INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will host UIC on Saturday (Jan. 18) in this year's 'Cram the Coliseum' game and BSA Scout Day at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Saturday's game will tip-off at 12:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) describe the action. Tickets are available via TicketMaster or at the Coliseum box office during normal operating hours. Doors will open at 11:00 a.m. on a day that will be filled with tons of entertainment. 

The highlights for Saturday's event include the following:

• FREE tickets for IUPUI students with a valid Crimson Card and a student shuttle to the Coliseum will be running, beginning at 11am. Pickup will occur right outside the Campus Center along University Blvd.
• FREE adidas Jags branded t-shirts (while supplies last)
• A special halftime show featuring extreme pogo stick competitors
• A chance to win free pair of adidas shoes during a special on-court contest
• On site family entertainment will include glitter artists a balloon animal artist and more
• Scouts in attendance are invited to come down on the floor afterwards to participate in a postgame layup line

On the court, head coach Byron Rimm II's team is looking for a turn in fortune after back-to-back losses to two of the top teams in the league - Wright State and Northern Kentucky. Last season, IUPUI (5-14, 1-5 HL) and UIC (7-12, 2-4 HL) split the regular season series with each team collecting a road victory. This year's Jaguars are still seeking a first Horizon League home victory, although they were tough luck losers to both Youngstown State and Cleveland State to open league play. The Jags held the lead with five minutes to play in both contests, but were unable to seal the deal on either occasion. 

Junior Marcus Burk leads the team in scoring at 19.0 points per game and is shooting a league-best 39.1 percent from three-point range with 52 made threes. Classmate Jaylen Minnett is averaging 15.5 points per game and ranks among the national leaders with 61 threes made. Junior Elyjah Goss is averaging 8.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, ranking No. 11 in the country in rebounding average. He set a new school record with 21 rebounds in a game earlier this season and recently moved past the 500 career rebound mark. 

ABOUT UIC
UIC checks in at 7-12 overall this season and 0-7 in true road games. The Flames are coming off an impressive 76-72 win over Horizon League leader Wright State on Jan. 12 to snap a four-game skid. Tarkus Ferguson leads three UIC players in double-digits at 14.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. He's also hit a team-high 37 threes, 24 steals and 20 blocked shots. Marcus Ottey, who missed 10 games due to injury, checks in at 11.4 points per game and Godwin Boahen is averaging 10.4 points per game. Michael Diggins is scoring 9.6 points per game and shooting 48.3 percent from the floor.

PROBABLE STARTERS
G- Jaylen Minnett (6-1, Jr.) - 15.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 3.4 apg, 61 3's
G- Marcus Burk (6-3, Jr.) - 19.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 39.1 3FG%, 52 3's
G- Grant Weatherford (6-2, Jr.) - 8.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.4 apg
F- Isaiah Williams (6-8, Jr.) - 8.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg
F- Elyjah Goss (6-7, Jr.) - 8.5 ppg, 11.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg

KEY RESERVES
G- Jamil Jackson Jr. (6-6, Jr.) - 3.7 ppg, 1.1 rpg
G- Mike DePersia (5-11, Fr.) - 2.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.5 apg
F- Zo Tyson (6-9, Gr.) - 3.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 62.8 FG%

SERIES NOTES: IUPUI is just 1-6 all-time against UIC with the lone win coming in Chicago last season. 

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). 

    NORTHERN KENTUCKY TAKEAWAYS
    IUPUI was upended by Northern Kentucky, 96-71, last Sunday (Jan. 12) in the Jaguars' last contest - here are some takeaways from that contest. 
    -IUPUI trailed just 42-34 at the break, but saw NKU score the first five points of the second half and never let the Jags back within 10 for the rest of the day. 
    -Junior Marcus Burk had a team-high 25 points (9-16 FG, 2-8 3's, 5-6 FT) and Grant Weatherford added 12 points (5-12 FG) and eight rebounds. Isaiah Williams chipped in 11 points (4-9 FG, 3-5 FT) in just 20 minutes and Elyjah Goss had a game-high 11 rebounds. 
    -Junior Jaylen Minnett had his streak of double-digit scoring games stopped at 11-in-a-row as he tallied just seven points (1-7 FG, 4-4 FT) in 34 minutes. 
    -IUPUI shot just 38 percent from the field while NKU hit 56 percent and 13-of-35 (37.1 percent) from three-point range. Tyler Sharpe had a game-high 33 points (12-21 FG, 4-12 3's, 5-6 FT) and Trevon Faulkner added 15. 

    BETTER THAN ALL THE REST
    IUPUI's early season win at South Florida (70-53 on Nov. 13) was widely considered the best non-conference victory by a Horizon League team this season. The Jags entered play as a 17-point underdog before defeating the AAC foe by 17 points. In addition, it was IUPUI's first-ever victory over an AAC opponent in program history. 

    IN LEAGUE PLAY... STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
    -Burk and Minnett are tied for the team-high in scoring average at 19.8 points per game and Grant Weatherford is third at 10.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Elyjah Goss is almost averaging a double-double at 9.8 points and 14.5 rebounds per game, while blocking 1.67 blocks per game. All four are playing more than 33 minutes per game. 
    -Offensively, IUPUI is scoring 76.8 points per game, but yielding 83.5 points per game and foes are shooting 40.3 percent from three-point range and averaging 10 made threes per game. 
    -Freshman Mike DePersia has 24 assists against just six turnovers in league games and as a team, IUPUI has 96 assists against 80 turnovers (1.20 a/to). 
    -IUPUI has made (104) almost as many free throws as the opposition has attempted (108), and done so at a 68.9 percent clip. Minnett is shooting 88.9 percent from the foul line and Burk has a team-high 26 made free throws in league games. 

