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ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The IUPUI basketball team will tip-off the 2016 2K Classic on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 13) on a national stage as the Jaguars face Michigan (1-0) in a noon tip-off on ESPNU. John Brinkley (pxp) and Sean Harrington (analyst) will be on the call as IUPUI faces the Wolverines for the third time in program history.Â
In Central Indiana, the game can be heard on 97.5 Fox Sports Radio and 1260 WNDE as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.
IUPUI (0-1) will look for a quick turnaround after a 97-87 loss at Eastern Kentucky on Friday night. Despite a game-high 28 points from senior guard
Darell Combs on Friday, the Jaguars were upended by the Colonels on Veteran's Day, thanks largely to a lopsided free throw margin. IUPUI was whistled for a Division I record 37 fouls, resulting in 56 free throw attempts for the hosts. EKU outscored IUPUI 45-20 at the free throw line and staved off a late rally in the win.
"We fouled way, way too much. You can't win when you allow that many free throws," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "We got in a hole against a team that shoots it from long-range and has a pretty good post scorer and that was a hard hole to come out of. I thought we did a better job in the second half of extending our defense and identifying shooters, but it's hard to win on the road when you get behind like that."
Both
Kellon Thomas and
Ron Patterson scored 11 points in their IUPUI debuts and junior
Aaron Brennan had a big night off the bench with nine points, four boards, three assists and two blocked shots. Sophomore
Evan Hall had a career-high 10 boards and two blocked shots, but the EKU duo of Nick Mayo and Asante Gist proved to be too much. The tandem scored 45 combined points, including hitting 28-of-34 free throw attempts.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
2K CLASSIC
Today's game is the first of four the Jaguars will play as part of this year's 2K Classic. Following today's game, the Jags will return home to host a four-team subregional, beginning with a Nov. 18 game against Howard. IUPUI will then take on either Eastern Michigan or Gardner-Webb on Saturday (Nov. 19). IUPUI's participation in the event will conclude at Marquette next Tuesday (Nov. 22).
FOUL MOOD
IUPUI started the season in a foul mood, being called for 37 personals in the season-opening loss at Eastern Kentucky (97-87). EKU turned the 37 whistles into a 45-of-56 (80.4%) shooting night at the foul line, outscoring IUPUI 45-20 at the line. Seven of the 10 Jags that played collected at least four fouls and both
T.J. Henderson and
Ron Patterson were disqualified before night's end. The 37 whistles were the most IUPUI's been called for in the program's Division I era (1998-present) and the fourth time IUPUI's been called for at least 30 under Gardner.
HOT COMBS
Senior guard
Darell Combs stayed hot to open the 2016-17 season, tallying 28 in the opener. Dating back to last season, Combs is averaging 30.3 points per game in his past three games. He closed last season on a high note, earning the Summit League's final Player of the Week honor.He had a career night in a loss to South Dakota, pumping in 32 points (11-20 FG, 6-11 3's, 4-4 FT) in 35 minutes against the Coyotes. In doing so, he became the first IUPUI player to hit for at least 30 points in a game since Donovan Gibbs scored 32 against Judson in January 2014. Two days after, he tossed in 31 points and a career-high eight assists in the Jaguars' 80-77 upset of Fort Wayne, including hitting 6-of-7 from beyond the arc. He became the first IUPUI player to net back-to-back 30+ scoring games since current NBAer George Hill did so in January 2008.
IUPUI DEBUTS
Three players made their IUPUI debuts on Friday night as transfers
Ron Patterson and
Kellon Thomas were in the starting lineup and true freshman
Giovanni Fraser came off the bench. Below is a quick look at each of their stat lines in their IUPUIÂ debuts:
Patterson (11 pts, 3-6 3's, 23 min)
K. Thomas (11 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 26 min)
Fraser (2 pts, 4 min)
MORE EKU TIDBITS
Despite the loss, there were certainly some noteworthy numbers in the season-opening loss at EKU. In his first-ever game inside his home state, Kentucky-native
Evan Hall had a career-high 10 rebounds and two blocked shots in just 18 minutes. Junior
Aaron Brennan had a quality showing, finishing with nine points, four boards, three assists and two blocked shots in 20 minutes.
VERSUS THE WOLVERINES
IUPUI is 0-2 all-time against Michigan, including giving the Big Ten foe an upset scare in the 2002-03 season before falling, 84-79. Current Associate Head Coach Matt Crenshaw played in that game, posting 12 points and four assists off the bench. LaVell Blanchard (23 pts, 5-6 3's, 8 reb) and Lester Abram (20 pts) outdueled IUPUI's Odell Bradley (26 pts, 7 reb) that day as four Jaguars finished having fouled out.
INSIDE CRISLER
While IUPUI has only played Michigan twice, the Jaguars are no stranger to games playing inside UM's Crisler Center. IUPUI is 2-3 in five games on Michigan's home floor, having lost two true road games to the Wolverines and then having played in exempt events in 2008 and 2012. In 2008, IUPUI lost to Northeastern (73-60) to open the Coaches vs. Cancer event before rebounding to beat Michigan Tech, 65-51. In 2012, the Jags were blasted by Michigan (91-54) to open the NIT Season Tip-Off, but rebounded to knock off Bowling Green (80-66) the following day.
Click here for full  game notesÂ
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