MILWAUKEE, Wisc. - The IUPUI basketball team will hit the road for the first time during the 2020-2021 campaign this week when the Jaguars trek north to face Milwaukee (3-2, 2-1 HL) in Horizon League play this Friday (Jan. 8) and Saturday (Jan. 9). Both games will tip-off at 11 a.m. Central (12 Eastern) inside Milwaukee's Klotsche Center and both games will be broadcast on ESPN3. 

The Jaguars are coming off back-to-back home losses to Horizon League leader Cleveland State last week, despite putting up strong defensive efforts on both evenings. IUPUI (1-2, 0-2 HL) ranks among the nation's elite defensively, leading the Horizon League in scoring defense (63.3 ppg) and rank second in the league in three-point defense (.235) and third in field goal defense (.423). After holding just five opponents to 65 points or fewer last season, IUPUI has held the opposition to 65 points or less in the first three games of this season.

Head coach Byron Rimm II's team enters this week in search of more consistent scoring output as senior Marcus Burk is the lone player to have hit double-digits in all three games. Two of the Jaguars top four scorers on the year - junior Azariah Seay and freshman Bakari LaStrap - have come off the bench in all three games thus far as IUPUI is averaging better than 20 bench points per outing. Seay is coming off a carer-high 14-point (6-9 FG, 2-4 3's) outing while LaStrap ranks among the Horizon League leaders in assists, assist-to-turnover ratio and steals through three games. 

IUPUI is 5-7 all-time against Milwaukee after the Panthers swept last year's series, capped by an 80-79 overtime decision in Indy. 

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 MKE / click here to read the full game notes)

• This marks IUPUI's first road trip of the season, albeit unexpected. The Jaguars were originally slated to host Robert Morris this week, but found out on Wednesday that they would be shipped to Milwaukee for a two-game set after RMU was forced to cancel due to COVID. IUPUI's first two Horizon League road trips of the season (at Purdue Fort Wayne and at Detroit Mercy) were canceled after a positive COVID test within the Jaguars' program. 
• IUPUI leads the Horizon League and ranks 40th in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 63.3 points per game. No IUPUI opponent has topped 65 points in a game this season. The Jags rank second in the Horizon League in three-point defense (.235) and third in field goal defense (.423). 
• IUPUI's offense has been problematic through the season's first three games as the Jaguars rank 12th in the Horizon League in scoring (60.0), three-point percentage (.246) and free throw percentage (.640) and 11th in field goal percentage (.384) and turnovers (18.7/game). 
• 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 second in the country in the category this year at 12.67/game. Goss has grabbed double-digit boards in all three of the Jaguars' 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 709 career boards. Goss already owns IUPUI's single-game (21) and single-season (369) rebounding records. 
• IUPUI's one constant on offense this season has been senior guard Marcus Burk, who leads the team and ranks fourth in the Horizon League in scoring at 17.0 ppg. Burk is the only IUPUI player to have scored in double-digits in all three games and is shooting 45.2 percent from the floor this season. 
• 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). 
• Minnett 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 last week. 

    STIFLING
    IUPUI has been strong defensively to start the 2020-2021 campaign, leading the Horizon League and ranking No. 40 in the country in scoring defense (63.3 ppg). The Jags rank second in the Horizon League in three-point defense (.235) and third in field goal defense (.423).
    Last season, IUPUI held foes to 65 points or fewer just five times in 32 games, but has already done so in three games to start the year. 
    Per HoopPowerAnalytics, IUPUI was the nation's second-highest trending defense for the week of Dec. 27-Jan. 4, trailing only Colorado's defense.  

    FIRST OF FOUR
    IUPUI and Milwaukee are now scheduled to square off four times during the regular season with this week's series added to the schedule. The Jags will host Milwaukee on Jan. 29-30 inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. 

    NEW TEAM, NEW DREAM
    -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. 
    -Last season's squad averaged just 10.0 points per game off the bench, but this year's club tallied 22 bench points in the opener with five different players contributing to that total. 

    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 21.3 points per game and have topped 20 points in every game thus far. 
    Two of IUPUI's top four scorers - Azariah Seay (9.7 ppg) and Bakari LaStrap (7.4 ppg) - have come off the bench in all three games thus far. 
    Seay scored a career-high 14 (6-9 FG, 2-4 3's) against Cleveland State on Saturday (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 1,476 points and 253 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 1,150 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. Below is a snippet of the program's all-time leading scorers and where Minnett sits. 
    10.)     1,373     Ron Angevine     1979-83
    11.)    1,340     Don Carlisle     1997-01
    12.)     1,319     Brandon Cole     2002-06
    13.)     1,247     Eric McKay     1982-85
    14.)     1,182     Charles Price     1997-02
    15.)     1,170     Odell Bradley     2002-04
    16.)     1,150    Jaylen Minnett    2017-pr.

    Minnett has also taken over as the program's all-time list in threes made and will continue to add to that total all season long.
    1.) Jaylen Minnett    246    2017-pres.
    2.) Brandon Cole        238    2002-06
    3.) Rodney Thomas    215    1996-00
    4.) Carlos Knox        208    1994-98
    5.) Alex Young        202    2008-12
     
    Finally, Minnett owns the fifth-longest streak of consecutive games with at least one made three in NCAA history at 69 games... Minnett made at least one trey in all 32 games last season and all 33 games of his sophomore campaign. He also hit threes in the final three games of the 2017-18 season.
    Here's the list of the longest streaks of threes made in NCAA Division I history:
    1.) Mack Smith (Eastern Ill.)    active streak    90 straight games / OVC record
           Cory Bradford (Illinois)    ended Feb. 10, 2001    88 straight games / B10 record
    3.) Jordan Howard (Central Ark.)    ended 2017    73 straight games / Southland rec.
           Wally Lancaster (Va. Tech)    ended 1989    73 straight games / ACC record
    5.) Jaylen Minnett (IUPUI)    ended Jan. 2, 2021    68 straight games / HL record

    BOOGIE BOARDS
    Senior Elyjah Goss, known as E-Boogie on Twitter, was a monster on the glass last season, grabbing a school record 369 rebounds. He was voted to the Horizon League All-Defensive Team and his 11.5 boards per game were easily tops in the Horizon League and ranked sixth nationally. He currently ranks second in the nation in rebounding (12.7 rpg) and is tops in the Horizon League. 
    He entered this season fifth on the program's career rebounding list and is just 60 shy of matching Hall of Famer Don Carlisle's 769 career boards. His 709 rebounds are tops in the program's Division I history as he surpassed Brandon Cole for that mark against Cleveland State on Jan. 2.
    1.    769    Don Carlisle    1997-01
    2.    709    Elyjah Goss    2017-pr.
    3.    703    Brandon Cole    2002-06
           703    Jesse Bingham    1985-89
    5.    688    Charles Price    1997-02
        Goss owns six career games of 17 boards or more, including having grabbed a school record 21 in a game last year. He has 33 career double-digit rebound games and 16 career double-doubles. Last year he tied IUPUI's D1 record with 12 double-doubles in a season. 

    JERSEY MIKE DELIVERS
    Sophomore Mike DePersia showed last year that he's a bona fide playmaker from the point guard spot. The New Jersey-native delivered an IUPUI Division I freshman record 85 assists in his 32 appearances and was a two-time Horizon League Freshman of the Week honoree. In Horizon League play, he averaged 3.2 assists per game and had a 3.05 assist-to-turnover ratio with 58 assists and just 19 turnovers. 
    In three games this season, DePersia is averaging 5.0 assists per game and ranks second in the Horizon League in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.50 (15 ast/6 to).