HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The IUPUI basketball team is on the road for a second straight week as the Jaguars will trek to Highland Heights, Ky., to face Northern Kentucky (5-6, 3-3 HL) on Friday (Jan. 15) and Saturday (Jan. 16). Both games will tipoff at 6:00 p.m. inside NKU's BB&T Arena and can be seen on ESPN3. The Jaguars come in seeking to snap a four-game skid to open Horizon League play after dropping back-to-back contests at Milwaukee last week. 

Senior Jaylen Minnett poured in a season-high 24 points at Milwaukee last Saturday and senior Elyjah Goss registered his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds in the 71-63 defeat. Senior Marcus Burk chipped in 15 points as he and Minnett combined to hit seven treys on 16 attempts. For the season, Burk leads the team in scoring at 15 points per game while Minnett is rounding into form at 11.3 points per contest. Goss is third on the team in scoring at 9.2 points per game and ranks third in the country at 11.8 rebounds per game. 

The point guard duo of Mike DePersia and Bakari LaStrap has also performed well as they've combined to average 8.4 points, 7.0 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game, while also collecting 12 steals in the season's first five games. Both rank among the Horizon League leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio from the lead guard position. 

Northern Kentucky is coming off back-to-back losses at Cleveland State last week and is 3-3 in Horizon League play, having swept Purdue Fort Wayne and split a two-game set with Youngstown State. Trevon Faulkner leads NKU in scoring (16.6 ppg) and true freshman Marques Warrick (13.9 ppg) is second on the team in scoring and has collected four Horizon League Freshman of the Week Awards. Bryson Langdon is third on the Norse in scoring at 8.6 points per game and has a team-high 40 assists. 

Highland Heights has traditionally been a tough trip for the Jaguars as IUPUI is winless in six games at NKU all-time. 

FEATURES ON THE IUPUI BASKETBALL TEAM
IUPUI students have written stories on different subjects on this year's men's basketball team through a series of class assignments. 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
    GEORGIADIS'S TRAVAILS LAND HIM AT IUPUI, by Alex Burr

OPENING TIPS (notes about this week's series with NKU / click here to read the full game notes)

• IUPUI enters the week looking to snap a four-game skid, having been swept in Horizon League series by league leader Cleveland State and Milwaukee earlier this month. The Jags opened the year with a non-conference win over Tennessee State, but is still seeking its first league win of the year. 
• IUPUI leads the Horizon League and ranks No. 27 nationally in turnovers forced, having forced 17.2 miscues per game. The Jags are averaging 16.4 points off turnovers per game this season. 
• After leading the Horizon League in rebounding last season, senior Elyjah Goss is seemingly up for an encore as he leads the league and ranks third in the country in the category this year at 11.8/game. The ultimate possession finisher, Goss ranks second nationally at 9.6 defensive rebounds per game. He has grabbed double-digit boards in four of the Jaguars' five contests, including a season-high 16 in the opener against Tennessee State. For his career, Goss has moved to No. 2 on IUPUI's all-time list, having grabbed 730 career boards. Goss already owns IUPUI's single-game (21) and single-season (369) rebounding records. 
• Marcus Burk and Jaylen 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). 
• IUPUI has never won a road game at Northern Kentucky, going 0-6 all-time against the Norse in Kentucky. The Jags are 2-9 all-time in the series. 
• Minnett, IUPUI's all-time leader in threes made (253) had the fifth-longest streak of consecutive games with at least one three in NCAA Division I history snapped, going scoreless against Cleveland State on Jan. 2. Minnett had made at least one three in every game of his career dating back to late in his freshman campaign before going without a triple at home against CSU on Jan. 2. 

    CENTURY CLUB
    Senior Jaylen Minnett is slated to make his 100th career appearance in game one of the two-game series with Northern Kentucky on Friday (Jan. 15). Classmate Elyjah Goss is expected to play his 100th career game at NKU on Saturday (Jan. 16). 
    The two already have gaudy career numbers as Minnett is the program's all-time leader in threes made and has cracked the university's top-15 in career scoring. 
    Goss holds IUPUI's single-game and single-season rebounding records and is quickly closing the gap on becoming the program's all-time leader in career rebounds. 

