DETROIT - The IUPUI basketball team will look to snap a three-game skid on Thursday night (Jan. 23) when the Jaguars take on Detroit Mercy (4-16, 2-5 HL) inside Calihan Hall at 7:00 p.m. in the first of four straight road games over the next two weeks. The Jaguars are coming off a 75-66 home loss to UIC last Saturday, despite putting four players in double-digits against the Flames. Marcus Burk led the way with 18 points and junior Grant Weatherford tied his season-high with 17 points and eight rebounds in the loss. Junior Elyjah Goss recorded his seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 15 boards and Jaylen Minnett chimed in with 12 points in the loss. 

IUPUI (5-15, 1-6 HL) blasted out to a quick 7-0 lead in the game's opening minutes, but quickly lost traction as the Flames fired back to take a 12-point lead by halftime. IUPUI was unable to creep closer than eight points after halftime. 

IUPUI has been strong offensively since the start of Horizon League play, ranking third in the league in scoring at 75.3 points per game. Burk ranks second in the league in scoring at 19.6 points per game while Minnett is third at 18.7 points per game. Goss is averaging a double-double in league play with 10.7 points and a league-high 14.6 rebounds per game, while Weatherford checks in at 11.1 points per game. Weatherford is riding a career-best five straight games in double-digits while Goss has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in each of the Jaguars' last seven games. The Bolingbrook, Ill.-native is tied for the league high with four double-doubles in Horizon League play. 

Freshman Mike DePersia, who started in place of Isaiah Williams against UIC, has provided a jolt with 4.3 points and 3.9 assists per game in league play. The New Jersey-native ranks second in the league with a 3.86 assist-to-turnover ratio in league play. 

IUPUI enters Thursday's game seeking a first-ever win at UDM as the series is tied at 2-2 since the Jaguars joined the Horizon League prior to the 2017-18 campaign. 

ABOUT UDM
Detroit Mercy is 4-16 overall and 2-5 in Horizon League play this season with a 2-4 mark inside Calihan Hall. The Titans boast home wins over SIUE and Northern Kentucky on Jan. 3. UDM opened the season with seven games away from home before its Dec. 7 home opener against Eastern Michigan. Sophomore guard Antoine Davis leads the Titans in scoring (23.6 ppg), assists (84), steals (33), threes made (63) and free throws made (104). Big man Justin Miller is the only other UDM player scoring in double-figures at 10.2 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Chris Brandon leads the Titans in rebounding at 7.4 rebounds per game, while also scoring 5.8 points per contest and swatting a team-high 25 shots. Eleven different UDM players have started at least one game this season for head coach Mike Davis. 

PROBABLE STARTERS
G- Jaylen Minnett (6-1, Jr.) - 15.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.4 apg, 63 3's
G- Mike DePersia (5-11, Fr.) - 2.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.6 apg
G- Marcus Burk (6-3, Jr.) - 19.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 38.6 3FG%, 54 3's
G- Grant Weatherford (6-2, Jr.) - 8.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.4 apg
F- Elyjah Goss (6-7, Jr.) - 8.9 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 1.3 bpg

KEY RESERVES
G- Jamil Jackson Jr. (6-6, Jr.) - 3.6 ppg, 1.3 rpg
F- Isaiah Williams (6-8, Jr.) - 8.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg
F- Zo Tyson (6-9, Gr.) - 3.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 62.8 FG%

SERIES NOTES: IUPUI is 2-2 all-time against Detroit Mercy, going 2-0 at home and 0-2 in the Motor City against the Titans. UDM won the most recent meeting, 87-85 on Feb. 28 of 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). 

UIC TIP-INS
    IUPUI capped its recent three-game homestand with a 75-66 loss to UIC last Saturday (Jan. 18), despite putting four players in double-figures. Marcus Burk led the way with 18 points and Grant Weatherford matched his season-high with 17 points. Elyjah Goss added his seventh double-double of the season with 16 points and 15 rebounds and Jaylen Minnett tallied 12 in the loss. Here are some more notes on that contest:
    -IUPUI jumped in front 7-0 to start the game, but was outscored 35-16 over the next 16+ minutes as UIC led  35-23 at the break. 
    -Head coach Byron Rimm was missing two key pieces as both Isaiah Williams and Zo Tyson were in street clothes. Freshman Mike DePersia (0 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast) returned to the starting lineup in Williams' absence. The IUPUI bench contributed a season-low three points in just 16 total minutes, 12 of which were played by Jamil Jackson Jr. 
    -Goss had one of his best days of the season with 16 points (6-7 FG, 4-7 FT), 15 rebounds and three blocked shots before fouling out in a career-high 39 minutes. 
    -IUPUI turned it over just nine times, but shot just 33 percent from the field and 6-of-26 (23.1 percent) from three-point range. UIC didn't exactly light it up at 45 percent from the field and 39 percent from three, but it was more than enough to get the win. 
    -IUPUI outscored UIC 20-8 at the free throw line and has now outscored six straight foes at the foul line, doing so by more than seven points per game during that span. 
    -UIC's Tarkus Ferguson nearly notched a triple-double with 16 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to lead five Flames in double-digits. 

