MACOMB, Ill. - After a full week between games for the Thanksgiving holiday, the IUPUI basketball team will be back in action on Tuesday night (Nov. 28) against a familiar foe in non-league play. The Jaguars will head west to face former league foe Western Illinois (4-1) for an 8:00 p.m. Eastern tipoff that will be broadcast on ESPN3. 

IUPUI (2-2) defeated Morehead State last Tuesday and will look to go above .500 for the first time in over a year. The Jaguars have opened the year 2-2 in each of head coach Jason Gardner's three seasons at the helm of the program, but proceeded to lose the fifth game each of the past three years. His squad hopes to reverse that trend this season, albeit on the road against a frequent opponent. 

"The win against Morehead State wasn't the prettiest win, but we did what we needed to do to get the win. I thought we got stops when we needed them and we made some plays at the offensive end when we needed them," Gardner said. "It helped having Nick (Rogers) back because that gave us another option at the guard spot. Even though he didn't score, I thought he did a good job defensively and Jaylen came in and made some plays offensively."

Senior Aaron Brennan led the way with 15 points and seven boards while T.J. Henderson and Jaylen Minnett finished with 11 apiece. Minnett, who hit double-digits for the first time in his college career, was responsible for 10 points in the final 10 minutes, scoring six himself and setting up Evan Hall and Elyjah Goss for easy buckets in close. Senior Ron Patterson also finished in double-figures with 10 points in 32 minutes. 

Gardner, who will coach his 100th career game on Tuesday, continues to see his team grow with every passing day. 

"I think we're getting better," Gardner said. "We've got a lot of new guys that we're trying to fold in the mix and that just takes time. Our seniors are doing a good job leading us in practice and on game days, but we're counting on a lot of guys that haven't played a ton of minutes."

Tuesday's game caps a light November while December will see IUPUI play six of eight games on the road, including a pair of Horizon League contests. The current two-game trip will conclude at Ball State on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 2) at 2:00 p.m.. 

SCOUTING WESTERN ILLINOIS
Western Illinois is 4-1 to start the year and opened with four straight wins before falling at Iowa State on Saturday night, 70-45. WIU opened the year with three straight home wins over St. Mary's (Minn.) 109-68, Eastern Illinois 56-54 and Calvary University 102-25 before going on the road to beat SIUE, 69-67.
    WIU does boast some familiar faces in Indianapolis-natives Kobe Webster and Jalen Morgan. Webster, a true freshman, has started the first five games of the season at the point guard spot.   
    PROBABLE STARTERS:
    G- Kobe Webster (6-0, Fr.) - 11.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 4.0 apg, 41.5 FG%
    G- Jeremiah Usiosefe (6-5, So.) - 7.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 57.1 FG%
    G- C.J. Duff (6-1, Soph.) - 4.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.2 apg, 25.0 FG%
    F- Dalan Ancrum (6-6, Sr.) - 19.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.2 apg, 52.2 FG%
    C- Brandon Gilbeck (7-0, Jr.) - 15.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.6 apg, 75.0 FG% 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 32-15 all-time against Western Illinois and 12-12 in the 24 meetings in Macomb. The 32 wins is the most against any foe in IUPUI program history. The Fighting Leathernecks won the most recent meeting, 78-69 in Macomb on Jan. 28, 2017, snapping the Jaguars' four-game winning streak in the series. Head Coach Jason Gardner is 4-2 all-time against WIU in three seasons as Summit League foes. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will trek to Ball State on Saturday (Dec. 2) for a 2:00 p.m. tip inside Worthen Arena. That game will be aired on ESPN3 or can be heard on IUPUIJags.com as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.  

GAME NOTES (click here for PDF of the full games notes)
SEE AB
    Senior Aaron Brennan has been on a tear to open the season, averaging 19.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game the past three games. Included in that stretch was a career-high 25 points (12-17 FG, 1-3 3's) at Eastern Illinois on Nov. 17. 
    Brennan is fourth in the Horizon League in field goal percentage at 57.4 percent, which also puts him among the top 100 nationally. 

JUST A MINNETT
    With the IUPUI offense struggling in the second half of last week's win over Morehead State, it was freshman Jaylen Minnett who stepped up and made plays in the final 10 minutes to help secure the victory. 
    Minnett hit a key three and was fouled on a three-point attempt with just under four minutes to play, before proceeding to make all three tries to push the lead back to eight. The Terre Haute-native also had key assists to Evan Hall and Elyjah Goss in the second half. Minnett finishes with a career-high 11 points in just 19 minutes, hitting 3-of-4 field goal attempts. 

ROGERS DEBUTS
    Sophomore guard Nick Rogers made his IUPUI debut against Morehead State last Tuesday, registering two rebounds and two assists in 19 minutes. Rogers never played more than 17 minutes in a game during his lone year at Toledo. 

WITH A WIN...
    It would mark the best start ever for a Coach Gardner coached team. The Jags have started 2-2 in each of Gardner's first three seasons, but proceeded to lose game No. 5 on all three occasions. 
    A victory would put IUPUI over .500 for the first time since opening 1-0 last season with the win at Indiana State.  

FIVE KEY NUMBERS
    Below are five key numbers from the Jaguars' win over Morehead State.
    11: Junior T.J. Henderson tallied 11 points in just two shot attempts against the Eagles, going 8-of-10 from the free throw line
    17: Points scored from the IUPUI bench, paced by 11 from freshman Jaylen Minnett
    9: Nine different players played at least 14 minutes against Morehead State; only Brennan and Patterson played more than 30
    81.3%: Jags' free throw percentage in the second half (13-of-16) after hitting just 9-of-16 in the first half
    4:39: Time it took for Morehead State to get on the board as IUPUI opened the game on a 9-0 run and never trailed
    
AT THE HORN
    Winning games at the horn has been a staple of head coach Jason Gardner's squads. So when IUPUI failed to get a shot off at the buzzer in Friday's 80-79 loss at Eastern Illinois, it was almost a surprise. Since Gardner took over, IUPUI has won four games in the closing seconds, including two as time expired:
    P.J. Boutte 15' floater at the horn vs. 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 vs. NDSU (73-72 / Jan. 31, 2016)
    Darell Combs wing J with :01.5 vs. SDSU (85-83 / Jan. 18, 2017)
    
FRESH STARTS
    In the season opener at Bradley, true freshman Jaylen Minnett became the first IUPUI true rookie to start his debut since Alex Young did so against Northeastern in 2008.
    Minnett had five points, two boards and an assist in his IUPUI debut. 

JAGS GET DEFENSIVE
    While head coach Jason Gardner has preached defense in the preseason, the win over Anderson was especially impressive in that IUPUI held the Ravens to just 43 points. The 43 were the fewest by a foe since Gardner took over the program and just the second time an IUPUI opponent tallied less than 50 in the Gardner-era (49 vs. Denver on Jan. 10, 2015). 
    The 43 points allowed was the lowest total by an IUPUI opponent since holding Western Illinois to 42 on Feb. 6, 2010. 

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.
    So far, he's been on point as IUPUI's top four scorers (Patterson, Brennan, Hall & Henderson) are all averaging between 10-16 points per game.     

ONLY 1
    Through the season's first four games, only one IUPUI player has scored in double-digits in both games - junior T.J. Henderson. 
    Brennan was held to six points in the opener due to foul trouble and Patterson tallied just nine in the win over Anderson. IUPUI's other double-digit scorer, Evan Hall, missed the Anderson game due to injury. 

FULL STRENGTH
    The Morehead State game was the first time all season the Jags have been at full strength. Evan Hall, D.J. McCall and Nick Rogers all missed time in the season's first three games. 

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.