NORMAL, Ill. - The IUPUI basketball team will look to break a modest two-game skid on Wednesday night (Nov. 30) when the Jaguars face Illinois State (2-2) at 6:00 p.m. Central (7 Eastern) in a game broadcast on ESPN3. IUPUI (2-4) is coming off a weekend loss at SIUE while Illinois State recently defeated Ferris State to improve to .500 on the year.
Wednesday's game will also be heard in Central Indiana on 97.5 Fox Sports FM, 1260 WNDE and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.
Senior
Matt O'Leary was the Jaguars' top gun on an otherwise lackluster offensive effort on Saturday as the 6-foot-8 forward hit for a career-high 22 points (9-14 FG, 1-2 3's, 3-3 FT) against SIUE. Classmate
Darell Combs added 16 points on 6-of-18 shooting to round out the Jaguars' double-digit scorers. Combs hit a pair of late threes to keep IUPUI in the game, but misfired on a desperation attempt at the final horn. Offensively, IUPUI finished with a season-low 58 points and shot just 38.1 percent from the floor in the loss.
"We just missed far too many layups today and it came back to hurt us. It wasn't just one player and it wasn't just once or twice that it happened. It seemed like every time we started to get a little momentum or would start to go on a run, we'd miss an easy one or give up an offensive rebound," IUPUI Head Coach
Jason Gardner said. "Those are things that kill you, especially in close games."
For the year, IUPUI has been among The Summit League's elite programs in ball handling and three-point defense, leading the league by limiting foes to just 29.9 percent from beyond the arc. In addition, the Jags lead the league in assists at 15.7 per game as three individuals (Combs, O'Leary and
Kellon Thomas) all average better than three per game. The Jags also lead the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.3.
Combs ranks fifth in The Summit in scoring at 16.8 points per game while O'Leary ranks among the league's top 15 in eight different categories.
All five of Illinois State's starting lineup average in double-digits, led by 6-foot-8 senior Deontae Hawkins (16.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg) and 6-foot-7 junior MiKyle McIntosh (14.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg). The Redbirds shoot 39 percent from three-point range and are outrebounding foes by nearly two caroms per game.
Wednesday's game is the second meeting all-time between IUPUI and Illinois State as the Redbirds defeated the Jags 82-63 on Dec. 23, 2000 in Normal.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
SECOND OF FIVE
Tonight's game is the second of five trips to Illinois for the IUPUI basketball team this season. The Jags dropped the first game inside the Prairie State this past weekend, losing to SIU Edwardsville (61-58). The Jags still have trips to Illinois (Dec. 6), Northwestern (Dec. 20) and Western Illinois (Jan. 28) forthcoming this season.
O'LEARY'S CAREER DAY
Senior Matt O'Leary is coming off a career-high 22-point (9-14 FG, 1-2 3's, 3-3 FT) effort at SIUE on Saturday. The 6-foot-8 forward also grabbed eight boards and delivered a pair of assists in the loss. O'Leary has now scored in double-digits in five straight games, matching the longest stretch of his collegiate career. He also scored in double-figures in five straight from Dec. 7-22 last season, averaging 12.8 points per game during that stretch.
POWER OUTAGE
Offensively, the Jags suffered a power outage in Saturday's loss at SIUE, tallying a season-low 58 points and shooting a season worst 38.1 percent from the field. IUPUI also hit a season-low four treys at just a 25 percent clip. The Jags opened the second half by scoring just six points in the opening 10 minutes and finished with a season-low six free throws made.
OTHER SIUE NOTES
Sophomore guard T.J. Henderson had a career-high six assists (no turnovers) off the IUPUI bench on Saturday, doing so in just 18 minutes... both Darell Combs (39 minutes) and Ron Patterson (31 minutes) posted a new career-high in minutes played... the meeting with SIUE was the first in more than 20 years between IUPUI and the Cougars.
2K CLASSIC
IUPUI capped the four-game 2K Classic with a 2-2 record, losing road games at Michigan and Marquette and winning the Indianapolis Subregional of the event. IUPUI captured home victories over Howard (77-55) and Eastern Michigan (83-71). Junior Ron Patterson was named Subregional MVP after averaging 16 points and hitting 9-of-17 threes. He was joined on the All-Tournament Team by senior forward Matt O'Leary, who averaged 10.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals over two games.
EIGHT IN DUBS
Through the season's first five games, IUPUI had already had eight different players score in doubledigits as D.J. McCall had 10 at Marquette on Nov. 22. No IUPUI player has scored in double-digits in every
game as Darell Combs and Matt O'Leary have tallied double-digits in five of six games.
BUSS FOR THREE
Not known as a three-point threat upon transferring from Syracuse, junior Ron Patterson has been lethal from deep to start the season. The Indianapolis-native made just 15-of-71 (21.1 percent) attempts in his two years with the Orange, but is 15-of-34 (44.1 percent) in his first five games with the Jaguars. He's hit at least three threes in four of the Jaguars' five games, including a career-high 5-of-9 in the win
over Eastern Michigan. Patterson posted new career-highs in each of the 2K Classic home games, scoring 15 against Howard and 17 against Eastern Michigan.
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