ROCHESTER, Mich. - The IUPUI basketball team will cap a two-game road trip as part of a string of four straight road games on Saturday (Jan. 25) when the Jaguars take on Oakland University (7-14, 2-6 HL) at 3:00 p.m. inside OU's Athletics Center O'rena. Saturday's game will be aired on ESPN3.

Head coach Byron Rimm's squad will look to snap a four-game skid on the heels of Thursday's 76-64 defeat at Detroit Mercy. The undermanned and undersized Jaguars underwhelmed in the game's opening few minutes as the host Titans built a quick 11-2 lead and never relinquished the advantage throughout. IUPUI (5-16, 1-7 HL) trailed by as many as 21 in the opening half, but cut the Titans lead back to 10 in the second half. However, the Jags never got any closer as UDM collected its third Horizon League win of the season. 

Marcus Burk had a team-high 25 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double and junior Elyjah Goss collected his eighth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 boards. The duo became the first IUPUI duo to collect double-doubles in the same game since 2014 when Donovan Gibbs and Khufu Najee performed the feat. Junior Jaylen Minnett chipped in 15 points in the loss, all coming after halftime. 

Burk and Minnett ranks Nos. 2-3 in the Horizon League in scoring during league play while Goss easily leads the league in rebounding at 14.3 caroms per game in eight league games. Goss has a league-high five double-doubles since the start of league play and has grabbed double-figure rebounds in all eight league games. Burk and Minnett continue to dazzle with their three-point shooting as the nation's top duo with 125 treys made between them. Minnett owns the nation's second longest active streak, having made at least one three in 57 straight games, dating back to his freshman campaign. All total, Minnett currently ranks 11th nationally with 66 threes and Burk is 22nd with 59 connections. 

Minnett is one three away from moving into the top five in program history and on pace to become the 25th player in IUPUI history to amass 1,000 career points later this season. 

ABOUT OAKLAND
Oakland enters play at 7-14 overall, 2-6 in Horizon League play and 3-4 in home games this season. Xavier Hill-Mais leads the Golden Grizzlies in scoring (15.5 ppg), rebounding (7.6 rpg) and blocked shots (19) and is second on the team in steals (22) and assists (39). Rashad Williams is averaging 12.0 points per game in his three games since being cleared to play and senior big man Brad Brechting checks in at 10.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Oakland comes in having dropped three-in-a-row, following Thursday night's 80-50 loss to UIC. In addition to league wins over Detroit Mercy and Cleveland State, the Golden Grizzlies own non-league wins over UTSA, Southern Illinois, Hartford and Western Michigan. 

PROBABLE STARTERS
G- Jaylen Minnett (6-1, Jr.) - 15.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.4 apg, 66 3's
G- Mike DePersia (5-11, Fr.) - 2.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.6 apg
G- Marcus Burk (6-3, Jr.) - 19.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 38.8 3FG%, 59 3's
G- Grant Weatherford (6-2, Jr.) - 8.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 2.5 apg
F- Elyjah Goss (6-7, Jr.) - 9.2 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). 

    DUELING DOUBLE-DUBS
    Two IUPUI players, Marcus Burk (25 pts, 10 reb) and Elyjah Goss (15 pts, 12 reb), had double-doubles on Thursday night (Jan. 23) in the loss at Detroit Mercy. It marked the first time two IUPUI players had a double-double in the same game since Jan. 2, 2014 when Donovan Gibbs (32 pts, 11 reb) and Khufu Najee (11 pts, 11 reb) both had double-doubles in a win over Judson. 

    OTHER DETROIT TIDBITS
    IUPUI came out flat at Detroit Mercy on Thursday, falling behind 11-2 and never fully climbed out of the hole in a 76-64 defeat. Marcus Burk had a team-high 25 points (10-22 FG, 5-12 3's) and 10 rebounds while Elyjah Goss had 15 points (7-11 FG, 1-3 FT), as did Jaylen Minnett (6-17 FG, 3-12 3's). Burk scored 15 of his 25 in the first half while Minnett tallied all 15 of his points after halftime. 
    Here are some other notes from Thursday's game:
    -IUPUI attempted a season-low seven free throw attempts in Thursday's loss and drew a season-low 11 personals against the Titans. UDM wasn't whistled for its first personal of the second half until the 6:04 mark. 
    -IUPUI attempted a season-high 29 three-point attempts as both Burk and Minnett attempted 12 apiece. 
    -The Jaguars were without three rotation players in starter Isaiah Williams and key reserves Jamil Jackson Jr. and Zo Tyson. Little used reserve Jakoby Kemp played 11 minutes off the bench, but ultimately left the game late in the contest to an injury. With the shortened bench, the IUPUI reserves matched its season-low with three points - two from Kemp and one from Brandon Kenyon.
    -Goss' double-double was his eighth of the season and 11th of his collegiate career while Burk's was the first of his collegiate career. 
    -IUPUI trailed by as many as 21 in the first half, but cut the UDM lead back to 10 and had multiple chances to bring it back to single-digits after halftime, failing to do so on each occasion. 

