INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will officially open its 50th season of hoops on Saturday (Dec. 12) when the Jaguars host Tennessee State at noon inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Fans won't be permitted to attend any Horizon League games through the end of the calendar year so the only way to follow Saturday's contest will be via ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call. 

Head coach Byron Rimm II's squad enters the year with full optimism, despite a disappointing campaign in 2019-2020. The Jaguars boast the nation's fourth-highest scoring returning tandem in seniors Marcus Burk and Jaylen Minnett and one of the nation's top rebounders in Elyjah Goss. A promising recruiting class of nine newcomers have since been welcomed into the fold to provide new found depth that didn't exist last season. 

FEATURES FROM SPORTS CAPITAL JOURNALISM
Students from the Sports Capital Journalism have written stories on different subjects on this year's men's basketball team leading up to Saturday's season opener. Read their work, as published earlier on IUPUIJags.com and other social channels. 
    RIMM INSTILLING NEW CULTURE INTO MEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM, by Bobby Taylor
    COHESION KEY AS JAGUARS SET TO OPEN UNIQUE 2020-2021 CAMPAIGN, by Andrew Thomison
    HOOPS ROOTS RUN DEEP IN DePERSIA FAMILY, by Ed Clark
    MINNETT LOOKING TO IMPROVE AS A LEADER HEADING INTO SENIOR SEASON, by Devin Voss

OPENING TIPS (notes about Saturday's contest / click here to read the full game notes)

• IUPUI will open its 50th season of basketball under the most unusual terms. IUPUI has had two initial contests canceled due to COVID and the Dec. 12 start date is the second-latest opener in program history. The truncated, inaugural 1972 campaign didn't begin until Jan. 22 as the team was formed during the first semester and began competition shortly after Christmas. In addition, no fans will be admitted to any Horizon League games through the end of the calendar year. 
• IUPUI's core of returners is keyed by preseason first team All-Horizon League pick Marcus Burk, the program's all-time leader in threes made in Jaylen Minnett and 6-foot-7 forward Elyjah Goss, who grabbed a school record 369 rebounds last season. Burk tested the NBA waters during the offseason before ultimately opting to return for his senior season. The two other returners are sophomores Mike DePersia and Sawyer Stoltz. 
• Burk and Minnett combine to be one of just four duos to have teamed to average at least 35 points per game last season. The pair averaged a combined 37.9 points per game last year and trail only UTSA's Jhivan Jackson & Keaton Wallace (45.6 ppg), Austin Peay's Terry Taylor & Jordyn Adams (39.2 ppg) and Iowa's Luka Garza & Joe Wieskamp (38.0 ppg). 
• Minnett enters the season with the fifth-longest streak of consecutive games with at least one three in NCAA Division I history, having made one in 68 straight games dating back to his freshman campaign. His streak is the second-longest active streak in Division I, trailing Eastern Illinois' Mack Smith, who sits at 87 and counting. 
• Today marks the Jaguars' lone non-conference game of the 2020-2021 season. Horizon League play is slated to begin on Dec. 19-20 when the Jaguars play back-to-back nights at Purdue Fort Wayne. 
• Head coach Byron Rimm II returns for his second season on the Jags' sidelines on the heels of a 7-25 campaign. 

    'BOUT TIME
    IUPUI is 23-26 all-time in season openers and 10-12 in the Division I era. The Jaguars have dropped their last four season openers and haven't won the opener since a 72-70 at Indiana State on Nov. 13, 2015. 
    IUPUI is 3-7 in its last 10 season openers. 
    The Dec. 12 opener is the second-latest opener in program history. The truncated, inaugural 1972 campaign didn't begin until Jan. 22 as the team was formed during the first semester and began the first season of competition shortly after Christmas. 

