CHICAGO - The IUPUI basketball team will look to break a two-game skid on Saturday (Jan. 27) when the Jaguars face UIC (10-11, 5-3 HL) inside the UIC Pavilion. The game will tip at 3:00 p.m. Central (4 Eastern) and be aired on NBC Sports Chicago and ESPN3. The game can be heard in Central Indiana and worldwide as Morgan Adcock (pxp) will call the action on Fox Sports 97.5 and iHeartRadio. 

IUPUI (7-13, 4-5 HL) is coming off an ugly two-game trip to Ohio where the Jaguars dropped road games at Cleveland State and Youngstown State. Head coach Jason Gardner's team fell into huge first half holes in both contests before battling back to make both close in the second half. At CSU, IUPUI trailed by as many as 17 in the first half before later taking the lead in the second half. Ultimately, IUPUI fell 70-67 to the Vikings. Two nights later, the Jaguars got behind by as many as 24 in the first half to the Penguins before closing within five in the second half. However, IUPUI succumbed to the Penguins, 85-62. 

Senior Aaron Brennan continues to operate at a high level, having scored in double-digits in each of the past seven games, averaging 16 points per game during that span. The veteran forward is shooting 46 percent from deep and grabbing better than five rebounds per game during that stretch as well. For the year, Brennan is averaging a team-high 12.8 points per game and is trailed by Ron Patterson (11.0 ppg) and T.J. Henderson (10.1 ppg) in double-digits. Junior Evan Hall is the team's top rebounder at 5.1 rpg, which includes a team-high 42 offensive boards. Sophomore Nick Rogers leads the team in assists with 59.  

The IUPUI coaching staff will be taking part in the nationwide Coaches vs. Cancer Suits and Sneakers initiative for Saturday's game. 

QUOTABLE
"We can't make a habit of getting down big and expect to win games. You can't get down big and come back and win on a consistent basis. It doesn't work like that. We haven't matched the other teams' intensity from the start the past couple games and that's a problem. We've let them bring the game to us, rather than starting out aggressive," head coach Jason Gardner said after last Saturday's loss at Youngstown State.  

SCOUTING UIC
UIC is 10-11 overall and 5-3 in Horizon League play this season. The Flames are on a two-game winning streak and has won five of their past six games, which began with their 70-65 come-from-behind win at IUPUI on Jan. 4. 
    PROBABLE STARTERS:
    G- Marcus Ottey (6-2, Soph.) 13.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.8 apg, 54.0 FG%
    G- Tarkus Ferguson (6-4, Soph.) 8.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 5.2 apg, 37.9 FG%
    F- Dikembe Dixson (6-3, Soph.) 13.6 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.9 apg, 37.6 FG%
    F- Jordan Blount (6-8, Soph.) 6.0 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 2.5 apg, 45.4 FG%
    C- Tai Odiase (6-9, Sr.) 9.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 0.2 apg, 53.6 FG%
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 0-4 all-time against UIC which includes a 70-65 loss in Indianapolis earlier this year. The Jaguars are 0-2 against the Flames during the program's Division I era. IUPUI is 0-2 in Indianapolis and 0-2 in Chicago in the four meetings.  

UP NEXT
IUPUI will take on Detroit Mercy next Friday night (Feb. 2) inside Calihan Hall at 7:00 p.m..  The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and can be heard in Central Indiana and worldwide on Fox Sports 97.5 and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call. The game will mark IUPUI's fourth of five games away from home. 

GAME NOTES (click here for PDF of the full games notes)
LAST TIME OUT
    IUPUI fell behind by as many as 24 points in the first half and never fully recovered in an 85-62 loss at Youngstown State last Saturday night (Jan. 20). The Jaguars trailed 42-18 with 3:59 left before the break, but cut the lead down to 13 at the half. IUPUI closed within five on a number of occasions in the second half, but never got closer than a two possession game. 
    Senior Aaron Brennan had a team-high 14 points (6-8 FG) and T.J. Henderson chimed in with 11 points off the bench. YSU shot 52 percent from the floor and 10-of-24 from deep as Cameron Morse paced four Penguins with 23 points, including four treys. 
    YSU outrebounded IUPUI 39-19 and scored 20 second chance points off 18 offensive boards.  
    
CLOSE CALLS
    Five of IUPUI's last seven games have been decided by six points or less. The Jags are 3-2 in those five decisions. Only three of IUPUI's nine Horizon League games have been decided by 10 points or more - an 18-point loss at NKU, a 15-point win over Detroit and last Saturday's 23-point defeat at Youngstown State. 

GOOD IN JANUARY
    January is the lone month in which head coach Jason Gardner has a winning record, having gone 17-15 (.531) at the helm of the program. 

THEFT ALERT
    Junior D.J. McCall currently leads the Horizon League (43rd nationally) with 2.0 steals per game. After not collecting a steal in the season's opening two games, McCall has 38 steals in 17 games (2.24 spg).
    By comparison, McCall had just 22 steals all of last season and 41 in his 63-game career entering this season. 

