MILWAUKEE, Wisc. - Winners of three-of-four and its past two road games, the IUPUI basketball team will return to action on Saturday night (Jan. 19) at Milwaukee (8-11, 3-3 HL) inside Panther Arena. The Jags come in at 11-8 overall and are among five teams gridlocked at 3-3 in Horizon League play.
The Jags stole a road win at Green Bay on Thursday night, closing with a 12-5 run to sneak past the Phoenix, 76-70.
Jaylen Minnett and
Camron Justice scored five points each in the 12-5 run over the final four-plus minutes as the Jaguars overcame a season-high 24 turnovers and an off shooting night, both inside and beyond the arc. Senior
D.J. McCall fueled the win with a season-high 18 points, eight boards and a career-high five steals. The Jags used a commanding 47-29 win on the glass to help offset a mountain of turnovers.
Justice hit for double-digits for an 18th straight time with 16 points and Minnett hit for 13 off the bench. Both
Evan Hall and
Elyjah Goss tallied 11 apiece in the win. IUPUI improved to 3-0 against Green Bay since joining the Horizon League prior to last season and handed the Phoenix their first loss inside the Resch Center this season.
Green Bay used a 12-0 run early in the second half to seize a six-point lead and held IUPUI to just one field goal over a seven-minute stretch. However, IUPUI found the range late in the contest and got critical defensive stops, holding the hosts to just 40 percent shooting and 27 percent from three-point range. Equally impressive was IUPUI's holding the cold shooting Phoenix to just six offensive boards.
QUOTABLE: "I'm proud of how we hung in there when our offense just wasn't clicking. We hit a stretch where we just couldn't hit shots and we took some quick (shots) that led to transition buckets for them. I think we got down six or eight, but we never really lost our composure. We stuck with it and we knew eventually some shots would fall. I thought Jaylen was absolutely clutch down the stretch and he and Cam worked well off of each other. D.J. is playing with tons of confidence right now at both ends of the floor and when he plays like that, he gives us another weapon," head coach
Jason Gardner said after Thursday's win.
UP NEXT: IUPUI will return home to begin a five-game homestand with the second annual NCAA "Readers Become Leaders" Game inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. That game will be on Thursday, Jan. 24 at 11:00 a.m. on ESPN+ and more than 2,500 third graders from throughout Central Indiana are expected to be in attendance.
QUICK NOTES (click here to access the full notes for Saturday's game):
JAGS STEAL A ROAD WIN AT GREEN BAY ON THURSDAY NIGHT
The Jaguars committed a season-high 24 turnovers and shot a paltry 44 percent overall and just 29 percent from three-point range. However, IUPUI came up with clutch plays down the stretch and closed with a 12-5 run to steal a win on the road at Green Bay, 76-70.
Senior
D.J. McCall was impressive with a season-high 18 points, eight rebounds and five steals and
Camron Justice provided 16 points and six boards in the victory. Sophomore
Jaylen Minnett came up with the biggest shots of the evening, including a go-ahead three with 3:33 to play. Sandy Cohen III had a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds in the loss and JayQuan McCloud hit for 18 for the Phoenix.
Green Bay used a 12-0 run early in the second half to build a 49-43 lead with 13:43 remaining. Minnett stopped the bleeding momentarily by stroking a contested trey over Cohen, but Green Bay continued the surge with the next four points as Minnett's connection was IUPUI's only basket in a seven-minute stretch.
Below are some tidbits from Thursday's win:
-IUPUI won a second straight road game after having won at UIC on the previous road trip. The win was the Jaguars' third true road win of the year, accompanying a non-league win at Boston College.
-McCall continued his torrid play, scoring a season-high 18 points to go along with his eight boards and career-high five steals. After scoring in double-digits just two times in the season's first 16 games, McCall has hit for double-digits in three straight games.
-Minnett was money down the stretch, scoring five points in the decisive 12-5 run in the final 4-plus minutes. Justice's only five points of the second half came in that run as well.
-IUPUI's +18 on the glass matched the team's highest differential against a Division I foe this season. It was the seventh time this season the Jags had outrebounded an opponent by double-digits(6-1 in those games).
MILESTONES
-Senior
Evan Hall became the 15th player in IUPUI history to grab 500 career rebounds at UIC (Jan. 4). Fellow senior
D.J. McCall is bearing down on that number with 475 in his career.
-Thursday's game at Green Bay was
Evan Hall's 100th career game played.
-
Nick Rogers dished out the 100th assist of his IUPUI career at Wright State.
