FRESNO, Calif. - The IUPUI basketball team will head to Fresno looking to extend the current winning streak to three when the Jaguars take on Fresno State (3-7) at 7:00 p.m. Pacific (10 Eastern) on Friday (Dec. 20). IUPUI (4-8) is riding back-to-back home victories over IU South Bend and Purdue Fort Wayne coming into the Jags' final non-league game of the season. 

IUPUI is coming off a 74-65 win over Purdue Fort Wayne, fueled by junior Marcus Burk's 22-point, four assist game, which included his 1,000th collegiate point during the first half. Junior Jaylen Minnett added 17 points, five boards and four assists and Grant Weatherford contributed 14 points, six assists, four rebounds and a career-high five steals in the win. IUPUI surged out to a 13-4 lead in the opening four-plus minutes en route to a second straight wire-to-wire victory. 

Junior Elyjah Goss closed with eight points and 11 boards as the Jags shot 45 percent from the floor and held the visiting Mastodons to just 39 percent shooting. 

Friday's game will be IUPUI's fifth game against a Mountain West Conference foe as the Jags enter play at 0-2 all-time against San Diego State and 1-1 versus Colorado State. 

ABOUT FRESNO STATE
Fresno State comes into play at 3-7 on the season with three of their seven losses coming in overtime. The Bulldogs have wins over Winthrop, CSUSB and at Cal Poly this season and are 2-1 inside Save Mart Center. Nate Grimes leads Fresno State in scoring (13.4 ppg), rebounding (10.5 rpg) and field goal percentage (51.5%). Jarred Hyder (12.0 ppg) and New Williams (10.1 ppg) are also scoring in double-digits while Orlando Robinson (9.4 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and Mustafa Lawrence (8.7 ppg, 2.9 apg) are just off their pace. Fresno State is shooting 41.5 percent overall and 31.4 percent from three-point range while limiting opponents to just 39.4 percent shooting. 

PROBABLE STARTERS
G- Jaylen Minnett (6-1, Jr.) - 13.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.9 apg
G- Marcus Burk (6-3, Jr.) - 20.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 44.1 3FG%
G- Grant Weatherford (6-2, Jr.) - 6.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.8 apg
F- Isaiah Williams (6-8, Jr.) - 8.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg
F- Elyjah Goss (6-7, Jr.) - 8.1 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 1.1 bpg

KEY RESERVES
G- Jamil Jackson Jr. (6-6, Jr.) - 3.9 ppg, 1.2 rpg
G- Mike DePersia (5-11, Fr.) - 2.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.8 apg
F- Zo Tyson (6-9, Gr.) - 3.2 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 57.1 FG%

SERIES NOTES: Friday's game marks the first-ever meeting between IUPUI and Fresno State on the hardwood. IUPUI is 1-3 all-time against teams from the Mountain West, having gone 1-1 against Colorado State and 0-2 against San Diego State, both at neutral sites.  

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). 

    FRESNO TIES
    First-year assistant coach Brian Burton spent the 2017-2018 season as Fresno State's Director of Basketball Operations, helping the Bulldogs to a 21-11 mark... four current Bulldogs (Noah Blackwell, Nate Grimes, Lazaro Rojas and New Williams) were on the roster during Burton's lone season in Fresno.
    Graduate transfer Zo Tyson played in the Mountain West Conference at Colorado State in 2018-19, but never saw action against Fresno State. 

    MR. 1,000
    Junior Marcus Burk netted his 1,000 collegiate point in the Dec. 14 win over Purdue Fort Wayne with a three-point play at the 12:57 mark of the first half. Burk, an Indianapolis-native, tallied 776 in two seasons at Campbell and now has 240 this season, giving him 1,016 in his collegiate career. 
    Here are some more tidbits on Burk from the first half of the season:
    -Burk has undoubtedly been IUPUI's top offensive player all season, ranking No. 32 nationally in scoring (20.0 ppg) and No. 16 nationally in threes made (3.42/game). His 44.1 percent from three-point range ranks No. 42 in the country. 
    -Burk tallied a season-high 32 points (12-of-21 FG, 7-of-10 3's) against Loyola (Md.), falling one shy of his career-high 33 from his sophomore year at Campbell. Burk's 32 was the most by an IUPUI player since Darell Combs hit the same number against South Dakota on Feb. 25, 2016. 
    -While Burk is off to a hot start and averaging 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. 
    -Burk is currently tied atop the Horizon League with seven 20-point scoring games. 

