OMAHA, Neb. - The IUPUI basketball team will continue play in the Cayman Islands Classic, moving on to the Mainland Classic on Monday night (Nov. 25) when the Jaguars take on Loyola (Md.) inside Omaha's Baxter Arena at 5:30 p.m. Eastern (4:30 Central). IUPUI (2-3) looks to get back to .500 on the season following Wednesday's loss at Loyola Chicago in the second of four games in this year's Cayman Islands Classic. The Jaguars opened the tournament with an emphatic 70-53 win at South Florida. 

IUPUI will conclude play by taking on either host Omaha or Southern on Tuesday night before returning home for the Thanksgiving holiday. 

IUPUI has been both Jekyll and Hyde in the season's first five games, putting up dominant showings in wins over Anderson and South Florida, while sloshing through some tough halves on the road at Butler, Bradley and Loyola. The Jaguars unloaded a dominant second half defensive effort at USF, holding the host Bulls to just 17 second half points, while closing the game on a 21-5 run in the 17-point win. However, the second half proved costly in losses at Butler and Loyla as the Jags were within striking distance at the break in both contests before fading at the start of the second stanza. 

The Jaguars' backcourt of Marcus Burk (21.2 ppg) and Jaylen Minnett (12.8 ppg) has been impressive as the duo is tied for the Horizon League lead in threes made per game (3.2/game each) and rank 1-2 in three-point percentage. Burk is second in the league in scoring while Minnett ranks among the top 15. The Jags are still seeking a third offensive option though as junior Isaiah Williams is next in line at 7.4 points per game.  

Colorado State-transfer Zo Tyson is coming off one of his best games of the young season, tallying eight points on 4-of-4 shooting, while Williams closed with nine points in limited action at Loyola. Junior Jamil Jackson Jr. pumped in seven points in just five minutes the last time out. 

PROBABLE STARTERS
G- Jaylen Minnett (6-1, Jr.) - 12.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg, 38.1 3FG%
G- Mike DePersia (5-11, Fr.) - 2.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg
G- Marcus Burk (6-3, Jr.) - 21.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 48.8 FG%
F- Isaiah Williams (6-8, Jr.) - 7.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg
F- Zo Tyson (6-9, Gr.) - 4.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 71.4 FG%

KEY RESERVES
G/F- Jamil Jackson Jr. (6-6, Jr.) - 4.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg
G- Grant Weatherford (6-2, Jr.) - 3.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.6 apg
F- Elyjah Goss (6-7, Jr.) - 5.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg

SERIES NOTES: Monday's game is the first-ever meeting between the two teams. In fact, IUPUI has never faced a member of the Patriot League.  

PRESEASON PICKS: IUPUI was picked to finish ninth in the Horizon League Preseason Polls, just ahead of Cleveland State. Wright State was a near unanimous pick for the league title while Northern Kentucky was picked second. Detroit Mercy sophomore guard Antoine Davis was pegged the league's Preseason Player of the Year and joined on the first team by Jalen Tate (NKU), Xavier Hill-Mais (Oakland), Tarkus Ferguson (UIC) and Loudon Love (Wright State). 

    AWARDS
    Junior Marcus Burk and freshman Mike DePersia both collected weekly honors after leading the Jaguars to an undefeated week with victories over Anderson (Nov. 11 - 72-55) and at South Florida (Nov. 13 - 70-53). 
    Burk was named Horizon League Player of the Week, CollegeInsider.com Lou Henson Award Player of the Week and CollegeSportsMadness.com Horizon League Player of the Week. Burk averaged 25.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 61 percent from the floor and 57 percent from three point range. 
    DePersia was named Horizon League Freshman of the Week after moving into the starting five and averaging 4.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while playing 31.5 minutes per contest. 

    SPLASH BROTHERS
    IUPUI's version of the Splash Brothers - Marcus Burk and Jaylen Minnett - has been impressive to start the season, both ranking among the Horizon League's top five in both threes made and three-point percentage. 
    Burk and Minnett are tied for the league lead in threes made per game (3.2/game) and Burk leads in three-point percentage (42.1%). Minnett is second in the league in three-point percentage at 38.1%. By hitting a combined 6.4 three/game, the duo is easily tops in the league for a tandem, trailed next by Northern Kentucky's Tyler Sharpe and Dantez Walton, who average a combined 5.4 threes/game. 
    Burk is currently second in the league in scoring (21.2 ppg) and Minnett ranks 14th (12.8 ppg).

