PEORIA, Ill. - The IUPUI basketball team will tip-off the 2017-18 campaign on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 11) when the Jaguars face Bradley University in both teams' season opener. The game will begin at 2:00 p.m. inside Carver Arena and be broadcast on ESPN3. This marks the fourth season with head coach Jason Gardner at the helm of the program as IUPUI has upped its win total in each of Gardner's three seasons. Last season, the Jaguars went 14-18 and earned a spot in The Summit League Tournament semifinals with an opening round upset of North Dakota State. 

This year the Jaguars made the move to the Horizon League and the pundits and prognostications have been anything but kind to IUPUI ahead of this season. The Jags were picked to finish tenth in the league according to the preseason polls and have been pegged to finish anywhere from eighth to tenth by virtually every national publication. 

"I know we're excited to get going," Gardner said. "This is an exciting time of year with all the games and everyone getting going. The basketball isn't always the best because we haven't had a ton of practice time, but I know as coaches and players, you're just excited to get the season going and see how you stack up."

While IUPUI graduated its top three players from a season ago, Gardner is interested to see who will step up in that void. The most obvious candidates are seniors Ron Patterson and Aaron Brennan and the junior trio of Evan Hall, T.J. Henderson and D.J. McCall. 

Patterson is the team's top returning scorer at 9.3 points per game last season while Brennan averaged just more than eight points per game. In the Jaguars' exhibition win over Carroll University, Brennan hit for a team-high 15 points while Henderson finished with 11 points and six steals. 

IUPUI comes in at 2-2 all-time against Bradley, having won the most recent meeting between the two schools. 

ADDITIONAL NOTES (click here for PDF of the full games notes)
EXHIBITION NOTES: IUPUI outlasted Carroll University (Division III) 65-56 in the Jaguars' lone exhibition of the 2017-18 season behind 15 points from Aaron Brennan and an 11-point, 6-steal, 4-assist effort from T.J. Henderson. IUPUI is 4-0 all-time under Jason Gardner in exhibition play, winning those four contests by an average of 18.0 points per game.

FIVE KEY NUMBERS: Below are five key numbers from the Jaguars' exhibition game against Carroll University.
    15: steals collected by the Jaguars (Henderson 6, Ron Patterson 5)
    55.6%: Jags struggled at the FT line, making 15-of- 27 attempts
    32-4: IUPUI outscored Carroll 32-4 in points off turnovers, forcing 20 Carroll miscues and committing just 10 turnovers
    14-0: IUPUI outscored Carroll 14-0 in fast break points
    9: Senior Maurice Kirby had nine boards (seven defensive) in just 14 minutes off the bench. Kirby also swatted three shots and scored his only field goal attempt.

CUPBOARD CHECK: IUPUI brings back seven returners from last season, five of whom saw meaningful minutes. Below is a rundown of the Jaguars' top statistical returners, along with some key numbers.
    Stat (% Returning): Top Returners
    Scoring (45.8%): Patterson (9.3), Brennan (8.4)    
    Rebounding (56.9%): Hall (5.2), McCall (5.0)
    Assists (45.3%): Patterson (64), Henderson (52)
    Minutes (50.2%): Patterson (23.7), McCall (21.2)
    FGM (47.3%): Patterson (107), Brennan (102)
    3FGM (43.4%): Patterson (62), Henderson (30)
    FTM (34.3%): McCall (45), Brennan (39)
    Blocks (69.0%): Hall (24), Patterson (13)
    Steals (60.4%): Patterson (44), Henderson (32)

9-TO-14: Head Coach Jason Gardner has insisted throughout the preseason that his team will likely be led by a group of players that'll average anywhere from 9-14 points per game, as opposed to a runaway leader like Combs was last season at 16.8 points per game.

GRADS: The IUPUI roster boasts a pair of graduates this season as Maurice Kirby completed his degree at Loyola (Ill.) and is pursuing his master's in sports journalism. In addition, junior guard D.J. McCall completed his undergraduate work in three years and is now pursuing his master's degree at IUPUI.

TOUGH SLATE: The IUPUI squad has lined up a tough slate for the upcoming season, including facing a pair of preseason ranked teams on the road and two others that are receiving votes in the preseason polls. IUPUI will take on 2017 NCAA runner-up Gonzaga on Dec. 16, which comes in ranked No. 18/19 in the preseason polls. IUPUI will also play at Purdue on Dec. 10, which is ranked No. 20/21 in the preseason. Other road tests include games at RV/-- Ball State on Dec. 2 and a Dec. 16 trip at Washington State. IUPUI will take on three teams that earned preseason Mid-Major Top 25 rankings as Gonzaga tops the poll, Oakland checks in at No. 5 and Northern Kentucky is ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll.

TRENDING: When head coach Jason Gardner took over the IUPUI program prior to the 2014-15 season, he knew it was going to be a lengthy rebuild. The Jags were on the heels of back-to-back 6-26 seasons and 300+ RPI finishes.

SIXTH OLDEST: Unofficially, senior swingman Ron Patterson is the sixth-oldest player in all of college basketball this season and will turn 25 on Jan. 24 of this season. Here is a quick rundown of those older than him going into the season with their ages as of Nov. 10, 2017:
    Josh Boutte (Sam Houston St.); 25 years, 307 days
    Gibson Johnson (Hawai'i); 25 years, 273 days
    Zach Nelson (Utah Valley); 25 years, 143 days
    Isaac Neilson (Utah Valley); 24 years, 352 days
    Kyle Brown (Cornell); 24 years, 345 days
    Ron Patterson (IUPUI); 24 years, 296 days

HOOSIER MADE: IUPUI has the second-most Indiana-natives of any team in the country with nine, trailing only Ball State. Of the nine Indiana natives, four are from the Indianapolis-area in Aaron Brennan, T.J. Henderson, Ron Patterson and Nick Rogers.    

NEW LEAGUE, OLD RIVALS: Although IUPUI will be in year one of Horizon League play, that doesn't mean there won't be some recognizable foes in league play. The most recognizable will be longtime Mid-Con/ Summit foe Oakland University, which IUPUI played 36 times between 1998 and 2013 as league foes. Oakland leads the all-time series 25-16, which includes five meetings in the mid-/late 70's. Another former league foe in the Horizon League is Youngstown State, which IUPUI played six times from 1999-2001 before the Penguins moved leagues. YSU is 8-1 all-time against IUPUI, which includes three meetings from the mid-/late 70's. Another familiar face is Wright State head coach Scott Nagy, who was the longtime leader of the South Dakota State program before taking over the Raiders a couple seasons ago. While at the helm of the SDSU program, Nagy was 13-7 against the Jaguars.