    MR. WINDEX
    Junior Elyjah Goss currently leads the Horizon League and ranks 40th nationally in rebounding at 9.6 per contest, more than a full rebound ahead of second place Naz Bohannon (YSU). He owns the two highest single-game totals in the Horizon League this season, grabbing 21 against IUSB (Dec. 10) and 17 at Morehead State (Dec. 4). His 21 boards against IUSB set a new IUPUI single-game school record and is the third-highest single-game total in NCAA Division I this season. 
    Since returning to the starting lineup seven games ago, Goss is averaging 10.1 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. 
    Not only does Goss lead the Horizon League in rebounding and defensive rebounding (6.3 rpg), he's tied atop the league lead in blocked shots (1.08 bpg), double-doubles (3) and double-digit rebound games (5).  

    E'S RECORD BREAKING NIGHT
    Junior Elyjah Goss had a record breaking night against IU South Bend on Dec. 10, posting a school record 21 rebounds to go along with a career-high 17 points and four blocked shots in the Jaguars' 80-60 victory. Goss grabbed seven offensive boards and 14 defensive boards and hit 7-of-10 field goal attempts.
    The prior record was 20 on two different occasions, the most recent coming by Michael Boles in 1993. Goss became the first player in IUPUI history to grab at least 20 boards in the Jaguars' Division I era.  

    HEALTH CHECK
    The Dec. 7 game at Ball State was the first time all season that head coach Byron Rimm had his full roster as his disposal. Junior Jakoby Kemp missed the season's initial eight games due to injury and upon his return at Morehead State (Dec. 4), classmate Jamil Jackson was sidelined due to injury. Jackson missed two games before returning at Ball State. 

    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 three in both threes made and three-point percentage. 
    Burk leads the league in three per game (3.42) while Minnett is second in the league in the category (3.00). Burk leads in three-point percentage (44.1%) and Minnett is third at 35.6%. By hitting a combined 6.42 threes/game, the duo is easily tops in the league for a tandem as Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis and Brad Calipari are next in line at 5.18 threes/game. 
    Both Burk (3rd - 41) and Minnett (19th - 38) rank among the nation's top 20 in threes made. 

    TOP GUNS
    Burk and Minnett are accounting for the bulk of the Jaguars' offense, having taken 50 percent of the team's field goal attempts (357 of 713) and 76 percent of the team's three-point attempts (194 of 256). In addition, the duo has accounted for 51 percent (402 of 784) of the team's total points. 
    Burk (20 ppg) and Minnett (13.5 ppg) easily lead the team in scoring while Isaiah Williams and Elyjah Goss are tied for third at 8.1 ppg. 

    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 third-longest streak of consecutive games with at least one made three at 48 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 165 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).  

    WARM WEATHERFORD
    Junior Grant Weatherford returned to the Jaguars' starting five four games ago and is playing some of his best basketball of his career, having tallied in double-digits in three of those contests. In the most recent win over Purdue Fort Wayne, Weatherford had 14 points (4-7 FG, 1-3 3's, 5-6 FT), six assists, four rebounds and a career-high five steals in that contest. 
    Over the past four games, Weatherford is averaging 11.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.0 steals per game while shooting 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the field and 4-of-9 (44.4 percent) from three-point range. 

    STORY TELLER
    In IUPUI's four wins this season, the Jags have held opponents to 37 percent shooting overall and 23.4 percent from three-point range. 
    In the Jaguars' eight losses, foes have shot 50.4 percent overall and 37.4 percent from beyond the arc. 
    Five of the eight opponents to have beaten the Jags have shot 50 percent or better from the floor. 

    FREEBIES
    While IUPUI enters play ranked 338th of 350 teams in free throw percentage at 60.4 percent, the Jaguars are coming off a season-best 87.5 percent effort in the win over Purdue Fort Wayne as they hit 14-of-16 attempts.  

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.