INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will cap non-conference play on Wednesday night (Dec. 28) when the Jaguars host Marian (9-7) inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum as part of an IUPUI hoops doubleheader. The women's team will host IU Northwest at 5:00 p.m. and the men's game with Marian will follow immediately after. Wednesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) will describe the action. In addition, the game will be heard on 97.5 Fox Sports FM, 1260 WNDE and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.
Tickets are available via the link or at the Coliseum box office.
IUPUI (5-8) dropped its final pre-holiday game with an 87-65 loss at Northwestern on Dec. 20. Prior to that, the Jaguars were riding high with back-to-back 100-point efforts in victories over Urbana and Southern Utah.
"We gave the boys a couple days off for Christmas and have had some good practices since then," IUPUI Head Coach
Jason Gardner said. "I think they're a little more refreshed and ready to get the second part of the season going. We've got a lot of home games coming up and the guys are always excited to play on their own court.
"I think we're all excited to be back home for a couple of games and hopefully get some good momentum going before we hit the road in conference play."
Senior
Darell Combs leads the Jaguars in scoring at 16.7 points per game, but was held to seven points at Northwestern on the 20th. Classmate
Matt O'Leary has continued to be one of the league's most versatile players, ranking among The Summit League's best in scoring, rebounding, assists and all three shooting percentages. The Terre Haute, Ind.-native is knocking down 56 percent of his field goal attempts and 44 percent from beyond the arc.
Behind those two, IUPUI has a balanced core of four players averaging seven points per game or better. Syracuse-transfer
Ron Patterson (9.4 ppg) has a team-high 28 threes and 16 steals while junior
Aaron Brennan (7.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg) has been a super sub through the first half of the season.
Kellon Thomas (7.2 ppg, 3.2 apg) and
Evan Hall (7.1 ppg, 5.5 rpg) have both started all 13 games this season.
IUPUI is 3-0 at home this season with wins over Howard, Eastern Michigan and Urbana. The Jags haven't lost a non-conference home game since dropping a contest to Eastern Kentucky in December 2014.
"I think we're become a pretty good team at home," Gardner said. "We take pride in taking care of the home court and the guys take pride in that as well. We seem to play better at home, largely because we're more comfortable to the environment."
Marian (9-7) is keyed by 5-foot-10 sophomore Wes Stowers, who comes in averaging 19.1 points per game and shooting 38 percent from three-point range. Wednesday's game is the 26th meeting all-time between the two schools with IUPUI holding a distinct 15-10 advantage in the series. That said, the two teams haven't played since 1994.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
COMBS NOTES (@KidDRell1)
-Senior Darell Combs leads the Jags in scoring (16.7 ppg - fifth in The Summit) 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 44 career games and 11 of 13 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 (41), free throws made (42) and minutes (31.2 mpg).
-Combs handed out his 100th career assist in the loss at Illinois.
-Including his 271 points scored at Eastern Michigan, Combs has 993 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 12 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 (3rd), three-point percentage (7th), scoring (7th), rebounding (8th), assists (11th) and free throw percentage (13th).
-After scoring just 20-or-more once last season, O'Leary has already done so in four of IUPUI's last seven 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 five times this year.
-O'Leary has started all 44 games of his IUPUI career.
-The past six games, O'Leary is shooting 16-of-32 (50 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 28-of-73 (38.4 percent) in his first 13 games with the Jaguars.
-Patterson has hit at least three threes in six of the Jaguars' 13 games, including a career-high 5-of-9 in the win over Eastern Michigan.
-Patterson leads the Jaguars with 16 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.
MAJOR CONFERENCE FOES
IUPUI finished this season 0-4 against major conference foes with losses coming at Michigan, Marquette, Illinois and Northwestern. The Jags dropped those four games by an average margin of 16.8 points per game - the slimmest margin being an eight-point loss at Illinois.
CENTURY MARKS
Just before Christmas, the IUPUI offense exploded, scoring 100-or-more points in back-to-back games for the first time 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.
During that span, IUPUI hit 75-of-121 (62 percent) from the floor and 30-of-57 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc. In addition, the Jags had 49 assists on 75 buckets.
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 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.
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.
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