ROSTER CHANGES
    The IUPUI program had a few roster changes at the turn of the semester as one player departed the program and two others joined the Jaguars. Little used sophomore Noah Thomas left the program after having appeared in just two games in the first semester. Thomas, a 6-foot-9 center, totaled four points and four rebounds in eight total minutes.
    On the flip side, the Jaguars brought in a pair of transfers as Mike Sagay (Boston College) and Trevor Johnson (Mesa [Ariz.] C.C.) joined the program. Sagay, a 6-foot-7 forward, comes to IUPUI with two-and-a-half years of eligibility, after having played 15 games at Boston College last season. A 3-star recruit, Sagay was ranked among Connecticut's top players as a senior at St. Thomas More High School. 
    Johnson, a 6-foot-2 guard, comes to IUPUI with two years of eligibility remaining. Johnson was an All-State performer while at Flagstaff [Ariz.] High School before attending Mesa Community College. 
    Both are able to begin practice with the team immediately.   
    
STARTER NOTES
    In the early portion of the non-league slate, head coach Jason Gardner continued to tweak the Jaguars' starting five, using six different quintets. For the year, senior Aaron Brennan is the lone Jag to have started all 19 games and Ron Patterson and Evan Hall have each started 18 times. Eight different players have at least one start this season. 
    That said, the group of Brennan, Patterson, Hall, D.J. McCall and Nick Rogers have started IUPUI's last 12 games (5-7). 

BENCH NOTES
    As a result of the shuffling lineups, the IUPUI bench has been especially strong, averaging 24 points per game, including a season-high 42 on two different occasions. The past four years, the IUPUI bench has outscored opponents in 77 of 115 (67 percent) of its games, going 38-39 in those contests. 

BENCH NOTES, PART II
    IUPUI's top scorer has been a reserve six times this season. Four different players have contributed to those six occasions. 
    Patterson (1): at Ball State (14 pts)
    Kirby (1): at Purdue (16 pts)
    Minnett (1): at Wright State (11 pts)
    Henderson (3): at Gonzaga (18 pts), IUK (19 pts), at GB (13 pts)

WIN/LOSS SPLITS
    In IUPUI's seven wins, the Jags have shot 46.1 percent from the field and held foes to 39.6 percent overall and 28.4 percent from deep. In addition, the Jags have outrebounded opponents by 5.1 boards per game in the seven wins. 
    In the Jaguars' 13 losses, IUPUI has shot just 40.7 percent overall and allowed opponents to shoot a robust 53.2 percent from the field and 41.8 percent from beyond the arc. In addition, IUPUI has been outrebounded by 5.1 boards per game in the 13 losses. 

IN LEAGUE PLAY...
    IUPUI has defended the three well in Horizon League play, yielding just 31.9 percent from deep in nine games. On the flip side, IUPUI is shooting 37.2 percent from deep in league play, led by Brennan's 43.8 percent and Minnett's 42.1 percent. 
    IUPUI has made as many or more threes than their opponents in eight of nine league games thus far. 

MAKE SHOTS, WIN GAMES
    The most telling number of outcomes of games under head coach Jason Gardner has simply been field goal percentages. 
    IUPUI is 40-8 (.833) in games in which the Jaguars have shot a better percentage than opponents and just 4-63 (.060) when being outshot. 
    The Jan. 10 Milwaukee win is the only time this season IUPUI has been outshot and won the game. 

GETTING LOOKS
    Two areas where IUPUI has excelled this season are offensive rebounding (71st nationally - 12.0 rpg) and forcing turnovers (43rd nationally - 15.8 to/g). 
    Because of those numbers, IUPUI has attempted 107 more shots than their foes for the year, good for 5.4 shot attempts per game. 

GRADE CHECK
    Ten members of the IUPUI basketball team earned at least a 3.0 grade point average during the fall semester - Evan Borgman, Aaron Brennan, Elyjah Goss, Evan Hall, T.J. Henderson, Chad Hudson, Ahmed Ismail, Maurice Kirby, D.J. McCall and Noah Thomas. 

LEAGUE OPENERS
    Head coach Jason Gardner is now 3-1 in league openers, having won all three of his Summit League openers before losing his Horizon League opener at NKU on Thursday. 
    1/4/15 - at Fort Wayne (63-58)
    1/1/16 - at South Dakota (77-66)
    12/31/16 - Western Illinois (89-71)
    12/28/17 - at Northern Kentucky (59-77)

NEW NIGHT, NEW SCORER
    Six different players have been the team's top scorer this season, led by T.J. Henderson's team-high 12 double-digit scoring games. Aaron Brennan is second on the squad with 11 and Ron Patterson is next with 10.

SNAPPED AT 13
    Senior Ron Patterson opened the year in 13 straight games to start the season - his longest stretch of his college career. His longest streak last season was 10 straight games from Jan. 5-Feb. 8.