FORT MYERS, Fla. - The IUPUI basketball team will participate in the inaugural Fort Myers Tip-Off this season, as announced by Intersport on Thursday (July 19). IUPUI's participate will include true road games at Boston College (Nov. 14) and Richmond (Nov. 16) before the Jaguars play two games against a three-team group of Niagara, Grambling State and St. Francis at Niagara on Nov. 23-24. Other marquee teams participating in the event include 2018 Final Four participant Loyola and Wyoming of the Mountain West Conference. 

The game against BC will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools while IUPUI last played Richmond in 2014, losing to the Spiders, 57-53. IUPUI has never faced Grambling State, Niagara or St. Francis on the hardwood.

"These are going to be four more challenging games for our guys in some tough environments," head coach Jason Gardner said. "Playing against programs like Boston College and Richmond early in the season will test us and give us a sense of where we stand as a program in the early going. I think our guys will be up to the task and excited to see those places."

The Jaguars' 2018-19 schedule is beginning to round into form as IUPUI will also host five straight home games at Indiana Farmers Coliseum from Nov. 28-Dec. 15. The Nov. 28 game with Bradley will be Mascot Mania and numerous high profile mascots from across the nation will descend upon Indiana Farmers Coliseum in a fun, family friendly atmosphere. The Dec. 15 game with Western Illinois is being dubbed as Holiday Hoops Day as Santa Jawz will be among the crowd providing holiday cheer to those in attendance. 

On the court, IUPUI will be keyed by returning starters Evan Hall (7.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg), D.J. McCall (7.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and Nick Rogers (5.1 ppg, 3.0 apg) while sophomores Jaylen Minnett (7.1 ppg, 51 3's) and Elyjah Goss (3.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg) are also back from a season ago. The Jaguars will rely heavily on a group of incoming transfers that includes Ahmed Ismail (Manhattan), Camron Justice (Vanderbilt), Mike Sagay (Boston College) and Grant Weatherford (Purdue/Midland College).

Justice may be the most heralded, having earned 2015 Kentucky Mr. Basketball honors after closing his prep career with 3,588 points and 393 threes made before signing with Vanderbilt. In two seasons at Vandy, he averaged 3.0 points per game and shot 36 percent from three-point range. The 7-foot-1 Ismail averaged 3.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in his lone season at Manhattan in 2016-17 while the 6-foot-7 Sagay averaged 2.0 points per game in his lone season at Boston College. Weatherford missed all of last season, but averaged 6.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game at Midland (Texas) College in 2016-17. 

The Jaguars' will host Central State in an exhibition game on Oct. 29 while the home opener will be against Eastern Illinois on Nov. 10 on Military Appreciation Night. 

Season tickets are on sale by clicking here while single games will go on sale later this fall. Season tickets are just $160 while youth tickets (ages 3-12) are just $80. For ticket information, contact Lauren Gronke at lgronke@iupui.edu or 317-278-2530.