INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will welcome South Dakota State (13-3, 2-0 Summit) in its 2016 Summit League home opener on Thursday night (Jan. 7) at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Thursday's game marks the first "IMCU Three for Thursday" promotion of the year as fans who purchase a ticket can receive three for free in advance of game day. In addition, fans wearing IUPUI Jaguars apparel will receive a $5 coupon off the price of admission and as part of 'Educator Appreciation Night', students and teachers can receive a free ticket with a valid ID. Thursday's game will be broadcast on HTSN and ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) call the action from courtside. In addition, the game can be heard on 107.5 FM as Morgan Adcock (pxp) calls the action with pregame coverage beginning at approximately 6:45 p.m.. 

Tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster or at the Coliseum box office and IUPUI Athletics office prior to game day. Doors will open one-hour prior to tip-off on Thursday. 

On the court, IUPUI (5-12, 1-1 Summit) earned a split on opening weekend of conference play, winning at South Dakota (77-66) before falling at Omaha (76-71) on Sunday. The Jaguars have a new found balance to the offensive attack as seven different players are scoring 7.0 points per game or better since the start of league play. Senior Marcellus Barksdale led five Jaguars in double-digits with a season-high 16 points in Sunday's loss at Omaha. IUPUI trailed by 11 with just more than six minutes to play, but closed within three and had an opportunity to tie the game, but came up empty on a possession with under a minute remaining. Junior Matt O'Leary chipped in 11 points and the trio of Mason Archie, Jordan Pickett and Nick Osborne contributed 10 apiece. 

Freshman Evan Hall has been a one-man wrecking ball in his first two Summit League games, averaging 9.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game with 10 of his 17 rebounds coming off the offensive glass. IUPUI is outrebounding opponents by a 6.0 rebound per game margin in league play and shooting 47 percent from the field thus far. 

SDSU, which sits No. 35 in the RPI and No. 13 in the Mid-Major Top 25, has built an impressive resume this season with wins over Minnesota, TCU and Illinois State. The Jackrabbits opened Summit League play with back-to-back wins over Denver and Western Illinois inside their home Frost Arena. The Jackrabbits are led by senior guards Deondre Parks (17.0 ppg, 5.2 rpg) and George Marshall (13.2 ppg) while redshirt freshman Mike Daum (11.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg) has been impressive on the interior. South Dakota State has won 11 straight over the Jaguars dating back to 2010. 

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 42.7 points per game. Senior Marcellus Barksdale is the team's top returning scorer from a year ago and is scoring 7.5 points per game this year. 

ROAD WARRIORS
    IUPUI's 13 true road games at this juncture are tied for the most in America (Arkansas-Pine Bluff has also played 13). IUPUI trekked more than 5,400 miles in the non-conference schedule, playing 12 of 15 games away from home (includes one neutral site game). Since then, IUPUI has traveled another 2,300-plus miles to start Summit League play with games in Vermillion, S.D. and Omaha. 

80 STRAIGHT
    Senior swingman Marcellus Barksdale has started 80 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 29 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 805 points, 521 boards, 252 assists and 139 steals. He also surpassed the 3,000 career minute mark against Butler on Dec. 28. He ranks among IUPUI's top 15 all-time in both rebounds and assists and it's not unreasonable to think Barksdale could finish as the 23rd member of IUPUI's 1,000 Point Club. 

COMBS STREAK SNAPPED
    By scoring just eight points, all in the final four minutes of the contest, junior Darell Combs had his streak of 11 straight games in double-digits snapped at Omaha on Sunday (Jan. 3). Combs, the team's top scorer at 15.5 ppg, averaged 17.5 points per game over that 11 games span.  

HALL GETS OFFENSIVE
    Freshman Evan Hall grabbed a career-high nine rebounds at Omaha on Sunday (Jan. 3), eight coming off the offensive glass. His eight offensive boards were the most by an IUPUI since DavRon Williams collected nine in the 2014-15 finale against Oral Roberts in the quarterfinals of The Summit League Tournament. 

OMAHA TAKEAWAYS
    IUPUI had five players score in double-digits (Barksdale [16], O'Leary [11], Archie, Pickett, Osborne [10]) for the first time since Gardner took over last season... Barksdale scored a season-high 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting... IUPUI's 48 points in the paint were also a season-high while the one three made (in 15 attempts) matched a season-low... IUPUI tied a season-high with 12 steals including three each from Barksdale and Combs... IUPUI dropped to 1-6 all-time against Omaha and 1-3 in road games versus the Mavs. 

VERSUS THE JACKS
    South Dakota State has dominated the series with IUPUI of late, winning 11-in-a-row dating back to the 2010-11 season. The average margin of those 11 IUPUI losses has been 16.2 points and nine of the 11 losses have been by double-digits. 
    The last IUPUI win came on Jan. 15, 2011 as the duo of Alex Young (27 pts) and Leroy Nobles (21 pts) outdueled future NBAer Nate Wolters (24 pts, 5 ast) in an 81-76 win. 

IN LEAGUE PLAY
    Albeit in a modest sample size, IUPUI has been extremely balanced in the opening two Summit League games with seven players averaging between 7.0 and 13.5 points per game. Combs leads the crew at 13.5 points per game, followed by O'Leary (13.0 ppg), Barksdale (11.0) and Archie (10.0). Hall has averaged close to a double-double at 9.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. 

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.  

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 709-590 in the second halves and overtime periods this season - which equates to exactly seven points per contest. 

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 14-5 (5-0 this season) when shooting a higher percentage from the floor than their opposition while going 1-28 (0-12 this season) when being outshot by opponents.