    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 361 this season, giving him 1,137 in his collegiate career. 
    Here are some more tidbits on Burk:
    -Burk has been IUPUI's top offensive player all season, ranking No. 2 in the Horizon League in scoring (19.0 ppg) and fourth in the league in threes made (2.7/gm). He also ranks tops in the league in three-point percentage at 39.1 percent.   
    -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 averaging nearly 20 points per game, 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 second in the Horizon League with nine 20-point scoring games, trailing only Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis. 

    MR. WINDEX
    Junior Elyjah Goss currently leads the Horizon League and ranks No. 11 nationally in rebounding at 11.0 per contest, more than a full rebound ahead of second place Naz Bohannon (YSU). He owns four of the seven highest single-game totals in the Horizon League this season, including grabbing a school record 21 against IUSB (Dec. 10), 18 against Youngstown State (Dec. 28) and 17 at Morehead State (Dec. 4). His 21 boards against IUSB is the third-highest single-game total in NCAA Division I this season. 
    All total, Goss has led the Jaguars in rebounds in 16 of the team's 19 games. 
    Five games into this season, he was averaging 6.0 rebounds per game, but has since grabbed at least 10 boards in 10 of the Jaguars' 14 games.  
    In league play, Goss leads the league in rebounding (14.5 rpg), defensive boards (8.8 rpg) and offensive rebounds (5.7 rpg).He has three double-doubles in six games and grabbed double-digit boards in every league contest. 
    Goss now has nine career double-doubles and has led the Jags in rebounding in each of the past 12 games.   

    SPLASH BROTHERS
    IUPUI's version of the Splash Brothers - Marcus Burk and Jaylen Minnett - is on pace to reach unprecedented heights.
    Burk leads the league in percentage (39.1%) and is tied for third in threes made at 2.74/game. Minnett is second in both threes made (3.21/game) and three-point percentage (37.2%). By hitting a combined 5.9 threes/game, the duo is tops in the league for a tandem as Northern Kentucky's Dantez Walton and Tyler Sharpe are next in line. 
    Burk is fifth among active juniors (45th among all players) in college basketball with 210 career treys and Minnett is 12th on that list (76th overall) with 190 makes. 

    TOP GUNS
    Burk and Minnett are accounting for the bulk of the Jaguars' offense, having taken 49 percent of the team's field goal attempts (554 of 1121) and 73 percent of the team's three-point attempts (297 of 409). In addition, the duo has accounted for more than 50 percent (655 of 1309) of the team's total points. 
    Burk (19.0 ppg) and Minnett (15.5 ppg) easily lead the team in scoring while three others - Elyjah Goss (8.5), Grant Weatherford (8.1) and Isaiah Williams (8.0) - are next in line. 

    MINNETT NOTES
    Junior Jaylen Minnett, the 2019 Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year, won't be a repeat winner as he's started every game 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 55 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 sixth on IUPUI's all-time list with 190 made 3's in his career... he's seven triples away from fifth-place Gary Patterson's 196 career triples.
    -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 is making a claim to join Burk and Minnett as an elite three-point shooter. After starting the season 0-of-6 from deep in the season's first eight games, Weatherford is 13-of-27 (48.1%) from beyond the arc in the Jaguars' last 11 games, coinciding with his return to the starting lineup. 
    Since rejoining the starting unit, Weatherford has tallied in double-digits eight times. During the 11 games, Weatherford is averaging 11.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game while shooting 49.5 percent (45-of-91) from the field and three. 
    Weatherford is currently amidst a career-best four straight games scoring in double-figures dating back to the game at Milwaukee on Jan. 3. 

    STORY TELLER
    In IUPUI's five wins this season, the Jags have held opponents to 37.5 percent shooting overall and 26.1 percent from three-point range. 
    In the Jaguars' 14 losses, foes have shot 49.5 percent overall and 39 percent from beyond the arc. 
    Eight of the 14 opponents to have beaten the Jags have shot 50 percent or better from the floor. 

    FREEBIES
    IUPUI enters play ranked 326th of 350 teams in free throw percentage at 63.8 percent, which is well on pace to be the lowest mark in the program's Division I era. The current low mark was a 65.4 percentage for the 2008-09 season. The lowest single-season mark on record in program history was a 62.7 percentage in the 1976-77 campaign. 

    ...HOWEVER
    Since the Youngstown State loss in which IUPUI made just 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) at the foul line, IUPUI has been efficient since. Since then, IUPUI is a combined 92-of-123 (74.7 percent) in the last five games. 

    FULL 40
    Junior Jaylen Minnett's 40-minute effort at Green Bay on Jan. 5 was the first full 40 posted by an IUPUI player in a non-overtime game since Marcellus Barksdale played all 40 minutes at Western Illinois on Mar. 1, 2014. 

    STARTERS DOING IT ALL
    Head coach Byron Rimm has shown a reluctance to delve too deeply into his bench as IUPUI reserves accounted for just 11.7 points per game this season. IUPUI is getting just 10 percent of its points from reserves and has had seven games in which the bench has provided fewer than 10 points. The Jags' bench has scored a season-high 19 points on three different occasions. 

    GRADE CHECKS
    Six different Jaguars posted a grade point average of 3.0 or better during the fall - Mike DePersia, Elyjah Goss, Brandon Kenyon, Sawyer Stoltz, Grant Weatherford and Taveion White. Weatherford, who is pursuing his Master's degree in Organizational Leadership, had the team's top GPA for the fall at 3.67. 
 
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.