INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will look to get back on the winning side of the ledger on Thursday night (Dec. 6) when the Jaguars host IU Kokomo (8-2) at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Thursday's game is part of the "ROAR for 5" Challenge as those participating in the yearlong initiative may receive a FREE ticket to the game.
IUPUI (5-3) has won five out of seven games and is enjoying the program's best start since the 2009 season. Leading the way is junior guard
Camron Justice (21.0 ppg, 21 3's) and senior forward
Evan Hall (10.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg). The Jaguars' defense has been stingy to start the season, holding opponents to just 44 percent from the floor and 71 points per game. During the Jags' recent three-game winning streak, IUPUI started hot in all three victories and trailed less than three minutes of the 120 possible minutes. That wasn't the case in Saturday's loss to Ball State as IUPUI fell down early and never got fully off the mat in an 85-75 defeat. Justice led the way with 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting and sophomore
Jaylen Minnett tallied 15 off the IUPUI bench. After shooting 59 percent in the first half, IUPUI limped to just 35 percent shooting after the break while Ball State finished the game at 56 percent.
Grant Weatherford contributed nine points and five boards and senior center
Ahmed Ismail added seven points. Hall had six points and a career-high five assists in the loss.
IUPUI students are encouraged to take a finals study break to join the Jaguars at the Coliseum. Snacks Crossing Elementary School will perform the national anthem and the L.U.T.A.N. Cheer & Dance Team will provide the halftime entertainment.
QUOTABLE: "I thought today we got away from some of the things that have helped us be successful so far this season. Ball State is a really good team and you don't beat good teams when you put them on the foul line and you commit as many turnovers as we did. I didn't think our shot selection was that great in the second half and we kind of panicked once we got behind. It was a good college basketball game with a lot of kids from the state of Indiana on the floor. From that aspect, it was a really good day. We're going to get back to work, learn from this and get back to what we do well," Gardner said after Saturday's loss to Ball State.
UP NEXT: IUPUI will continue the five-game homestand on Wednesday night (Dec. 12) when the Jaguars host IU Northwest at the Coliseum. That game will be IUPUI Faculty and Staff Night as staff members are eligible for discounted tickets for themselves and their families. The IUPUI Street Dance Academy will provide halftime entertainment and Dave & Busters will be the official game sponsor.
QUICK NOTES (click here to access the full notes for Thursday's game):
WINNING STREAK SNAPPED AT THREE TO BALL STATE
The Jaguars' defense was uncharacteristically porous last Saturday (Dec. 1) as IUPUI had its three-game winning streak snapped in an 85-75 home loss to Ball State.
Camron Justice led all scorers with 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting and sophomore
Jaylen Minnett added 15 off the bench, but Ball State put five players in double-digits, paced by Tahjai Teague's 19 points and nine boards. Tayler Persons added 16 points, nine boards and five assists and Zach Gunn chipped in 11 points off the Ball State bench.
The Jaguars allowed Ball State to shoot 56 percent overall and 44.4 percent from three-point range - both of which were the highest marks by an IUPUI foe this season. The 85 points allowed and 44 first half points were also season-bests by an IUPUI foe.
The issues were compounded as IUPUI committed a season-high 24 fouls, leading to 30 Ball State free throw attempts (21 makes). IUPUI was also outrebounded 38-27, but helped offset the rebounding margin by forcing 23 Ball State miscues.
Here are some other notes from last Saturday's loss to Ball State.
-Justice made his first eight shot attempts in the first half and his 28 points were one shy of tying his career-high.
-Senior forward
Evan Hall was limited to just six points and two boards, but also set new career-highs in assists (5) and steals (4).
-IUPUI shot 59.3 percent in the first half, but made just 13-of-37 (35.1 percent) second half field goal attempts.
-Both Justice and
Ahmed Ismail fouled out and Hall finished with four personals. Part of Ismail's foul troubles included a second half technical foul for slamming the ball in protest of a traveling call.
-The game was
D.J. McCall's 100th career game in an IUPUI uniform as the fifth-year senior closed with four points, four rebounds and four steals.
HE GO, WE GO
In this instance, he being
Camron Justice. IUPUI is 4-1 this season when Justice scores 20-or-better and Justice is averaging 23.4 points per game in the Jaguars' five victories. In the three losses, Justice is averaging 17 points per game.
Justice comes in as the first IUPUI player to score 20-or-more in three straight games since Darell Combs did it three times from Feb. 20-27, 2016. Should Justice hit for 20-or-more tonight, he'll be the first Jag to do it in four straight games since Jan. 14-28, 2012 when Alex Young went for 27-27-26-22 in a four-game span.
WINNING PERSPECTIVE
IUPUI has some impressive wins early this season 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 was a key victory too as BC opened the season 6-1, won the Fort Myers Tip-Off and was receiving votes in this week's AP and Coaches Polls.
BEST START SINCE...
The Jags' 5-3 start is the program's best eight-game start in head coach Jason Gardner's five seasons and best 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.
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).
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 53, 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.
SHARING THE WEALTH
IUPUI has had eight different players have hit for 10-or-more points at least once this season.
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.
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 98 of 133 games (73.7 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 nearly eight points per game.