    JAY HITS 20
    Senior Jaylen Minnett is coming off his 12th career 20-point scoring game, having tallied a season-high 24 points (7-16 FG, 4-8 3's, 6-6 FT) at Milwaukee last Saturday (Jan. 9). On that trip, Minnett averaged 17.5 points per game and made 7-of-14 three-point attempts. 
    His 24 points were the most by an IUPUI player this season.  

    TWO-HEADED MONSTER
    The Jaguars' point guard duo of Mike DePersia (3.6 ppg, 4.4 apg) and Bakari LaStrap (4.8 ppg, 2.6 apg) have been formidable to start the season, having combined to deliver 35 assists against just 15 turnovers (2.33 a/to ratio). The pair combines to play 39.2 minutes per game while averaging 8.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 7.0 assists per game - all-conference caliber lead guard numbers. 
    DePersia ranks second in the Horizon League in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.80 (22/8)  and LaStrap is fourth in the league in the category at 1.86 (13/7). 

    EASY QUESTION
    Here's an easy question - who leads IUPUI in rebounding this season? 
    Senior Elyjah Goss leads the Horizon League at 11.8 rebounds per game. 
    The tougher question - who ranks second on the team in rebounding? 
    Freshman Bakari LaStrap is second on the squad, having grabbed 13 rebounds (2.6 rpg) through five games. Six Jaguars (LaStrap, Burk, Pandev, DePersia, Harvey and Seay) have grabbed anywhere from 11-13 rebounds through the season's initial five games. 

    CREATING CONFUSION
    IUPUI leads the Horizon League and ranks No. 27 in the country in having forced 17.2 turnovers per game this season. Opponents have a 0.83 assist-to-turnover ratio this year, having delivered 71 assists while committing 86 turnovers. 

    PILING UP
    IUPUI has three high achieving seniors on the roster who all rank among all of Division I college basketball's active career leaders in specific categories. 
    Senior Marcus Burk, who played his first two seasons at Campbell, ranks No. 25 in all of college basketball with 1,533 career points (757 in an IUPUI uniform). Burk also ranks eighth among active D1 players, having made 259 three-point field goals (101 in an IUPUI uniform). 
    Senior Jaylen Minnett ranks 13th among Division I players by having made 253 three-point field goals in his IUPUI career. 
    Senior Elyjah Goss ranks No. 15 among all active Division I players by having grabbed 730 career rebounds. 

    INTERIOR DIFFICULTIES
    IUPUI has been outrebounded in all five games this season and is losing the glass by 6.2 rebounds per game. The Jags have also been outscored in the paint in all five games this season by nearly 14.6 points per contest. 

    WINNING WITH LESS
    -IUPUI needed just 69 points to defeat Tennessee State in the opener, marking the Jags' fewest in a win since beating Milwaukee 67-60 on Feb. 22, 2019. 
    -The Jags were outshot from the field as TSU shot 39 percent and IUPUI was held to just 37 percent. Last season, IUPUI was 1-23 overall in games in which it was outshot by its opponent. 

    TAP INTO THE RESERVES
    After averaging just 10 points per game off the bench last season, this year's Jaguars has shown more depth and options off the bench. Through three games, IUPUI reserves are scoring 17.6 points per game and have topped 20 points three different times. 
    Azariah Seay currently ranks fourth on the team in scoring at 8.2 points per game and has come off the bench in four of five contests. Freshman Bakari LaStrap checks in at just under five points per game and has come off the bench in all five contests. 
    Seay scored a career-high 14 (6-9 FG, 2-4 3's) against Cleveland State on Jan. 2, which was the most by an IUPUI reserve this season. 

    CLASS ACTS
    IUPUI is coming off a banner semester in the classroom, achieving a 3.20 grade point average during the fall. Ten Jags (Carrasco, DePersia, Dhaliwal, Harvey, LaStrap, McClure, Pandev, Seay, Shirley and Stoltz) all posted a GPA of 3.0 or better, paced by McClure (3.93), Stoltz (3.75) and DePersia (3.66). 

    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 1,533 points and 259 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.