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MACOMB, Ill. - The IUPUI basketball team was bitten by a post holiday hangover as the Jaguars sputtered at former league foe Western Illinois on Tuesday night (Nov. 28), 90-77. Junior D.J. McCall had a career-night with 25 points and eight rebounds and freshmen Elyjah Goss and Jaylen Minnett posted new season-high point totals, but it wasn't nearly enough. Minnett tallied 12 points, including hitting 3-of-5 from deep, while Goss added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. 

Kobe Webster led four Western Illinois (5-1) players in double-digits with 27 points and Dalan Ancrum pumped in 19. Jalen Morgan and Delo Bruster tallied 13 and 10 off the Western Illinois bench, respectively. 

After a slow start both ways, IUPUI (2-3) was able to do no right and WIU could do no wrong for the final 16 minutes of the opening half. Webster caught fire, hitting three early threes to help WIU build a 21-8 lead. Brennan hit a pair of free throws at the 8:35 mark to account for the only IUPUI points in a nearly nine minute stretch as Western Illinois outscored the Jaguars 23-2 during that span to take a 33-10 lead. By the time McCall scored on a layup with 4:33 left before halftime, the outcome was seemingly decided as Western Illinois was pouring in shots from all angles and distances. 

IUPUI trailed by as many as 26 in the first half before a Jaylen Minnett putback at the buzzer made it 48-24 at the break.

"I thought we got off to a really slow start and never really got going. Give them credit. They started making shots and really clamped down on us and took control of the game," head coach Jason Gardner said. "Even when we got good looks, we didn't knock them down in the first half and they made some contested shots during that run."

The Jags continued to trail by 20 or more for much of the second half until a late flurry tightened the final margin. 

"I was proud of our guys in that we didn't stop fighting," Gardner said. "Even in the final minute, we had some guys getting on the floor for loose balls and trying to make a play. I was proud of that sort of effort.

"I think D.J. showed some confidence at the offensive end tonight and I was glad to see him play as well as he did. Our freshmen are continuing to get better and better and made some plays late. Once we get everyone going, I think we can be a good basketball team. We just didn't show it tonight."

Western Illinois shot 60.4 percent for the game while limiting IUPUI to just 39.7 percent overall and 9-of-30 (30 percent) from three-point range. Meanwhile, WIU hit 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from deep, paced by Webster's 5-of-7 night to accompany his eight assists. Ancrum, who recently hit a game-winning three at the horn at SIUE, connected on 8-of-10 shots overall and 3-of-4 from three-point range.

Webster carved the Jaguars' up in the high pick-and-roll, repeatedly coming off the screen for an open look or an easy find, particularly in the first half. Junior 7-footer Brandon Gilbeck had seven points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots for the Fighting Leathernecks before fouling out.

IUPUI's top two scorers coming into play - seniors Aaron Brennan and Ron Patterson - tallied a combined 13 points on 5-of-20 shooting and 1-of-11 from three-point range. Junior T.J. Henderson scored a season-low seven points on just 2-of-9 shooting.  

The loss was the second straight to Western Illinois dating back to last season and Gardner dropped to 4-3 all-time against the Leathernecks. 

IUPUI will close the quick two-game road swing at Ball State on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 2) at 2:00 p.m. inside BSU's Worthen Arena. That game will be broadcast on ESPN3 or fans can listen on IUPUIJags.com as Morgan Adcock (pxp) describes the action, beginning at 1:45.