    TOP GUNS
    Burk and Minnett are accounting for the bulk of the Jaguars' offense through the season's first five games, having taken 51 percent of the team's field goal attempts (145 of 284) and 71 percent of the team's three-point attempts (80-of-112). In addition, the duo has accounted for 55 percent (170 of 307) of the team's total points. 
    Burk (21.2 ppg) and Minnett (12.8 ppg) easily lead the team in scoring while Isaiah Williams is third at 7.4 ppg. 

    20+
    While Burk is off to a hot start and averaging better than 20 points per game to start the year, no IUPUI player has averaged 20 points per game for an entire season since Alex Young averaged 20.4 points per game in 2011-12. 
    Only three players - Odell Bradley (23.1, 2003-04), George Hill (21.5, 2007-08) and Young (20.4, 2011-12) - have averaged better than 20 points per game during the Jaguars' Division I era. 

    FINDING DUBS
    While Burk has scored in double-digits in all five games to start the season, the remainder of the IUPUI roster has just four double-digit scoring games combined. Minnett has scored in double-figures three times and Elyjah Goss hit for double-digits in the win over Anderson. No other IUPUI player has hit for at least 10 points in a game yet this season. 

    MINNETT NOTES
    Junior Jaylen Minnett, the 2019 Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year, is unlikely to be a repeat winner of the award as he's assumed a starting job this season. The 6-foot-1 Terre Haute-native, averaged 12.0 points per game and drilled 78 3's last season, while coming off the bench in all but the season finale. 
     Some other tidbits on Minnett include: 
    -He currently owns the nation's fourth-longest streak of consecutive games with at least one made three at 41 games... Minnett made at least one trey in all 33 games last season and the final three games of the 2017-18 season... the last time Minnett went without a three in a game was against Oakland on Feb. 19, 2018 when he was held without a triple in 14 minutes. 
    -Minnett enters play ranked eighth on IUPUI's all-time list with 145 made 3's in his career...he has some work to do to move up on the list as both Leroy Nobles and Akeem Clark are tied for the No. 6 spot with 186 makes each.
    -His 78 3's made last season was the 7th-highest single-season total in IUPUI history. 
    -His 7.1 ppg scoring average as a freshman in 2017-18 was the highest by an IUPUI rookie since Alex Young average 10.8 points per game in 2008-09.
    -His 51 made 3's in 2017-18 were the most by an IUPUI freshman in the program's Division I era (1998-present).  

    BURK NOTES
    The most anticipated new face on the Jaguars' roster this season is that of Indianapolis-native Marcus Burk, who sat out last season after transferring in from Campbell. The 6-foot-3 guard is an elite scorer, who averaged 15 points per game as a sophomore at Campbell while playing alongside current NBAer Chris Clemons. 
    In 69 games at Campbell, he averaged 11.2 points per game while connecting on 158 3's. He was named Big South Player of the Week on Nov. 27, 2017 after averaging 24.3 points per game during a four-game stretch. He and Clemons pulled a rare feat on Jan. 22, 2018 as each hit 10 3's in a win over Liberty, becoming the first duo to both hit 10 treys in a game. 
    Burk starred as a high schooler at nearby Franklin Central, where he averaged 25.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game as a senior, earning a spot on The Indianapolis Star's Super Team. 

    NEW LOOK JAGS 
    This year's  team has a decidedly new look - a new head coach, only five returners and a largely new coaching staff. 
    Head coach Byron Rimm II took over on an interim basis this past fall, taking over for Indianapolis-native Jason Gardner. Rimm, who is the winningest head coach in Prairie View A&M history with 115 career wins, became the ninth head coach in IUPUI history after taking over for Gardner. 
    He has 10+ years of Division I head coaching experience and helped PVAMU to winning records in 2008-09 and 2009-10. 
    Beside him, Rimm boasts two new assistants on the sidelines as well as Brian Burton joined the program from UTEP in November and Aaron Evans joined the program as Director of Operations from nearby Marian University over the summer. Evans took the spot of Isaac Loechle, who was promoted from Director of Operations to Assistant Coach last summer. 

    BASKETBALL CENTRAL
    IUPUI will be a big part of the center of the college basketball universe this March as the 2020 Horizon League Championships will be played at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Mar. 9-10 and the department will later serve as institutional co-host of an NCAA Men's Basketball Regional at Lucas Oil Stadium on Mar. 26-28, alongside the Horizon League and Indiana Sports Corporation. Both the men's and women's Horizon League Semifinals (Mar. 9) and Championship games (Mar. 10) will be played at Indiana Farmers Coliseum as 2020 marks the first of a three-year rotation.