DENVER - IUPUI will look to stop a two-game skid as they play their final road game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 19) when the Jaguars face Denver (16-10, 8-5 Summit) at 1:30 p.m. Mountain inside DU's Magness Arena. That game will be televised on Altitude Sports and heard in Central Indiana on 97.5 Fox Sports FM, 1260 WNDE and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call. Denver won the earlier matchup in a 78-74 nailbiter in Indianapolis. Junior
Ron Patterson led the Jags with 13 points off the bench while junior
Aaron Brennan and senior
Kellon Thomas also hit double digits.
The Jaguars (11-16, 5-8 Summit) dropped a hard-fought effort to South Dakota State inside SDSU's Front Arena on Wednesday night (Feb. 15) 81-67, as the Jags shot just 36.8 percent and allowed the Jackrabbits to shoot 51 percent. Senior
Matt O'Leary led the Jags with his second double-double of the year has he put up 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Fellow senior
Darell Combs added 17 of his own.
IUPUI managed to lead for over 22 minutes, but a strong second half push by the Jackrabbits propelled them to victory. IUPUI was able to bring the score within two, but were never able to take advantage of the situation.
"Winning on the road is one of the hardest things to do in college basketball. (SDSU) is really tough on their home floor and they showed it tonight. I don't think we fully took advantage of how well we played defensively in the first half," Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "Instead of leading by seven at halftime, we had an opportunity to lead by 10 or 12 and we just didn't capitalize. You can't leave points out there on the road and expect to win."
Denver currently sits in third place in the Summit League, only one game behind the leaders. The Pioneers have won three out of four games and have a four-game home win streak.
Junior center Daniel Amigo (15.7 ppg, 7.4 rpg) leads the Denver attack shooting 55.3 percent from the field, while sophomore guard Joe Rosga is second on the team with 15.5 points per game. Sophomore forward C.J. Bobbitt checks in at an even 10 points per game.
The Pioneers are 5-1 inside Magness Arena during conference play, with their only loss coming to South Dakota.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
CHASING 1,000
Three Jags are chasing the 1,000-point mark as the season winds down.
Darell Combs - 1,223 collegiate points (271 @ EMU / 952 @ IUPUI)
Combs would become the 23rd member of IUPUI's 1,000 Point Club
Kellon Thomas - 995 collegiate points (738 @ Kent St. / 257 @ IUPUI)
Matt O'Leary - 957 collegiate points (254 @ Loyola / 703 @ IUPUI)
NEW FIVE
Out of necessity, Head Coach
Jason Gardner altered his starting five prior to the North Dakota State game and has gone 2-2 since then. Junior
Aaron Brennan replaced the injured
Evan Hall and has averaged 12.3 points and 4.8 rebounds in his lone four starts of the year.
TOP-30 NATIONALLY
IUPUI is 28th nationally in three-point percentage (39.2%) and threes made (248). The Jaguars 248 treys are a new school record, eclipsing the mark of 246, set in 2007-08.
The Jaguars' current 39.2% clip is on pace to be the program's best since 2007-08 when IUPUI shot 42.3% from deep as a team.
40+
IUPUI has four regulars all hitting better than 40 percent from deep -
Aaron Brennan (22 3's, 48.9%),
Matt O'Leary (59 3's, 46.5%),
T.J. Henderson (28 3's, 43.1%) and
Ron Patterson (55 3's, 40.4%).
50-50-50 CLUB
The trio of
Darell Combs (51),
Matt O'Leary (59)
and
Ron Patterson (55)
have all made at least 50 treys this season. It marks the first time in school history IUPUI has had three players makes 50 treys in a season.
In 2007-08, IUPUI had three players make at least 40 treys that year as Gary Patterson (93), Austin Montgomery (72) and George Hill (49) all hit that mark.
MATT DOUBLE O
Senior
Matt O'Leary is coming off his second double-double of the season (and third of his career), having posted 23 points and 10 rebounds at South Dakota State on Wednesday. O'Leary knocked in 5-of-10 from deep and 9-of-19 overall while grabbing a game-high 10 caroms in the loss.
THOMAS' STREAK SNAPPED
Senior
Kellon Thomas entered Wednesday's game at South Dakota State ranked No. 2 nationally in free throw percentage at 93.5%, having hit 72-of-77 attempts, but went 1-of-3 in the loss to the Jackrabbits.
In doing so, he had his streak of 33 consecutive makes snapped.
The Indianapolis-native enters today's game at 91.3% and is chasing 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.
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 16-5 (.762) at home the past two seasons and 21-13 (.618) 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 10.4 triples per contest at a 44.3 percent clip.
The Jags have made at least 10 threes in five of the past eight games.
COMBS NOTES (@KidDRell1)
-Senior
Darell Combs leads the Jags in scoring (16.6 ppg) 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 48 times in 58 career games and 22 of 27 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 1,223 career points (952 at IUPUI) entering tonight's game. Combs needs to average 16 points over the final three 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 22 of 27 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 seven 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 seven times this year.
-O'Leary has started all 58 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 957 collegiate points - 254 in his two years at Loyola and 703 at IUPUI.
K. THOMAS NOTES (@KellonCash5)
-Thomas is averaging 11.9 points per game in Summit League play and has 34 assists against just 12 turnovers.
-After scoring in double-digits just four times in non-conference play, has hit for dubs in eight Summit League games.
-Has 995 points in his collegiate career - 738 at Kent State and 257 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-136 (40.4 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 35 steals and is second on the squad with 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 seniors
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.
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