INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will return home to host Oral Roberts (7-19, 3-9 Summit) inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Saturday night (Feb. 11) 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.
Coming off a game in which they never trailed, IUPUI (11-14, 5-6 Summit) will be looking to pick up their third straight Summit League win to get to .500 on the season. The Jaguars were led by
Kellon Thomas, as he scored 25 points and went a perfect 13-13 from the line.
Darell Combs (18),
Matt O'Leary (17) and
Aaron Brennan (11) all hit double-digits in points as well.
After missing one game due to injury,
Evan Hall returned to action and contributed 8 points. The Jaguars ended the game shooting an even 50 percent from the field and went 13-27 (48.1 percent) from beyond the arc. Defensively, the Jaguars collected 12 steals, led by
D.J. McCall's three steals.
Oral Roberts has lost five straight games in Summit League play and currently sit in last place in the league. Center Albert Owens (17.0 ppg) and guards Jalen Bradley (14.1 ppg) and Kris Martin (14.0 ppg) lead the Golden Eagles in scoring. As a team they are allowing teams to shoot 40.1 percent from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles have picked up league wins against South Dakota State, South Dakota and Omaha.
IUPUI won the earlier meeting against Oral Roberts, 91-85 in Tulsa. McCall scored a career-high 21 points, while adding 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Owens, Martin and Bradley combined for 63 of the Golden Eagles 85 points, with Martin leading the way with 25.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
NEW FIVE
Out of necessity, Head Coach Jason Gardner altered his starting five prior to the North Dakota State game and has since been rewarded with back-to-back wins. Junior Aaron Brennan replaced the injured Evan Hall and has averaged 14.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in his lone two starts of the year.
21ST NATIONALLY
IUPUI has climbed to 21st in the country in three-point percentage at 39.9 percent and is 37th nationally with 9.2 threes made per game. Junior Ron Patterson leads the way with 55 made while Matt O'Leary is tops on the team at 47.3 percent.
40
IUPUI has four regulars all hitting better than 40 percent from deep, led by O'Leary's 47.3 percent. Behind him, Ron Patterson (55 3's, 43.3%), T.J. Henderson (23 3's, 41.1%) and Aaron Brennan (18 3's, 46.2%) have all proven to be proficient from deep this season.
40-40-40 CLUB
IUPUI's top three scorers - Darell Combs (49), Matt O'Leary (53) and Ron Patterson (55) - 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.
PERFECTION
Senior Kellon Thomas made all 13 of his free throw attempts at Omaha on Wednesday night, marking the fourth most makes in a game without a miss in program history. His 13-of-13 effort was second-best in the program's Division I-era, trailing only a Stephen Thomas 14-of-14 effort against Valparaiso on Dec. 23, 2011.
BRENNAN STREAKING
Junior Aaron Brennan has scored in double-digits in the Jaguars' last five games, averaging 12.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game during that span. The Noblesville-native is shooting 24-of-50 (48 percent) during that stretch and 8-of-14 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
HOT STARTS
The common theme in the Jaguars' current two-game winning streak are the hot starts the team has gotten off to. Against NDSU, the Jags built a double-digit lead in the opening 5:15 and led by as many as 13 in the first half.
At Omaha, IUPUI needed just 2:42 to build a double-digit lead and led by as many as 13 in the first half as well.
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 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)
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. Two others have been close as Ron Patterson has a 19-point game and Aaron Brennan has an 18-point 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 16-4 (.800) at home the past two seasons and 21-12 (.636) since Gardner took over the program.
10 TREYS
IUPUI has made at least 10 threes in a game 12 times this season. That said, six of those 12 have come at home, where IUPUI is averaging hitting 10.6 triples per contest at a 45 percent clip.
The Jags have made at least 10 threes in five of the past seven games.
COMBS NOTES (@KidDRell1)
-Senior Darell Combs leads the Jags in scoring (16.4 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 46 times in 56 career games and 20 of 25 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 1,188 career points (917 at IUPUI) entering tonight's game. Combs needs to average 16.6 points over the final five 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 21 of 25 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 six 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 six times this year.
-O'Leary has started all 56 games of his IUPUI career.
-Achieved a 4.0 GPA during the fall semester. He was voted Academic All-District for the second straight year this year.
-Has 928 collegiate points - 254 in his two years at Loyola and 674 at IUPUI.
K. THOMAS NOTES (@KellonCash5)
-Thomas is averaging 12.3 points per game in Summit League play and has 29 assists against just 10 turnovers.
-The Indianapolis-native leads the Summit in free throw percentage at 68-of-73 (.936) and is on pace to eclipse 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 seven Summit League games.
-Has 975 points in his collegiate career - 738 at Kent State and 237 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 55-of-127 (43.3 percent) this year.
-Patterson has hit at least three threes 11 times, including a career-high five on two different occasions.
-Patterson leads the Jaguars with 31 steals and 55 threes made.
-His stat line in a 15-point effort at Marquette earlier this season was three 3's and three dunks.
LINEUP TWEAKS
IUPUI has used just three starting lineups this season with Matt O'Leary, Darell Combs and Kellon Thomas having started every game this year.
SMARTY CATS
The Jaguars 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.
Click here to see full IUPUI game notes
