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INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will finally hit the home hardwood for the first time this season on Friday (Nov. 18) when the Jaguars begin play in the Indianapolis Subregional of the 2K Classic at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Eastern Michigan, Gardner-Webb and Howard will join the Jaguars in the four team pod with two games being played on both Friday and Saturday.
Action will begin at noon on Friday as Eastern Michigan faces Gardner-Webb, followed by the Jags against Howard at 2:00 p.m.. IUPUI's game against the Bison will be broadcast on ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Carlos Knox (analyst) are on the call. In addition, the game can be heard in Central Indiana on iHeartRadio, 97.5 FM and 1260 WNDE as Morgan Adcock (pxp) describes the action.Â
On the court, the Jags are seeking their first win of the season after opening with road losses at Eastern Kentucky (97-87) and Michigan (77-65) to start the year. Senior guard
Darell Combs has been white hot, averaging 25.0 points and making 10 field goals in each of the team's first two contests. In addition, Kent State-transfer
Kellon Thomas checks in at 10.5 points per game and
Matt O'Leary is scoring 10 points per contest.Â
Sophomore
Evan Hall leads the Jags in rebounding at 7.5 caroms per game and
D.J. McCall is second on the squad at 5.0 rebounds per game, including a career-high seven at Michigan on Sunday. Combs leads the team in assists with six in the season's first two games.Â
"More than anything, I think our guys are just excited to be playing at home in front of their friends and family," Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "We've had great support at our road games, but there's something different about playing on your home floor. We were pretty good at home last season and I think our guys take pride in trying to protect our home court."
IUPUI was undefeated at home in non-conference play last season, going 4-0 overall.Â
JAGUAR TIDBITS
2K CLASSIC
   Today's game is the second of four the Jaguars will play as part of this year's 2K Classic. IUPUI will now host the four-team, two-day Indianapolis Subregional, featuring Eastern Michigan, Gardner-Webb and Howard.
   Regardless of today's outcomes, IUPUI will play the second game tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. and face either EMU or Gardner-Webb.
   IUPUI's participation in the event will conclude at Marquette next Tuesday (Nov. 22).
VERSUS THE BISON
   IUPUI faced Howard two years ago and dropped a 57-47 slugfest.
   Amazingly, only three players on the current Jaguars' roster appeared in that game.
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Aaron Brennan (6 pts, 5 reb, 29) was among the starting five and
Josh James (4 pts, 6 reb, 13 min) and
D.J. McCall (5 pts, 22 min) made appearances off the bench.
   IUPUI shot just 28.3 percent from the floor in that loss, hitting just 4-of-26 (15.4%) from three.
HOT COMBS
   Senior guard
Darell Combs has stayed hot to open the 2016-17 season, tallying 28 in the opener at Eastern Kentucky and 22 at Michigan. Dating back to last season, Combs is averaging 25.8 points per game in his past four 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.
JAGS SIGN TWO
   IUPUI inked two during the early signing period, signing 6-foot-8 forward Brandon Hau (Mukwonago, Wisc./Mukwonago) and 6-foot guard Jaylen Minnett (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South) to National Letters of Intent.
   Hau averaged 16.3 points and 7.5 boards per game as a junior and chose IUPUI over Air Force, Drake, Elon, Iowa, Navy, North Dakota State and South Dakota.
   Minnett averaged 21.6 points, 5.0 assists and 4.8 boards per game last season. Minnett chose IUPUI over interest from Ball State, Kent State and Xavier.
IUPUI DEBUTS
   Three players made their IUPUI debuts last 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 IUPUI 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)
MICHIGAN TIDBITS
   Redshirt sophomore
D.J. McCall grabbed a career-high seven boards at Michigan on Sunday... two days after being whistled for a Division I record 37 fouls in the season opener, IUPUI was called for just 17 fouls at Michigan on Sunday... IUPUI dropped to 0-3 all-time against Michigan and 2-4 in games played inside Michigan's Crisler Center... IUPUI has used the same starting five in both games so far this season -
Kellon Thomas,
Darell Combs and
Ron Patterson in the backcourt and
Evan Hall and
Matt O'Leary in the frontcourt.
HOME COOKING
   IUPUI went 9-2 at home last season at home and hasn't lost a non-conference home game since a 73-64 loss to Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 13, 2014.
EXHIBIT A
   IUPUI cruised to an 87-74 win over St. Joseph's College in its lone exhibition game of the season, paced by 14 apiece from
Darell Combs (2-7 FG, 8-8 FT) and
Ron Patterson (5-7 FG, 3-4 3's). The Jaguars led by as many as 25 late in the game before yielding a large SJC run to close the game with the reserves on the floor.
   Six others finished with eight points each as the starting frontcourt of
Matt O'Leary and
Evan Hall combined on 16 points (7-8 FG) and 14 rebounds in just 35 combined minutes.
   IUPUI shot 51 percent from the floor and held St. Joseph's to just 31 percent shooting.
   The major bugaboo on the score sheet was the number of times IUPUI turned it over. The Jags committed 26 miscues leading to 26 St. Joe's points. Every IUPUI player that saw action except
D.J. McCall (18 minutes) and
Noah Thomas (5 minutes) had at least one turnover.
   Gardner was able to play 15 different players with
Kellon Thomas (8 pts, 3 ast) playing a team-high 24 minutes as the starting point guard.
Click here to see full IUPUI game notes.
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