two years combined (2).
- In eight league games, IUPUI is outshooting and outrebounding opponents, although the Jags are -2.3 turnovers per game in Summit League play. 
- Senior Khufu Najee became the 10th different Jaguar to lead the team in scoring this season with his 11 points at ORU. IUPUI has had 10 different players score in double-figures in a game and boasts nine players scoring between 4.0 and 8.7 points per game. No IUPUI player has scored in double-digits in more than eight of the team's 21 games.
- Senior DavRon Williams has led IUPUI in rebounding in 13 of 22 games.
- More than 46% of IUPUI's points have come from the bench this year as Jags' reserves average 27.8 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. 

RPI CLIMBING
    As of Monday, IUPUI's RPI had climbed to 222 and has been on a steady ascent over the past month. The Jaguars' RPI was north of 300 for much of the non-conference schedule and IUPUI's final RPI was 322 a year ago. 

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 finished his undergraduate course work as the Indianapolis-product is now pursuing his Master's degree. 

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). 

UNCOMMON BALANCE
    Nine different IUPUI players are averaging between 4.0 and 8.5 points per game, led by Marcellus Barksdale's 8.5 scoring average. IUPUI has had 10 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 and Aaron Brennan have each led the squad at least once. 
    IUPUI has 10 players averaging double-digit minutes.

LOW LEADER
    Barksdale's 8.5 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. 

HITTING 70
    IUPUI is 4-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points and 4-14 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 last home game was its largest margin of victory this season, having defeated South Dakota by 15 points last Saturday. 

PLUS-THREE
    After being clobbered on the glass for much of the non-conference season, IUPUI is +3.3 rebounds/game near the midpoint of the conference season. It's been a collective effort as DavRon Williams leads the squad at 5.9 boards/game in Summit League play and eight Jags are grabbing at least two boards per contest. 

FIRST HALVES
    IUPUI is allowing just 23.8 points per game in the first halves of Summit League games, and foes have shot just 35.3 percent (71-of-201) overall against the Jags in the first halves of Summit League games.   

KNOCK DOWN
    IUPUI is 8-4 this season when shooting a higher field goal percentage than its opponent and 0-10 when being outshot. 

54 STRAIGHT
    Junior Marcellus Barksdale has now started 54 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 31.9 minutes per game (7.5 more than his closest competitor), ranking among the league's top players. Barksdale leads the team in scoring (8.5 ppg), free throws made (60) and steals (43) and is second in rebounding (4.4 rpg) and assists (2.4 apg). His 43 thefts are tops in the league. 

BENCH PRODUCTION
    Through 22 games, IUPUI's bench has scored 621 of the team's 1,334 points, equivalent to 46.5 percent of the team's scoring. The IUPUI bench has outscored the opposition in 19 of the season's 22 games.

MR. REBOUND
    Senior DavRon Williams has earned his stripes on the glass this season, accounting for IUPUI's top six rebounding games of the year. Included among those six are three double-digit rebounding efforts, including a career-best 13 at N.C. Central.
    Williams has led IUPUI in rebounding in 13 of 22 games.

GRADE CHECK
    Seven members of the team posted a 3.0 GPA or better during the fall semester. Included in that group were Aaron Brennan, Josh James, D.J. McCall, Khufu Najee, Matt O'Leary, Nick Osborne and Justus Stanback. 

The full IUPUI Game Notes can be seen by clicking here