CLEVELAND - The IUPUI basketball team will look to snap a three-game skid on Saturday night (Feb. 16) when the Jaguars take on Cleveland State at 7:00 p.m. inside the Wolstein Center. Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and can be heard on IUPUIJags.com as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.
IUPUI (14-12, 6-7 HL) has been snake bitten of late, dropping three straight games by a combined total of eight points. The Jaguars have missed potential game-winners as time expired in the last two games, including Thursday's loss at Youngstown State. The Jags battled back from a 15-point deficit to take a one-point lead in the closing minute, only to see YSU drill a corner three with 5.5 seconds to play. Senior
D.J. McCall led IUPUI with 16 points and eight boards and
Ahmed Ismail added 15 points and eight rebounds. The Jags outshot YSU and dominated the glass, but committed 17 turnovers, leading to 23 points for the hosts.
The Jags enter play in eighth in the Horizon League standings while Cleveland State has just two wins in league play thus far. The Vikings are 7-9 at home this season, but winless away from home.
HL STANDINGS (as of 2/14/2019):
1. Northern Kentucky (10-3)
2. Wright State (9-4)
3. UIC (8-5)
4. Green Bay (7-6)
t-5. Oakland (7-7)
t-5. Youngstown State (7-7)
t-5. Detroit Mercy (7-7)
8. IUPUI (6-7)
9. Milwaukee (4-9)
10. Cleveland State (2-12)
QUOTABLE: "We just have to find energy early in the ballgame and not get into such a big hole. We fought and battled all night and really came up with some big plays, but they made the biggest play of the night on that last possession. I'm proud of our guys and proud of how they fought until the end. It just wasn't our night. I thought we defended them pretty well in the second half and we executed and got the shots we wanted. Seventeen turnovers is too many to have on the road and expect to win," said head coach Jason Gardner.
UP NEXT: IUPUI will return home for the final homestand of the season, beginning on Friday, Feb. 22 when the Jaguars host Milwaukee at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. That game will be aired on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Bob Lovell (analyst) describe the action.
QUICK NOTES (click here to access the full notes for Saturday's game):
JAGS LOSE THIRD STRAIGHT HEARTBREAKER, THIS TIME AT YSU
IUPUI's tough luck continued on Thursday night (Feb. 15) as the Jaguars dropped a 75-73 decision at Youngstown State, marking a third straight slim defeat. YSU's Donel Cathcart hit a corner three with 5.5 seconds to give the Penguins the two-point lead and
Nick Rogers missed a running three as time expired.
Senior
D.J. McCall led IUPUI with 16 points and eight boards and classmate
Ahmed Ismail finished with 15 points and eight boards as he made just his second start of the year in place of the injured
Elyjah Goss.
Camron Justice added 14 points and six assists and Rogers closed with 11 off the IUPUI bench, all in the second half.
Darius Quisenberry and Jelani Simmons finished with a game-high 17 points each.
IUPUI trailed by 15 with just more than 10 minutes to play before storming all the way back to take the lead in the closing minutes. However, YSU got the last laugh on Cathcart's game-winner.
Below are more notes from IUPUI's defeat at YSU.
-IUPUI remained winless against YSU since joining the Horizon League prior to last season, dropping to 0-4.
-IUPUI scored the game's first six points, but YSU turned the tables and built a 34-19 lead late in the first half before settling for a 39-30 halftime advantage.
-IUPUI shot 58 percent in the second half and outshot YSU 46-41 percent for the game. It marked the first time this season IUPUI outshot an opponent and lost.
-The Jags dominated the glass, outrebounding YSU 39-29 as IUPUI's senior class of
Evan Hall (9), McCall (8) and Ismail (8) nearly outrebounded the Penguins themselves.
-Hall swatted a career-high five shots and moved up to fourth on the program's all-time list with 90 rejections. He also climbed to 11th on IUPUI's all-time list in rebounds with 570 in his career.
MILESTONES
-The UIC game marked the 150th game of head coach Jason Gardner's IUPUI career.
-Senior
Evan Hall became the 15th player in IUPUI history to grab 500 career rebounds at UIC (Jan. 4). Fellow senior
D.J. McCall followed in line as the 16th in school history to hit the number against Wright State (Feb. 3).
-Senior
D.J. McCall delivered his 200th career assist against UIC (Feb. 9).
-Sophomore
Jaylen Minnett hit his 100th career three in the win over Detroit Mercy (Jan. 26). He tallied his 500th career point against UIC (Feb. 9).
-The 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 250th career rebound at Milwaukee.
-Fifth-year senior
D.J. McCall played his 2,500th career minute at NKU.
STREAKS
-Minnett has made a three in 29 straight games, dating back to last season as he owns one of the nation's 10 longest streaks for consecutive games with a triple.
-Senior
D.J. McCall has started 53 straight games, dating back to last season.
NEW FIVE
For just the third time this season, IUPUI used a new starting five at Youngstown State on Thursday (Feb. 14) due to an injury to
Elyjah Goss.
Senior center
Ahmed Ismail (15 pts, 8 reb) filled in admirably in his second start of the year. Ismail also started the season opener in place of an injured
Evan Hall.
Otherwise, the quintet of
Camron Justice,
D.J. McCall,
Grant Weatherford, Goss and Hall has started 23 times this year.
RECENT HOLES
The Jaguars' three-game losing skid has been similarly themed as IUPUI has fallen into massive first half holes, rallied late, and then ultimately fallen short. Below is a quick recap of each of those three outcomes.
Feb. 3 - Wright State 79, IUPUI 74 (Indiana Farmers Coliseum)
Jags fall behind 27-6 at the 11:54 mark of the first half... come all the way back and lead by as many as three in the second half... allow a 10-1 WSU run late in the game to see the Raiders escape with a 5-point win.
Feb. 9 - UIC 76, IUPUI 75 (Indiana Farmers Coliseum)
Jags fall behind by as many as 15 in the first half and still trail 61-43 with 13:18 to play... Jags rally to take a 75-74 lead with 1:20 left before UIC regains the lead with 26 seconds left... Jags miss three potential go-ahead opportunities on the game's final possession.
Feb. 14 - Youngstown State 75, IUPUI 73 (Youngstown, Ohio)
YSU leads by as many as 15 in the first half and still leads 59-44 with 10:32 remaining... Jags rally to take a late lead before the Penguins' Donel Cathcart hits a game-winning three with 5.5 seconds left... Jags miss running 3 at the final horn.
INDICATORS
As the season wears on, two trends have become indicators as to how IUPUI will fare.
1.) IUPUI is
12-1 this season when shooting a higher percentage than their opponent. That number has been consistent under Gardner as IUPUI is 56-9 (.862) in his five seasons when shooting a higher percentage than their opponent.
2.) IUPUI is now
9-1 this season when holding opponents to 70 points or less. In IUPUI wins, IUPUI holds foes to 40 percent and an average of 67.6 points per game. In IUPUI losses, foes are shooting better than 49 percent and scoring an average of 80 points per game.
GLASS EATERS
IUPUI has been strong on the glass all year long, outrebounding foes by 4.5 rebounds per game to rank among the top 60 in the nation. However, the Jags have been particularly impressive on the glass in league play with a +5.9 margin in league games.
IUPUI has outrebounded its opponent by 10 or more boards nine times this season, including six times in Horizon League play.
DO IT INSIDE
Bucking the national trend, IUPUI relies heavily on the interior for points this season. The Jags average 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 just 6.5 treys per game while seven Horizon League teams hit 8-or-more 3's per game in league play.
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).
