EVANSTON, Ill. - Riding a modest two-game winning streak, the IUPUI basketball team will head north for a third meeting with a Big Ten foe on Tuesday night (Dec. 20) when the Jaguars take on Northwestern (9-2) inside Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. Central (8 p.m. Eastern) and the game will be broadcast on BTN+ and the BTN2Go app. In addition, the game can 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.
IUPUI (5-7) has been on another level offensively of late, hitting for back-to-back 100-point games in wins over Urbana (109-67) and at Southern Utah (101-81) last week. It marked the first time since January 1995 that an IUPUI team has gone for back-to-back 100-point games. Senior
Matt O'Leary led five Jaguars in double-digits with 20 points (8-of-9 FG, 4-of-5 3's) in the win at Southern Utah while
Darell Combs chipped in 16 points and three assists in the win. Junior
Ron Patterson came off the bench to contribute 15 points and a career-high six assists while
Evan Hall and
T.J. Henderson both had 11 points. As a team, IUPUI shot 60.3 percent from the floor and 13-of-28 (46.4 percent) from beyond the arc against the T-Birds.
"I thought it started for us at the defensive end tonight," IUPUI Head Coach
Jason Gardner said after Saturday's game. "We got a lot of defensive stops in the first half and that led to us getting some good looks. That energy at the defensive end turned into some transition baskets and then that turned into knocking down shots from the perimeter.
"I'm proud of our guys. This isn't an easy trip and to fly across the country and come out here and take care of business was big for us. All in all, I think we're playing some pretty good basketball right now."
For the season, Combs leads the Jaguars at 17.5 points per game and is shooting 36.5 percent from three-point range. Behind him, O'Leary is second on the team at 14.8 points per game and is shooting 44.9 percent from deep and grabbing a team-high 6.5 rebounds per contest. Patterson, who's come off the bench the past two games, checks in at 9.5 points per game and is second on the squad with 26 threes made. Gardner's squad has three others scoring better than seven points per game in junior forward
Aaron Brennan (7.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg), senior
Kellon Thomas (7.6 ppg, 3.2 apg) and Hall (7.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg). Having shot better than 60 percent from the field in each of the past two games, IUPUI has climbed to 46 percent overall and 37.9 percent from deep.
Northwestern is 9-2 overall and 7-0 at home this season with the lone losses coming to Indiana schools. The Wildcats lost at Butler 70-68 on Nov. 16 and lost to Notre Dame six days later, 70-66. Northwestern owns impressive wins over Texas, Wake Forest and Dayton this season. Vic Law (14.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg) and Scottie Lindsey (14.9 ppg, 3.4 apg) lead the Northwestern attack, while Indiana-native Bryant McIntosh (12.6 ppg, 5.1 apg) is the team's floor general at the point guard spot.
"Northwestern is a really good team. They're well coached, well drilled and play well together," Gardner said. "Going on the road is always a tough test and I think we've done a good job of rising the challenge on the road in a lot of games this season.
"A game like this is only going to continue to prepare us for teams in The Summit League."
IUPUI is 1-1 all-time against Northwestern, having won in Evanston 56-53 on Nov. 27, 2002 and having been defeated at Welsh-Ryan Arena, 63-61 on Nov. 22, 2013. The 2002 win over Northwestern remains IUPUI's lone win over a Big Ten foe. The Jags are 0-2 against Big Ten teams this season, having lost at Michigan (77-65) and Illinois (85-77).
JAGUAR TIDBITS
COMBS NOTES (@KidDRell1)
-Senior
Darell Combs leads the Jags in scoring (17.5 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 37 times in 43 career games and 11 of 12 this season. He's hit for 20-or-more four times this season 13 times in his career.
-The past two games, Combs is shooting 66.7% (14-of-21) from the floor and 72.7% (8-of-11) from three.
-Combs not only leads the Jags in scoring, but also leads the team in assists (40), free throws made (41) and minutes (31.0 mpg).
-Combs handed out his 100th career assist in the loss at Illinois.
-Including his 271 points scored at Eastern Michigan, Combs has 986 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 11 straight games in double-digits, having hit for 10 or more in every game this season except the season-opener at EKU.
-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 four of IUPUI's last six 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 four times this year.
-O'Leary has started all 44 games of his IUPUI career.
-The past give games, O'Leary is shooting 15-of-29 (51.7 percent) from three-point range.
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 26-of-68 (38.2 percent) in his first 12 games with the Jaguars.
-Patterson has hit at least three threes in six of the Jaguars' 12 games, including a career-high 5-of-9 in the win over Eastern Michigan.
-Patterson leads the Jaguars with 15 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 prior to the win over Urbana, 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.
CENTURY MARKS
The past two games, the IUPUI offense has exploded, scoring 100-or-more points in back-to-back games since January 1995. The 100 points games in the wins over Urbana and Southern Utah are the first 100-point games since Gardner took over three seasons ago and was the first 100-point game since scoring 112 against Judson on Jan. 2, 2014.
The past two games, IUPUI is shooting 75-of-121 (62 percent) from the floor and 30-of-57 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc. In addition, the Jaguars have had 49 assists on 75 buckets during that span.
SHOOTING 50
IUPUI is now 13-1 (.929) when shooting 50 percent or better under Gardner and 26-7 (.788) 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.
Click here to see full IUPUI game notes
