INDIANAPOLIS - Already off to the program's best start since 2009, head coach Jason Gardner's squad will look to improve on its 4-2 record when the Jaguars host Bradley (6-1) at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Wednesday night (Nov. 28) at 7:00 p.m.. Mascot Mania will invade the Coliseum on Wednesday night, led by Boomer and the Pacers Powerpack's halftime performance. In addition, Wednesday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and former Jaguar Marcellus Barksdale (analyst) are on the call.
IUPUI students will receive FREE ROAR t-shirts while supplies last with a valid Crimson Card.
IUPUI (4-2) is coming off back-to-back wins in the Niagara Regional of the Fort Myers Tip-Off, having defeated both St. Francis Brooklyn and Grambling State on the recent trip. Junior
Camron Justice was named Regional MVP after averaging 20.0 points per game in the two wins and he was joined on the All-Tournament Team by senior
D.J. McCall. 7-foot-1 senior center
Ahmed Ismail came off the Jags' bench against Grambling State to post 16 points, 10 boards and three assists to become the third IUPUI player to record a double-double this season. Ismail hit 6-of-9 field goals and played a season-high 26 minutes to help fuel the Jaguars to victory. The rest of the scoring was balanced as McCall closed with nine points and rookie
Jack Hansen contributed eight points, including a pair of treys.
IUPUI comes in at 3-2 all-time against Bradley, having dropped a meeting in Peoria last season, 68-53. The Jaguars shot an abysmal 29 percent from the floor and allowed the Braves to connect on 12-of-21 (57.1 percent) threes. Nate Kennell led all players with 19 points off the Bradley bench while
Ron Patterson led three Jags in double-digits with 16 points. IUPUI returns just 18 points from last year's 53-point total in
Evan Hall (11),
Jaylen Minnett (5) and
Elyjah Goss (2). Both Hall and Minnett started that game while Goss came off the bench and played 23 minutes in a return to his home state.
QUOTABLE: "This trip was all about the whole team coming together to win games and that's what we've done the past two games. I'm really proud of every guy up and down the roster for coming up here and getting the job done. It's never an easy thing to win on back-to-back nights on short rest, but these guys took care of business and made it happen. We're looking forward to getting home and getting some home games in now and hopefully getting a lot of support out at the Coliseum," Gardner said after the win over Grambling State.
UP NEXT: IUPUI will continue the five-game homestand on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 1) when the Jaguars host Ball State at 1:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The game will be the annual Jag-A-Thon Game as IUPUI Athletics helps recognize all those who contribute to the IUPUI Dance Marathon.
QUICK NOTES (click here to access the full notes for Wednesday's game):
JAGS CAPTURE NIAGARA REGIONAL TITLE; JUSTICE NAMED MVP
IUPUI claimed the Niagara Regional of the Fort Myers Tip-Off this past weekend, capped by an 80-69 win over Grambling State in the finals. Junior guard
Camron Justice scored 23 points (8-15 FG, 5-8 3's, 2-2 FT) in the win and was named MVP of the tournament. He was joined by
D.J. McCall on the All-Tournament Team.
Senior center
Ahmed Ismail played his most meaningful basketball of the season in the Jaguars' victory, registering 16 points (6-9 FG, 4-4 FT) and 10 rebounds off the IUPUI bench. IUPUI led by as many as 23 midway through the second half and never let the Tigers back within 10. The Jaguars shot 48 percent from the floor and limited the Tigers to just 37 percent overall and 4-of-14 (29 percent) from three.
Here are other notes from the win over Grambling:
-IUPUI lost the glass for just the second time this season, being outrebounded by Grambling State 43-37. However, IUPUI outscored the Tigers 32-28 in the paint.
-Despite the turnover battle being virtually even (14-13), IUPUI outscored Grambling State 24-15 in points off turnovers, including 19-3 in the first half.
-IUPUI was saddled with foul trouble throughout, particularly on the inside.
Evan Hall (6 pts, 4 reb) fouled out in just 15 minutes and both
Elyjah Goss and
Ahmed Ismail finished with four fouls. Ismail played a career-high 26 minutes while head coach Jason Gardner opted to play an undersized roster for much of the evening.
BEST START SINCE...
