INDIANAPOLIS - An undermanned IUPUI squad came up just short on Saturday (Jan. 18) as the Jaguars fell to UIC in Horizon League play, 75-66, inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. IUPUI was without two regular rotation players, forcing the starting five to play the bulk of the game's minutes. Marcus Burk tallied a hard fought 18 points and junior Grant Weatherford matched his season-high with 17 points and eight rebounds. Junior Elyjah Goss registered his seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 15 boards and Jaylen Minnett pumped in 12 points on just 3-of-13 shooting. 

Tarkus Ferguson flirted with a triple-double for UIC (8-12, 3-4 HL) with 16 points, nine assists and nine rebounds to lead five Flames in double-digits. Jordan Blount tallied 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Marcus Ottey had 13 points. 

UIC shot 45 percent from the floor and 9-of-23 (39 percent) from three-point range while IUPUI labored to shoot just 33 percent overall and 6-of-26 (23 percent) from long distance. 

IUPUI (5-15, 1-6 HL) got the start it wanted, scoring the game's first seven points and holding UIC without a field goal for the opening three-plus minutes. The Flames finally got their footing and outscored IUPUI 19-6 over the next seven minutes to build a 19-13 lead. With UIC focused on slowing Burk and Minnett, the Jaguars went ice cold from the floor, going more than seven minutes between field goals as UIC built a double-digit lead before halftime. The Flames led by as many as 15 before intermission before ultimately leading 35-23 at the break. 

The second half saw IUPUI repeatedly crawl back in the game, only to have UIC thwart any true run along the way. 

A mini 6-0 rally on a Burk trey and Goss three-point play pulled the Jags within 10 with 14:56 left, but UIC countered with back-to-back buckets to regain a 14-point edge. 

Later a 7-0 IUPUI run cut a 16-point lead down to 70-61 with 4:15 left, capped by Jamil Jackson Jr.'s transition bucket. After forcing a Godwin Boahen miss at the other end, Minnett missed on a three that would have made it a two-possession game. The Jags' defense seemingly produced another stop, but Ferguson picked Goss' pocket after the Jaguar forward had grabbed the defensive board and then scored on a drive after melting nearly the entire 30-second shot clock. 

UIC won the glass 41-37 and outscored IUPUI 40-24 in the paint. 

Both 6-foot-8 Isaiah Williams and 6-foot-9 Zo Tyson missed the game, leaving the trio of Jackson, Jakoby Kemp and Brandon Kenyon to contribute a combined 16 minutes off the IUPUI bench. 

"It's just part of the adversity that we've been going through this entire year," Goss said. "Regardless of what's going on, we've just got to continue to find a way to fight through it.

"Teams are going to go on runs where they hit shots and get (defensive) stops and then the other team does the same thing too. In our instance today, we would get a bucket, but we wouldn't finish the (defensive) possession with a rebound. It was just finishing the entire 30 seconds out - that was our problem today."

On the flip side, UIC received 24 bench points as both Boahen and Jamie Ahale tallied 10 apiece. 

IUPUI will return to action next Thursday night (Jan. 23) when the Jaguars take on Detroit Mercy at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+.