-
Elyjah Goss grabbed his 200th rebound of his two-year career at NKU.
-Fifth-year senior
D.J. McCall played his 2,500th career minute at NKU.
STREAKS
Justice has scored in double-digits in
18 straight games.
Minnett has made a three in
22 straight games, dating back to last season.
McCall has started
46 straight games, dating back to last season.
INDICATORS
As the season wears on, two trends have become indicators as to how IUPUI will fare.
1.) IUPUI is 11-0 this season when shooting a higher percentage than their opponent. That number has been consistent under Gardner as IUPUI is 54-8 (.871) in his five seasons when shooting a higher percentage than their opponent.
2.) IUPUI is 8-0 this season when holding opponents to 70 points or less. In IUPUI wins, IUPUI holds foes to 39.5 percent and an average of 67.5 points per game. In IUPUI losses, foes are shooting better than 50 percent and scoring an average of 81.5 points per game.
GLASS EATERS
IUPUI has been strong on the glass all year long, outrebounding foes by a league-best 4.8 rebounds per game to rank 58th in the country. However, the Jags have been particularly impressive on the glass to open league play with a +8.3 margin in the opening six games, while limiting opponents to just 30.2 rebounds per game.
DO IT INSIDE
Bucking the national trend, IUPUI relies heavily on the interior for points this season. The Jags average better than 35 points per game in the paint and also rank among the nation's leaders in free throws made and attempted.
In league play, IUPUI is hitting a league low 5.3 treys per game while the next lowest in the league is making eight threes per game.
HEAVY HITTERS
IUPUI opened conference play with arguably the toughest opening schedule in Horizon League history, taking on the top three picks in the league's preseason polls, all on the road. The trio of Wright State, Northern Kentucky and UIC collected 39 of the 40 possible first-place votes and easily separated from the second tier of selections.
The Jaguars dropped the first two of the three-game stretch, losing at Northern Kentucky and Wright State, before rebounding to win at UIC last Friday (Jan. 4).
FREE MONEY
IUPUI enters play ranked 16th in the country in both free throws made (317) and free throws attempted (445). Junior
Camron Justice is 36th in free throws made (89) and also ranks among the nation's top 50 in free throw percentage (86.4%).
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 GO, WE GO - JUSTICE NOTES
In this instance, 'he' being
Camron Justice. IUPUI is 7-3 this season when Justice scores 20-or-better. Justice was recently the first IUPUI player to score 20-or-more in four straight games since Jan. 14-28, 2012 when Alex Young went for 27-27-26-22 in a four-game span.
-The Kentucky-native has led IUPUI in scoring in 13 of 19 games after being held to just nine points in the season opener. In that game, he had just nine points before he was ejected midway through the first half for tripping an opponent, which was called a flagrant 1 foul.
TURN BACK THE CLOCK
IUPUI got a skosh younger over the holiday break in terms of years of eligibility remaining.
Grant Weatherford was awarded a clock extension from the NCAA in December, allowing him a sixth year in which to complete his four playing seasons - thus making him a sophomore eligibility-wise. IUPUI Associate AD for Compliance
Laura Hue took the lead on applying for the successful waiver.
CALL ME ISMAIL
After a slow start to his IUPUI career, senior center
Ahmed Ismail is now making his presence felt off the Jaguars' bench. Ismail scored just 10 points total in his first five IUPUI games, but is since averaging 9.0 points and 5.6 rebounds since while shooting 45-of-74 (60.8%) from the floor.
CLASS ACTS
Nine Jaguars were named to the department's Academic Advisor's List for the fall semester for earning a 3.0 GPA or better -
Daniel Alston,
Elyjah Goss,
Jack Hansen, Jamil Jackson,
Trevor Johnson,
Jakoby Kemp,
Brandon Kenyon,
D.J. McCall and
Grant Weatherford. Hansen notched a perfect 4.0 GPA during the fall semester.
BEST START SINCE...
The Jags' 8-3 start was the program's best 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.
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 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 59, 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 nine different players have hit for 10-or-more points at least once this season.
Nick Rogers became the most recent player to tally double-digits, joining a group that includes
Elyjah Goss,
Evan Hall,
Jack Hansen,
Ahmed Ismail,
Camron Justice,
D.J. McCall,
Jaylen Minnett and
Grant Weatherford.
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 106 of 143 games (74.1 percent), including 15 of 19 games this season. All total, the IUPUI bench is averaging 28 points per game this season and outscoring opponents' benches by eight points per game. The Jags' bench scored a season-high 66 points in the win over IU Northwest.