    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
    -Offensively, IUPUI is ranked third in the league in scoring at 75.3 points per game, but yielding a league-worst 82.3 points per game. Foes are shooting 40.1 percent from three-point range and averaging 9.8 made threes per game.
    -Burk is second in the league in scoring at 19.6 points per game while Minnett is third at 18.7 points per game. Minnett leads the league by making 3.57 threes per game in seven league games. Goss leads the league in rebounding at 14.6 rebounds per game and is tied atop the league with four double-doubles.  
    -Freshman Mike DePersia has 27 assists against just seven turnovers in league games and is second in the league with a 3.86 assist-to-turnover ratio.  As a team, IUPUI has 107 assists against 89 turnovers (1.20 a/to). 
    -IUPUI has made more (124) free throws as the opposition has attempted (120), and done so at a 69.3 percent clip. Minnett is shooting 90.3 percent from the foul line and Burk has a team-high 30 made free throws in league games. 
    -Four IUPUI players - Minnett (3rd - 36.7), Burk (5th - 35.5), Weatherford (9th - 35.2) and Goss (10th - 33.9) - rank among the league's top 10 in minutes played since the start of league play. 

    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 379 this season, giving him 1,155 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 38.6 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. 9 nationally in rebounding at 11.2 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 17 of the team's 20 games. 
    Five games into this season, he was averaging 6.0 rebounds per game, but has since grabbed at least 10 boards in 11 of the Jaguars' 15 games.  
    In league play, Goss leads the league in rebounding (14.6 rpg) and has four double-doubles in seven games and grabbed double-digit boards in every league contest. 
    Goss now has 10 career double-doubles and has led the Jags in rebounding in each of the past 13 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 (38.6%) and is tied for third in threes made at 2.70/game. Minnett is second in threes made (3.15/game) and third in three-point percentage (36.6%). By hitting a combined 5.85 threes/game, the duo is tops in the league. 
    Burk is fifth among active juniors (45th among all players) in college basketball with 212 career treys and Minnett is 12th on that list (76th overall) with 192 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 (581 of 1181) and 72 percent of the team's three-point attempts (312 of 435). In addition, the duo has accounted for 50 percent (685 of 1375) of the team's total points. 
    Burk (19.0 ppg) and Minnett (15.3 ppg) easily lead the team in scoring while three others - Elyjah Goss (8.9), Grant Weatherford (8.6) 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 second-longest streak of consecutive games with at least one made three at 56 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 15-of-35 (42.9%) from beyond the arc in the Jaguars' last 12 games, coinciding with his return to the starting lineup. 
    Since rejoining the starting unit, Weatherford has tallied in double-digits nine times. During the 12 games, Weatherford is averaging 11.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 45 percent (49-of-110) from the field. 
    Weatherford is currently amidst a career-best five 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' 15 losses, foes have shot 49.1 percent overall and 38.8 percent from beyond the arc. 
    Eight of the 15 opponents to have beaten the Jags have shot 50 percent or better from the floor. 

    FREEBIES
    IUPUI enters play ranked 321st of 350 teams in free throw percentage at 64.4 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 Dec. 28 Youngstown State loss in which IUPUI made just 12-of-28 (42.9 percent) at the foul line, IUPUI has been efficient at the stripe. Since then, IUPUI is a combined 112-of-151 (74.2 percent) in the last six 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 11.3 points per game this season. IUPUI is getting just 16 percent of its points from reserves and has had eight 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 and is coming off a season-low three points against UIC. 

    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. 
    Kenyon and Weatherford were recently named to the Horizon League's Academic Honor Roll for the fall semester. 
 
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.