    DO WE KNOW YOU?
    Saturday's game marks the first-ever meeting between IUPUI and Tennessee State. 
    IUPUI is no stranger to Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) teams though, having played nine of the 12 members of the league in basketball. 
    IUPUI played at Morehead State (51-56 loss) last season in its most recent meeting with an OVC opponent. 
    All total, IUPUI is just 12-38 against OVC opponents with the most frequent foes being SIUE (3-18 overall), Eastern Illinois (3-3) and Morehead State (3-2).

    NO PLACE LIKE HOME...
    ...and no, we're not talking about the old '227' sitcom theme song or Glen Campbell classic. This marks the Jaguars seventh season at Indiana Farmers Coliseum since the facility's renovation and reopening and IUPUI boasts a 45-31 (.592) mark at the Fairgrounds since then. IUPUI went 9-2 at the Coliseum in 2015-16 and 11-4 in 2018-19. 
    More impressive is IUPUI's 20-6 (.769) home record in non-league games during that span with the  losses coming to Indiana State (2014), Georgia State (2014), Eastern Kentucky (2014), SIUE (2017), Ball State (2018) and Evansville (2019). 

    ON THIS DATE
    IUPUI is 8-5 all-time on Dec. 12, although the most memorable Dec. 12 game in program history was likely a loss. The Jaguars lost to a James Harden-led No. 20 Arizona State squad in overtime on Dec. 12, 2008 in Phoenix by a 59-58 overtime score. 
    IUPUI has won four of its past five Dec. 12 games, having defeated IU Northwest (2018, 116-79), Urbana (2016, 109-67), Ohio (2010, 66-56) and IU South Bend (2009, 92-56) sandwiched around a 2015 loss at Creighton.  

    BURK BALLIN'
    Marcus Burk was one of five players voted to the Horizon League Preseason First Team before the season by the league's coaches, media and sports information personnel. Burk averaged 21.3 points per game last year and drained 93 3's in his first year with the program. He was a two-time Horizon League Player of the Week and entered his name into the NBA Draft during the offseason before ultimately returning to Indy for the 2020-2021 season. 
    Burk scored in double-digits in 29 of his 32 games last season, including hitting for 20-or-more 19 times. He topped 30 points on four different occasions, highlighted by a career-high 39 points in an overtime win at Oakland last season. 
    With Burk returning, it marks the first time IUPUI's top scorer from a season ago returned since Darell Combs returned in 2016-17 after leading the Jags in scoring at 16.3 points per game in 2015-16. Combs upped his output to 16.8 points per game as a senior in 2016-17. 
    Including his two years at Campbell before coming to IUPUI, Burk has totaled 1,458 points and 251 threes made in his collegiate career. 
    
    NAME TWO BETTER... WE'LL WAIT... 
    While IUPUI's roster is predominantly new faces, some of the returners already boast impressive credentials. At the top of the list is the high scoring, Hoosier raised duo of Marcus Burk and Jaylen Minnett. The duo is one of four in the country that returns to school after averaging at least a combined 35 points per game or better last season. 
    UTSA – Jhivan Jackson (26.8) & Keaton Wallace (18.8) = 45.6
    Austin Peay – Terry Taylor (21.8) & Jordyn Adams (17.4) = 39.2
    Iowa – Luka Garza (23.7) & Joe Wieskamp (14.0) = 38.0 
    IUPUI – Marcus Burk (21.3) & Jaylen Minnett (16.6) = 37.9 
 
    Burk's 21.3 points per game were the most by an IUPUI player since George Hill averaged 21.5 per game in 2007-08. Minnett connected for a school record 115 3's during the season and became the 24th player in school history to surpass 1,000 career points in an IUPUI uniform. 

    JAYL3N
    Senior Jaylen Minnett became the 24th player in program history to achieve 1,000 career points in an IUPUI uniform against Green Bay on Feb. 6, 2020 as part of a career-high 32-point effort last season. He enters today's game with 1,140 career points, ranking No. 16 on the program's all-time list. He became the 16th player to hit for 1,000 points in three seasons or less in IUPUI history. Given his track record, he should move into the top 10 in career points midway through this unusual season.