INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will return home to host Summit League leader North Dakota State (15-6, 7-1 Summit) inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Wednesday night (Feb. 1) at 7:00 p.m.. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call. In addition, the game can be heard on 97.5 Fox Sports FM, 1260 WNDE and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) describes the action.
Wednesday's game is presented by Indiana Members Credit Union as there will be free giveaways throughout the evening, courtesy of IMCU. Tickets are available through
TicketMaster outlets and at the Coliseum box office. IUPUI students are admitted for FREE with a valid JagTag and as part of IUPUI Housing & Resident Life Night, there will be student specific giveaways of t-shirts, sweatshirts and more.
On the court, IUPUI (9-14, 3-6 Summit) and NDSU are at opposite ends of The Summit League standings coming into Wednesday's game. NDSU is two games clear of second-place South Dakota while the Jaguars are locked in a three-way tie for seventh with South Dakota State and Oral Roberts. Two other teams - Omaha and Western Illinois - are tied for fifth at 4-5 in league play.
Head Coach
Jason Gardner's team has fallen on hard times of late, riding a three-game skid after Saturday's loss at Western Illinois. Senior
Darell Combs paced the Jaguars with 21 points and junior
Ron Patterson tallied 17 off the bench, including hitting 5-of-7 from three. Patterson has scored in double-digits in six straight games and is shooting 53 percent from three-point range during that stretch. As a team, IUPUI ranks 37th in the country in three-point percentage at 38.7 percent, led by
Matt O'Leary's 44.9 percent. The Jags come in at 6-2 at home this season where they're knocking down 43.3 percent from deep.
"A winning streak starts with one game and that's what we're focused on," Gardner said. "We need to get our confidence back and get in a groove and then good things will happen. We've been close in a lot of games and just haven't come up with the winning play when we've needed it.
"I'm confident in our guys and think that it'll just be good to be at home for awhile."
NDSU won the earlier meeting between the two teams, capturing a 93-89 victory in Fargo back on Jan. 5.
Kellon Thomas led the Jaguars with 21 points in that contest and O'Leary added 16 points, including four treys. Combs (13 points) and Patterson (11) also finished that game in double-digits. NDSU sophomore Khy Kabellis led the Bison with 21 points in that game while A.J. Jacobson added 20 points and seven rebounds.
For the year, junior guard Paul Miller leads NDSU in scoring (15.6 ppg), threes made (48) and free throws made (68). Senior forward Dexter Werner chips in 11.1 points and a team-high 7.1 boards per game off the bench and Jacobson scores 10.7 points per game. NDSU's lone blemish during Summit League play was a 79-55 loss at Denver on Jan. 14. Since then, the Bison have collected consecutive wins over Fort Wayne, Western Illinois and Oral Roberts.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
37TH NATIONALLY
IUPUI is 37th in the country in three-point percentage at 38.7 percent and is 54th nationally with 8.8 threes made per game. Junior
Ron Patterson leads the way with 51 made while
Matt O'Leary is tops on the team at 44.9 percent.
FIVE STRAIGHT
IUPUI has allowed its last five foes to shoot better than 50 percent from the field, going 2-3 in that span. In league play, opponents are shooting 52 percent from the floor against the Jags, having gone for 50 percent or better in seven of nine games.
40-40-40 CLUB
IUPUI's top three scorers -
Darell Combs (43),
Matt O'Leary (44)
and
Ron Patterson (51)
- have all made at least 40 treys this season. It marks the first time since 2007-08 that IUPUI has had three players make at least 40 threes in a season. That year, Gary Patterson (93), Austin Montgomery (72) and George Hill (49) all hit at least 40.
IUPUI has never had three different players make at least 50 threes in the same season.
BENCH BOYS
Juniors
Ron Patterson and
Aaron Brennan have picked up the offensive slack of late and are both riding season-long double-digit scoring streaks.
Patterson has scored in double-digits in the Jaguars' last six games, averaging 13.7 points per game during that stretch while hitting 19-of-36 (52.8 percent) three-point attempts.
Brennan has scored in double-digits in the Jaguars' last three games, averaging 11.7 points per game during that span. The Noblesville-native is shooting 13-of-25 (52 percent) during that stretch.
COMBS AT THE HORN
Senior
Darell Combs capped an 18-point performance against SDSU by knocking in the game-winner with 1.5 seconds left in overtime. The Chicago-native hit a pull-up 18-footer from the right wing to send the Jaguars to an 85-83 win.
