INDIANAPOLIS - A week removed from an impressive 86-81 overtime win over Summit League leader North Dakota State, IUPUI will be back in action on Wednesday night (Feb. 8) when the Jaguars trek to Omaha (13-11, 6-5). Wednesday's game will tip at 7:00 p.m. Central (8:00 Eastern) and be heard on 97.5 Fox Sports FM, 1260 WNDE and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.
IUPUI (10-14, 4-6) used a hot start to help secure the win over North Dakota State, surging out to a 13-point lead near the midpoint of the first half, built largely behind the three-point line. As expected, NDSU climbed back in the game and had a seven-point lead in the middle of the second half before the game was dead even at the end of regulation. IUPUI never trailed in overtime, striking first with a
Matt O'Leary three and then closing by making six free throws in the final 24 seconds to stave off the Bison.
O'Leary finished with 24 points and nine rebounds while hitting a career-high 6-of-8 three-point attempts. Junior
Aaron Brennan chipped in a career-high 18 points and eight boards while starting in place of
Evan Hall and
Ron Patterson and
T.J. Henderson combined on 24 points off the bench.
"It was a total team win for our guys," Head Coach
Jason Gardner said. "Without Evan inside, we had some other guys who really stepped up and played some major minutes, especially inside. I thought Matt, Aaron and
Josh James did a good job of keeping them off the glass and controlling the paint.
"We hit some big shots when we needed them, but honestly, I thought it came down to how well we defended. We made them take some tough shots and then I thought we did a pretty good job of closing out possessions with rebounds."
IUPUI held North Dakota State to just 44 percent shooting while making 49 percent at the other end, including 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) from three-point range.
For the year, senior
Darell Combs leads the team in scoring (16.4 ppg), assists (72), free throws made (73) and minutes (32.0 mpg) while O'Leary leads the team in rebounding (6.4 rpg) and is second in scoring (14.0 ppg). The 6-foot-8 forward is shooting an incredible 47.2 percent from three-point range while Patterson is shooting 43.5 percent and scoring 10.0 points per game. As a team, IUPUI is shooting a blistering 39.5 percent from deep and handed out 360 assists against just 315 turnovers.
IUPUI is looking to avenge an earlier loss to Omaha, having lost to the Mavs in Indianapolis 79-71 on Jan. 11. Zach Jackson led four Mavs in double-digits with 20 points that night while Tre'Shawn Thurman chipped in 16 points and nine boards. Hall tallied a career-high 21 points and 11 boards for the Jaguars in the loss to lead five Jags in double-digits. Combs had 13 points and O'Leary finished with 11 points and six caroms. Both Patterson and
Kellon Thomas chipped in 10 in the loss.
For the year, Omaha is led by Marcus Tyus (16.5 ppg), Thurman (13.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg) and Tra-Deon Hollins (12.8 ppg, 6.7 apg). The fast paced Mavs average 83.0 points per game and make 38.9 percent of their three-point attempts. Mitch Hahn (11.0 ppg) and Jackson (10.9 ppg) also average in double-digits while no other Omaha player scores more than 5.1 points per game.
IUPUI is just 2-7 all-time against Omaha and has just one win over the Mavs in Omaha.
JAGUAR TIDBITS
25TH NATIONALLY
IUPUI has climbed to 25th in the country in three-point percentage at 39.5 percent and is 43rd nationally with 8.8 threes made per game. Junior
Ron Patterson leads the way with 54 made while
Matt O'Leary is tops on the team at 47.2 percent.
40+
IUPUI has four regulars all hitting better than 40 percent from deep, led by O'Leary's 47.2 percent. Behind him,
Ron Patterson (54 3's, 43.5%),
T.J. Henderson (22 3's, 41.5%) and
Aaron Brennan (18 3's, 44.4%) have all proven to be proficient from deep this season.
40-40-40 CLUB
IUPUI's top three scorers -
Darell Combs (45),
Matt O'Leary (50)
and
Ron Patterson (54)
- 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.
CAREER NIGHTS
IUPUI needed career nights from a pair of frontcourt standouts to stave off North Dakota State last Wednesday night. O'Leary hit 6-of-8 from three and finished with 24 points and nine boards while
Aaron Brennan took advantage of his first start of the year with a career-high 18 points and eight boards.
STREAKING
Juniors
Ron Patterson and
Aaron Brennan have picked up the offensive slack of late and are both riding season-long double-digit scoring streaks.
Patterson has scored in double-digits in the Jaguars' last seven games, averaging 13.6 points per game during that stretch while hitting 22-of-41 (53.7 percent) three-point attempts.
Brennan has scored in double-digits in the Jaguars' last four games, averaging 13.3 points per game during that span. The Noblesville-native is shooting 20-of-41 (48.8 percent) during that stretch.
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 11 times this season. That said, six of those 11 have come at home, where IUPUI is averaging hitting 10.6 triples per contest at a 46 percent clip.
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 45 times in 55 career games and 19 of 24 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 1,170 career points (899 at IUPUI) entering tonight's game. Combs needs to average 16.8 points over the final six 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 20 of 24 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 55 games of his IUPUI career.
-Achieved a 4.0 GPA during the fall semester.
-Has 911 collegiate points - 254 in his two years at Loyola and 657 at IUPUI.
K. THOMAS NOTES (@KellonCash5)
-Thomas is averaging 11 points per game in Summit League play and has 26 assists against just nine turnovers.
-The Indianapolis-native leads the team in free throw percentage at 55-of-60 (.917) 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.
-After scoring in double-digits just four times in non-conference play, has hit for dubs in six Summit League games.
-Has 950 points in his collegiate career - 738 at Kent State and 212 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 54-of-124 (43.5 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 29 steals and 54 threes made.
-His stat line in a 15-point effort at Marquette earlier this season was three 3's and three dunks.
LINEUP TWEAKS
For the first time this season, Head Coach
Jason Gardner altered his starting five prior to the win over Urbana, inserting sophomore
D.J. McCall for junior
Ron Patterson.
He was forced to make a change for the North Dakota State game, replacing the injured
Evan Hall with
Aaron Brennan.
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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