CEDAR CITY, Utah - The IUPUI basketball team will head across country to face a familiar foe on Saturday night (Dec. 17) when the Jaguars take on Southern Utah (2-8) at 4:00 p.m. Mountain inside SUU's Centrum Arena. Saturday's game will be heard on 97.5 Fox Sports FM, 1260 AM and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call. IUPUI and Southern Utah were conference foes from 1999-2012 with the Jaguars owning a 22-11 advantage in the series. The two teams rekindled the series with a home-and-home setup last season with the Jaguars taking an 82-68 victory in Indianapolis last December.
IUPUI (4-7) is coming off a get well affair against Urbana, defeating the Blue Knights 109-67 earlier this week. Seven Jaguars finished in double-digits, paced by
Darell Combs' season-high 28-point effort. The Jaguars hit 63.8 percent from the field and 17-of-29 (58.6 percent) from three-point range as eight different IUPUI players made at least one triple. Combs was on fire, connecting on 6-of-7 attempts in just 22 minutes.
The win moved IUPUI to 3-0 at home this season.
"I think it helps to be back at home especially after playing six straight games on the road, and I think the guys showed it tonight," Head Coach
Jason Gardner said after the win. "The shots were falling and I think the guys were really happy to be back on our home court.
"The ball movement was really good tonight. I think that's one thing we really do well with this team is move the ball around for good shots. I thought the guys played unselfish tonight and were sharp on that end."
IUPUI delivered a season-high 27 assists, led by
Kellon Thomas' five dimes. Both
Evan Hall and
Aaron Brennan had four assists and combined to score 25 points.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
COMBS NOTES (@KidDRell1)
-Senior Darell Combs leads the Jags in scoring (17.6 ppg) and was voted preseason First Team All-Summit this season. Combs was a 2nd Team selection following last season.
-The Chicago-native has scored in double-digits 36 times in 42 career games and 10 of 11 this season. He's hit for 20-or-more four times this season 13 times in his career.
-Combs not only leads the Jags in scoring, but also leads the team in assists (37), free throws made (37) and minutes (31.5 mpg).
-Combs handed out his 100th career assist in the loss at Illinois.
-Including his 271 points scored at Eastern Michigan, Combs has 970 career points entering tonight's game.
-Combs capped his junior year with back-to-back 30+ scoring games, becoming the first IUPUI player to do so since George Hill achieved the feat in 2008.
MATT O'LEARY NOTES (@OLeary_15)
-Senior Matt O'Leary is riding a career-best 10 straight games in double-digits, having hit for 10 or more in every game this season except the season-opener at Eastern Kentucky.
-O'Leary has one of the team's two double-doubles this season (Evan Hall has the other) and has two career double-doubles in an IUPUI uniform.
-O'Leary entered this week ranking among The Summit League leaders in eight different categories including field goal percentage (4th), rebounding (7th), scoring (8th) and three-point percentage (10th).
-After scoring just 20-or-more once last season, O'Leary has already done so in three of IUPUI's last five games, including a career-high 25 at Illinois.
-O'Leary led the Jags in scoring just three times last season, but has already done so three times this year.
-O'Leary has started all 43 games of his IUPUI career.
PATTERSON NOTES (@Buss34)
-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 23-of-62 (37.1 percent) in his first 11 games with the Jaguars.
-Patterson has hit at least three threes in five of the Jaguars' 11 games, including a career-high 5-of-9 in the win over Eastern Michigan.
-Patterson leads the Jaguars with 14 steals. His stat line in a 15-point effort at Marquette earlier this season was three 3's and three dunks.
LINEUP TWEAK
For the first time this season, Head Coach Jason Gardner altered his starting five, inserting sophomore D.J. McCall for junior Ron Patterson. McCall was averaging 9.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the three games leading up to his move to the starting five.
HANGING A HUNDO
IUPUI's 109-67 rout of Urbana on Monday was the first 100-point effort since Head Coach Jason Gardner took over the program three years ago. The 109 points were three shy of matching the program's record of 112 in the Division I-era.
IUPUI hit for a season-high 37 field goals, 17 threes, 27 assists and 50 rebounds in the win, while having seven players score in double-digits.
SERIES NOTES
Remarkably, IUPUI is 10-4 in the 14 meetings with Southern Utah in Cedar City, including having won the last six at Centrum Arena. The Jaguars haven't lost at SUU since February 2006.
SHOOT 50
Coming off a 63.8 percent shooting night against Urbana, IUPUI improved to 12-1 (.923) when shooting 50 percent or better under Gardner and 25-7 (.781) when outshooting the opposition.
DOWN 21
IUPUI was down 21 (59-38) with 14 minutes left at Miami last Saturday before coming all the way back to tie the game in the final minute. Senior Kellon Thomas tied the score with a three with 29 seconds left before Miami scored the game's final three points to get the win.
UPSET BID THWARTED
IUPUI just missed picking off Illinois on Tuesday night (Dec. 6) before falling in Champaign, 85-77. IUPUI led for nearly half the game and was tied in the final minutes before fading late.
Senior Matt O'Leary led three Jags in double-digits with a career-high 25 points and Darell Combs added 18. Illinois needed a 32-point effort from All-Big Ten performer Malcolm Hill to stave off the Jaguars.
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