Ironically, Combs had two other 'buzzer beaters' during the game, hitting a 25-footer from the right wing at the end of the first half and then hit a 30-footer from the top of the key as the shot clock was expiring with 3:25 to play.
FOUR GAME-WINNERS
Combs became the fourth Jaguar to connect for a game-winner since Gardner's hire three years ago. Here are the others:
P.J. Boutte runner at the horn versus Ball State (71-69 / Nov. 22, 2014)
Marcellus Barksdale layup at the horn at IPFW (84-82 / Jan. 23, 2016)
Jordan Pickett wing 3 with :02 against NDSU (73-72 / Jan. 31, 2016)
Darell Combs wing J with :01.5 against SDSU (85-83 / Jan. 18, 2017)
SINCE THE START OF LEAGUE PLAY...
...IUPUI has had five different players score 20 or more in a game;
Darell Combs,
Matt O'Leary,
Kellon Thomas,
D.J. McCall and
Evan Hall all have hit for 20-or-more in a Summit League game.
SUMMIT LEAGUE OPENERS
Following the win over Western Illinois, Head Coach
Jason Gardner is now 3-0 in Summit League openers. He previously won at Fort Wayne (63-58) on Jan. 4, 2014 and at South Dakota (77-66) last season.
INSIDE THE COLISEUM
IUPUI is 15-4 (.789) at home the past two seasons and 20-12 (.625) since Gardner took over the program.
10 TREYS
IUPUI has made at least 10 threes in a game 10 times this season. That said, five of those 10 have come at home, where IUPUI is averaging hitting 10.1 triples per contest. The Jags are shooting 43.3 percent from deep in home games this season.
COMBS NOTES (@KidDRell1)
-Senior
Darell Combs leads the Jags in scoring (16.5 ppg - seventh 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 44 times in 54 career games and 18 of 23 this season. He's hit for 20-or-more eight times this season and 17 times in his career.
-Combs scored his 1,000th collegiate point in a 23-point effort in the win over Marian on Dec. 28. Including his 271 points scored at Eastern Michigan, Combs has 1,160 career points (889 at IUPUI) entering tonight's game. Combs needs to average 15.9 points over the final seven regular season games to reach 1,000 in his IUPUI career.
-Combs hit his 100th career three against Denver on Jan. 21. -Combs handed out his 100th career assist in the loss at Illinois.
-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.
O'LEARY NOTES (@OLeary_15)
-Senior
Matt O'Leary had a streak of 19 straight games in double-digits snapped with a 9-point, 9-rebound effort against Denver on Jan. 21. He's scored in double-digits in 19 of 23 games this season.
-O'Leary entered this week ranking among The Summit League leaders in eight different categories including field goal percentage (5th), defensive rebounding (6th), three-point percentage (6th), rebounding (9th), blocked shots (13th), assists (14th), three-point field goals (15th) and scoring (16th).
-After scoring just 20-or-more once last season, O'Leary has done it five times this year, including a career-high 25 at Illinois.
-O'Leary led the Jags in scoring just three times last season, but has done so five times this year.
-O'Leary has started all 54 games of his IUPUI career.
-Achieved a 4.0 GPA during the fall semester.
-Has 887 collegiate points - 254 in his two years at Loyola and 633 at IUPUI.
K. THOMAS NOTES (@KellonCash5)
-Thomas is averaging 11.8 points per game and shooting 39.3 percent from three-point range in Summit League play. He also leads the team with 23 assists (against just seven turnovers) in league play.
-The Indianapolis-native leads the team in free throw percentage at 55-of-60 (.917) and is chasing the school record mark of .914, set by Gary Patterson in 2007-08. Only two players, Patterson and Nick David, have single-season marks of 90 percent or better.
-After scoring in double-digits just four times in non-conference play, has hit for dubs in six Summit League games.
-Has 946 points in his collegiate career - 738 at Kent State and 208 this season.
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 51-of-119 (42.9 percent) this year.
-Patterson has hit at least three threes 10 times, including a career-high five on two different occasions.
-Patterson leads the Jaguars with 29 steals and 51 threes made.
-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.
SMARTY CATS
The Jaguars recently posted an all-time best semester GPA of 3.09 during the fall. All total, 13 Jaguars posted a GPA of 3.0 or above, led by
Matt O'Leary's 4.0 mark.
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