MUNCIE, Ind. - The IUPUI basketball team will continue the program's rigorous start to the season on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 7) when the Jaguars hit the road to face Ball State (4-4) at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN+. The Jaguars will begin the season with eight of the team's first 10 games away from home before heading home to host back-to-back home games next week against IU South Bend (Dec. 10) and Purdue Fort Wayne (Dec. 14). IUPUI (2-7) comes in amidst a five-game skid following this week's loss to Morehead State. 

After a rocky first half at Morehead State on Wednesday, the Jags rallied in the second half, largely behind Grant Weatherford, before falling just short down the stretch. Weatherford finished with a season-high 17 points, including three second half threes, and Jaylen Minnett added 13 in the loss. Junior Elyjah Goss grabbed a career-high 17 boards, marking the most rebounds in a game by an IUPUI player since 2012. Junior Marcus Burk was limited to a season-low eight points on 3-of-12 shooting and just one three. The Jags were held to just 35 percent shooting overall and made just 3-of-10 attempts at the free throw line. 

Close but no cigar has been a common theme for the Jaguars of late as IUPUI's last four losses have all come by two possessions or less.

ABOUT BALL STATE
Ball State is 4-4 on the season and just 2-3 at home to start the year. The Cards have dropped three out of four games on their current homestand with the lone win coming against Howard on Nov. 23. For the year, Ishmael El-Amin leads four BSU players in double-digits at 15.1 points per game while Tahjai Teague is next at 14.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Kyle Mallers averages 12.5 points per game and is shooting 51.1 percent from three-point range while K.J. Walton averages 10.6 points per game. As a team, Ball State is shooting 44 percent overall and 35 percent from three-point range, while outrebounding opponents by 5.4 rebounds per game. 

PROBABLE STARTERS
G- Jaylen Minnett (6-1, Jr.) - 12.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.1 apg
G- Marcus Burk (6-3, Jr.) - 21.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 44.4 3FG%
G- Grant Weatherford (6-2, Jr.) - 5.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.6 apg
F- Zo Tyson (6-9, Gr.) - 3.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 60.9 FG%
F- Elyjah Goss (6-7, Jr.) - 6.9 ppg, 8.2 rpg

KEY RESERVES
G- Mike DePersia (5-11, Fr.) - 2.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.0 apg
F- Isaiah Williams (6-8, Jr.) - 8.8 ppg, 5.1 rpg

SERIES NOTES: IUPUI is 5-9 all-time against Ball State and 2-6 in the eight meetings in Muncie. 

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). 

    MOREHEAD FOLLOW-UPS
    Junior Grant Weatherford excelled in his return to the starting lineup, pumping in a season-high 17 points (7-10 FG, 3-4 3's) in the Jaguars' 56-51 loss... junior Elyjah Goss grabbed a career-high 17 boards, tying for the eighth-highest single game total in program history... his 17 boards were the most by an IUPUI player since Lyonell Gaines grabbed 19 against IU Northwest on Dec. 11, 2012... IUPUI dropped to 0-4 this season in games decided by six points or less, all of which have occurred during the current five-game losing streak... junior Marcus Burk, who entered play ranked No. 13 in the country in scoring, finished with a season-low eight points (3-12 FG, 1-4 3's, 1-2 FT) in 38 minutes... IUPUI scored just 12 points in the opening half, making 5-of-25 field goal attempts before the break... junior Jakoby Kemp made his season debut (2 pts, 3 reb) after missing the opening eight games of the season due to injury. 

    HEALTH CHECK
    IUPUI has yet to have the entire roster healthy and cleared this season as Jakoby Kemp missed the season's first eight games due to injury. Upon his return, junior Jamil Jackson has missed the past two games due to injury. Today could be the first time IUPUI has had its full roster available, depending on if Jackson is cleared to play. 

    BURK'S BEEN BALLIN'
    Junior Marcus Burk has been on a tear all season long, ranking No. 21 nationally in scoring (21.2 ppg) and No. 13 in the country in threes made per game (3.56/game).  
    Here are some more notes on Burk to start the season:
    -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 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. 
    -Burk enters tonight with 967 points in his collegiate career - 776 in two seasons at Campbell and 191 in an IUPUI uniform. 

    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 leads the league in three per game (3.6) while Minnett is tied for third in the league in the category (2.7). Burk leads in three-point percentage (44.4%) and Minnett is fourth at 32.9 percent. By hitting a combined 6.3 threes/game, the duo is easily tops in the league for a tandem as Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis and Willy Isiani are next in line at 5.2 threes/game.  

    TOP GUNS
    Burk and Minnett are accounting for the bulk of the Jaguars' offense through the season's first eight games, having taken 53 percent of the team's field goal attempts (275 of 518) and 77 percent of the team's three-point attempts (145-of-189). In addition, the duo has accounted for 53 percent (304 of 576) of the team's total points. 
    Burk (21.2 ppg) and Minnett (12.6 ppg) easily lead the team in scoring while Isaiah Williams is third at 8.8 ppg. 

    FINDING DUBS
    While Burk has scored in double-digits in eight of nine games to start the season, the remainder of the IUPUI roster has just 12 double-digit scoring games combined. Minnett has scored in double-figures six times, Elyjah Goss has done so three times, Isaiah Williams has hit double-figures twice and Weatherford has done so once.

    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 45 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 153 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).  

    GRANT AIDS
    With the offense sputtering at Morehead State, junior Grant Weatherford poured in three threes in a span on six minutes, after entering the game without a three on the season. Weatherford had just 11 career treys coming into that contest, but oddly enough, he's made eight of his 14 triples in two games. 
    vs. Green Bay (2-24-19) / 21 pts, 6-12 FG, 5-6 3's, 4-4 FT
    at Morehead State (12-4-19) / 17 pts, 7-10 FG, 3-4 3's, 0-1
    Outside of those two games, Weatherford is a combined 6-of-20 from three-point range in 40 career games. 

    MR. WINDEX
    Junior Elyjah Goss has emerged as one of the Horizon League's top rebounders, grabbing 8.2 per contest. He snared a career-high 17 at Morehead State earlier this week, tying for the eighth-highest single game total in program history. His 17 boards were the most by an IUPUI player since Lyonell Gaines grabbed 19 against IU Northwest on Dec. 11, 2012.
    This season, he has a pair of double-doubles and  has quietly upped his scoring (6.8 ppg to 6.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.3 rpg to 8.2 rpg).

    STORY TELLER
    In IUPUI's two wins this season, the Jags have held opponents to 34 percent shooting overall and 19 percent from three-point range. 
    In the Jaguars' seven losses, foes have shot 50 percent overall and 40 percent from beyond the arc. 
    Four of the six opponents to have beaten the Jags have shot 50 percent or better from the floor. 
    In the Jags' two wins - IUPUI held Anderson to just 32.4 percent shooting and South Florida to 37 percent. 

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.