IUPUI's 4-2 start may not jump off the page, but it's the best six-game start in head coach Jason Gardner's five seasons and best six-game start since the 2009-10 season. That squad started 5-1 overall and finished 25-11 overall and earned a spot in the CBI that season. This marks the first time Gardner has had IUPUI above .500 beyond the fourth game of the season.
A win tonight would mean just the fourth 5-2 start in the program's Division I era (2007, 2008 & 2009).
The four November wins are also the most in the month since the 2009 squad won five in the season-opening month.
ROLLING ON DUBS
IUPUI has points-rebounds double-doubles from three different players this season as
Elyjah Goss,
Evan Hall and
Ahmed Ismail have all pulled the trick. For perspective, IUPUI is the only team in the Horizon League to have three different players with points-rebounds double-doubles this season and IUPUI hasn't had three different players get double-doubles in a season since 2013-14 when four different players registered at least one (Marcellus Barksdale, Donovan Gibbs, Khufu Najee & Mitch Patton).
BLOW OUT THE CANDLES
Head coach Jason Gardner celebrated his 38th birthday in style, collecting his 50th career head coaching win at Boston College on November 14. The win was the Jaguars' first over an ACC opponent since 2001 and first over a Power 5 school since winning at Seton Hall in 2009.
Gardner is third on the program's all-time wins list at 52, but is a far cry from the top two in program history. Current Georgia State head coach Ron Hunter (275) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (195) own the top two spots in program history.
WINNING WITH 'D'
IUPUI currently ranks second in the Horizon League in both scoring defense (68.5 ppg) and rebounding defense (34.0 rpg). The 68.5 points per game allowed is the fewest by an IUPUI team since the 2014-15 squad held foes to 67.1 points per contest.
SHARING THE WEALTH
After six games, IUPUI has had eight different players have hit for 10-or-more at least once.
Ahmed Ismail became the most recent player to tally double-digits, joining a group that includes
Elyjah Goss,
Evan Hall,
Jack Hansen,
Camron Justice,
D.J. McCall,
Jaylen Minnett and
Grant Weatherford.
SOPHOMORE LEAPS
IUPUI's two returning sophomores -
Elyjah Goss and
Jaylen Minnett - have taken major leaps in their second years with the program.
Goss, who averaged 3.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman, has upped his scoring (6.8 ppg) and has been elite off the glass (8.5 rpg) this season. He currently ranks 48th in the nation in defensive boards per game (6.7 rpg) and 87th nationally in total rebounding (8.5 rpg). His 51 total rebounds also rank among the nation's top 100.
Minnett, who averaged 7.1 points per game as a true freshman, has upped his output to 9.5 points per game this season.
700 DAYS
IUPUI junior guard
Camron Justice was 700 days removed from his last competitive basketball game when the Jags took the floor against Xavier. Justice played just more than a season at Vanderbilt before joining the IUPUI program prior to last fall and sitting the full season as a transfer. Prior to Xavier, Justice last played in a game on Dec. 6, 2016 when the Commodores defeated High Point.
Justice and
Evan Hall were high school teammates at Knott County Central (Ky.) High School, helping the Patriots to four straight state tournament appearances. Justice finished his high school career with 3,588 points and 393 treys before being named the 2015 Kentucky Mr. Basketball.
OTHER NEWBIES
While Justice is nearly two full years removed from his last Division I game, others in the Jaguars' rotation are in similar spots. Junior guard
Grant Weatherford entered the year having never appeared in a Division I game, despite graduating from Hamilton Heights High School in 2015. Weatherford redshirted at Purdue in 2015-16, played a full season at Midland (Texas) College in 2016-17 and sat out all of last season.
A LOOK BACK
Last year's IUPUI team ranked among the nation's best in steals (6.8 spg) and turnovers forced (14.7 to/game). IUPUI ranked 53rd nationally in turnovers forced per game and were among the nation's best in steals percentage.
In addition, last year's squad was among the best in the country in hitting the offensive glass, grabbing 11.5 offensive caroms per game.
Evan Hall ranked 102nd individually in offensive rebounding, grabbing 2.6 offensive boards per contest as a junior.
HOT BENCH
A staple under head coach Jason Gardner has been his teams' bench scoring as the IUPUI leader likes to play 9-10 players and use his bench frequently. Gardner's teams have matched or outscored the opposition's bench in 97 of 131 games (74 percent), including the season's first six games. All total, the IUPUI bench is averaging better than 24 points per game this season and outscoring opponents' benches by 11 points per game.
