INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will look to extend the current winning streak to four-in-a-row on Saturday (Dec. 1) when the Jaguars host Ball State (4-3) at 1:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The Jaguars have stacked up an impressive resume in the season's opening month, recording the program's best start since 2009, including wins over Boston College and Bradley. The Jags will take aim at another 'B' on Saturday when Ball State comes to town.
Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call.
IUPUI (5-2) has won four of the past six meetings between the two schools, including a pair of road wins during that stretch. IUPUI defeated Ball State 71-69 in overtime on Nov. 22, 2014 for the program's first-ever win inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. P.J. Boutte ended that game with a teardrop as time expired. Ball State won last year's meeting, 83-64 in Muncie, after blowing the doors off the Jaguars in the opening half.
This year's squad as won five of six games after opening the year with a loss at Xavier. The past three games, the Jags have been particularly dominant, leading 113 of 120 possible minutes and trailing for less than three total minutes in victories over St. Francis Brooklyn, Grambling State and Bradley. Against Bradley, junior
Camron Justice scored a game-high 27 points, including making all 15 of his free throw attempts. Sophomore
Elyjah Goss chipped in a career-high 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and 7-foot-1 senior
Ahmed Ismail turned in 13 points and five boards off the Jaguars' bench. IUPUI blasted out to a 13-2 lead and never really looked back, despite yielding a 15-0 run that saw Bradley take a brief 25-24 lead. However, IUPUI responded to lead by six at the break and push out to a double-digit lead early in the second half.
QUOTABLE: "I liked how we fired back at them every time they made it close. That's what I was most proud of. We never backed down. We knew they were going to get some [defensive] stops and make their runs, but we answered every time. I think that shows a little bit of toughness on our part. It helps when you're playing at home, but you still have to go out and make plays. That's what it came down to and I liked how our guys did a good job of making plays," Gardner said after Wednesday's win over Bradley.
UP NEXT: IUPUI will continue the five-game homestand on Thursday night (Dec. 6) when the Jaguars host IU Kokomo at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. IUPUI students are encouraged to take a Finals Study Break that night to spend the evening with the Jaguars. The game is part of the 'ROAR for 5' Challenge.
QUICK NOTES (click here to access the full notes for Saturday's game):
THREE AND COUNTING
IUPUI won its third straight game on Wednesday night as the Jaguars rolled past Bradley (which entered ranked among the nation's top 100), 85-73. Junior
Camron Justice scored a game-high 27 points (4-9 FG, 4-7 3's, 15-15 FT) and matched his season-high with five rebounds while sophomore
Elyjah Goss tossed in a career-high 12 points (6-7 FG). Senior center
Ahmed Ismail finished with 13 points (5-7 FG, 3-5 FT) off the Jaguars' bench.
IUPUI roared out to a 13-2 lead and only trailed briefly after yielding a 15-0 run later in the half that saw the Braves take a 25-24 advantage. However, IUPUI rebuilt a double-digit lead late in the half before leading 44-36 at the break. After being shutout for nearly six minutes to start the second half, Bradley crept within four before the Jaguars fired back with a late run to extend back to a double-digit lead. IUPUI was never seriously threatened in the final six-plus minutes.
Luuk van Bree paced Bradley with 18 points off the bench and Darrell Brown closed with 15 points. IUPUI's main weapon was the free throw line where they outscored Bradley 29-13 and had a 39-19 attempt margin.
Here are some more notes from Wednesday's win over Bradley:
-Justice's 15-of-15 effort from the free throw line was the best single-game performance in the program's Division I history, surpassing a 14-of-14 effort from Stephen Thomas in December 2011. Justice already had a 13-of-13 game earlier this season also.
-IUPUI shot better than 50 percent for the third time in four games. The Jags are shooting 50.5 percent from the floor in the past four games combined.
-The IUPUI bench was outscored for the first time all season, 28-24. Ismail and
Jaylen Minnett (5 pts) were the Jags' top two reserves.
-Minnett dished out a career-high four assists in 17 minutes off the bench. Minnett already has two games with three or more assists this season after doing so just once his freshman year.
-IUPUI drew fouls on three three-pointers alone in the first half, connecting on all nine free throws. In addition, Bradley was called for three technical fouls on Wednesday (one administrative and two in-game), resulting in IUPUI making five free throws.
START FAST, NEVER LOOK BACK
The past three games, IUPUI's largest deficit has been three points, which was 7-4 in the win over Grambling State in Niagara.
All total, the Jags have only trailed for 2 minutes, 44 seconds total while leading for 113 of the 120 possible minutes. IUPUI led wire-to-wire against St. Francis Brooklyn and trailed for just 39 seconds against Bradley.
HE GO, WE GO
In this instance, he being
Camron Justice. IUPUI is 4-0 this season when Justice scores 20-or-better and Justice is averaging 23.4 points per game in the Jaguars' five victories. In the two losses, Justice is averaging just 11.5 points per game.
WINNING PERSPECTIVE
IUPUI is beginning to put together some impressive wins now with the recent victory over Bradley. Bradley was ranked among the nation's top 100 teams coming into Wednesday's game.
The win over Boston College is looking more impressive by the minute as the Eagles have since won four straight and are 6-1 on the season. Among BC's most recent victories were wins in the Fort Myers Tip-Off over Loyola and Wyoming and a win over Minnesota in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
BEST START SINCE...
The Jags are now 5-2, the program's best seven-game start in head coach Jason Gardner's five seasons and best seven-game start since the 2009-10 season. That squad 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 any of his five seasons.
A win today would mean just the third 6-2 start in the program's Division I era (2007, 2009). The five November wins were the most in the month since the 2009 squad also won five. However, that team benefited from a non-Division I win over IU East that year.
JUSTICE FOR FREE
Junior Cameron Justice has done unprecedented damage at the free throw line already this season, boasting a pair of games with double-digit makes and no misses. He went 13-for-13 at Boston College, tying for the fourth most makes in a game in program history without a miss. He upped the ante against Bradley, hitting 15 without a miss, giving him the third highest total in school history without a miss (tops in the D1 era).
He enters today's game having made 19 straight, dating back to the Nov. 23 game with St. Francis Brooklyn.
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 seven 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.
