Box Score (.html) I Box Score (.pdf) I Photo Gallery I Highlights I Postgame Sound

INDIANAPOLIS - Monday night was a game the IUPUI basketball team was supposed to win. However, it was the manner in which head coach Jason Gardner's team took care of the task that helped him give a sign of relief and helped mentally erase an ugly season opening loss at Bradley. The Jaguars dominated from opening tip to the final horn, roaring past Anderson University in a 75-43 victory inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. 

Senior Aaron Brennan matched his career-high with 18 points on 9-of-12 shooting and junior T.J. Henderson pumped in 10 points in the win. All 10 Jaguars scored as IUPUI (1-1) knocked down 52 percent from the floor and held the Ravens to under 26 percent shooting. 

"I thought our defense and ball pressure was really good tonight. Our defense carried over to the offensive end and allowed us to get some easy shots. That's going to be how we win games this season - it starts at the defensive end," head coach Jason Gardner said. "We jumped on them early and never really let them back in the game. I thought that was big for us to get out to a lead and continue to stay on them. 

"Everyone that was on the floor tonight contributed and I think that's the story of this team. We're going to have some depth and a lot of guys that can do some different things." 

IUPUI held Anderson to just 19 percent shooting in the first half and led by as many as 22 before the break on way to a 41-21 halftime advantage. The Jags maneuvered at will as eight different players contributed to the first half scoring. 

Even after yielding the first five points of the second half, IUPUI countered with five straight points from Brennan to ignite an 8-0 run to push the lead to 23. The lead grew as large as 33 with just under six minutes to play when Chad Hudson swished a pair of free throws as the final 10 minutes allowed Gardner to rest some bodies and look at some different combinations. 

The Jags finished with a 41-32 rebounding advantage led by freshman Elyjah Goss' 12 boards and a nine-point, nine-rebound effort from senior Maurice Kirby, who earned his first start of the year. The longer, more athletic Jaguars bullied Anderson to a 38-18 edge in points in the paint. 

"I thought we did a good job of playing inside-out and looking for our guys in the post," Gardner said. "That created some space and we did a good job of making the extra pass when we got the ball moving. 

"I liked a lot of what we did tonight. We need to cut down on some of the careless turnovers, but some of that was just guys being unselfish."

Senior Ron Patterson had nine points and three assists while Evan Borgman turned in six points and three rebounds in 13 productive minutes. Junior D.J. McCall made his season debut with a game-high four assists off the Jags' bench and Noah Thomas added four points and four boards. 

IUPUI swatted nine shots, led by Goss' three blocked shots. 

Malik Laffoon was the lone Anderson player in double-digits with 13 points and Stanley Duncan added nine in the loss. 

IUPUI will be back in action on Friday night (Nov. 17) when the Jaguars take on Eastern Illinois at 8:30 p.m. Eastern inside Lantz Arena.