    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 fifth in the league in scoring at 73.9 points per game, but yielding a league-worst 81.5 points per game. Foes are shooting a league-best 46.3 percent against the Jags and 38.8 percent from three-point range and averaging 9.8 made threes per game.
    -Burk is second in the league in scoring at 20.3 points per game while Minnett is third at 18.3 points per game. Minnett is tied for the league lead by making 3.5 threes per game in eight league games. Goss leads the league in rebounding at 14.3 rebounds per game and with five double-doubles.  
    -Freshman Mike DePersia has 30 assists against just eight turnovers in league games and is second in the league with a 3.75 assist-to-turnover ratio.  As a team, IUPUI has 123 assists against 102 turnovers (1.21 a/to). 
    -IUPUI has nearly made more (126) free throws as the opposition has attempted (132), and done so at a 68 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.
    -IUPUI  has yielded a league low 132 free throw attempts in eight games, nine fewer than Oakland, who's next at 141 attempts allowed. 
    -Four IUPUI players - Minnett (3rd - 36.5), Burk (4th - 36.1), Weatherford (6th - 35.5) and Goss (11th - 34.1) - rank among the league's top 11 in minutes played since the start of league play. 

    THE BEST ABILITY...
    ...is availability. IUPUI players have struggled to stay healthy and available this season as only five players - Burk, Minnett, DePersia, Goss and Weatherford - have played all 21 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 404 this season, giving him 1,180 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 (19.2 ppg) and fourth in the league in threes made (2.8/gm). He also ranks tops in the league in three-point percentage at 38.8 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 10 20-point scoring games, trailing only Detroit Mercy's Antoine Davis. 

    NEXT TO A GRAND
    Junior Jaylen Minnett is knocking on the door of becoming the 24th player in program history to achieve 1,000 career points in an IUPUI uniform. Minnett enters today's game with 929 career points and would be the 16th player to achieve the mark in three seasons or less, should he hit for 1,000 by season's end. 
    The reigning Horizon League 6th Man of the Year 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 57 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 195 made 3's in his career... he's one three away from fifth-place Gary Patterson's 196 career triples and seven away from Akeem Clark's fourth-place total of 202. 
    -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).  

    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 rebounds twice. His 21 boards against IUSB is tied for the fourth-highest single-game total in NCAA Division I this season. 
    All total, Goss has led the Jaguars in rebounds in 18 of the team's 21 games. 
    Five games into this season, he was averaging 6.0 rebounds per game, but has since grabbed at least 10 boards in 12 of the Jaguars' 16 games.  
    In league play, Goss leads the league in rebounding (14.3 rpg) and has five double-doubles in eight games and grabbed double-digit boards in every league contest. 
    Goss now has 11 career double-doubles and has led the Jags in rebounding in each of the past 14 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 (38.8%) and is fourth in threes made at 2.81/game. Minnett is second in threes made (3.14/game) and third in three-point percentage (35.9%). By hitting a combined 5.95 threes/game, the duo is tops in the league and leads the country with 125 combined makes. 
    Burk is fifth among active juniors (43rd among all players) in college basketball with 217 career treys and Minnett is 11th on that list (72nd overall) with 195 makes. 

    TOP GUNS
    Burk and Minnett are accounting for the bulk of the Jaguars' offense, having taken 50 percent of the team's field goal attempts (620 of 1247) and 72 percent of the team's three-point attempts (336 of 464). In addition, the duo has accounted for more than half (725 of 1439) of the team's total points. 
    Burk (19.2 ppg) and Minnett (15.3 ppg) easily lead the team in scoring while three others - Elyjah Goss (9.2), Grant Weatherford (8.4) and Isaiah Williams (8.0) - are next in line. 

    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 while making 7.0 threes per game. 
    In the Jaguars' 16 losses, foes have shot 48.7 percent overall and 38.2 percent from beyond the arc while making 9.4 threes per game. 
    Eight of the 16 opponents to have beaten the Jags have shot 50 percent or better from the floor. 

    FREEBIES
    IUPUI enters play ranked 327th 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 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 114-of-158 (72.2 percent) in the last seven 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 10.9 points per game this season. IUPUI is getting just 16 percent of its points from reserves and has had nine 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 back-to-back season-low three point efforts. 

    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.