EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The IUPUI basketball team was unable to overcome a sluggish offensive performance as the Jaguars fell on the road to Evansville inside Ford Center on Thursday night (Nov. 11), 60-40. The Jaguars shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and committed 15 turnovers as the Purple Aces captured a wire-to-wire home victory.
Shamar Givance led Evansville with 16 points, seven boards and three steals and Evan Kuhlman tossed in 13, including three threes.
B.J. Maxwell paced the Jaguars with eight points and four boards and
Jonah Carrasco tallied a career-high seven points on 3-of-4 shooting. Sophomore
Bakari LaStrap closed with six points, all before halftime. IUPUI's 15 turnovers led to Evansville's 16-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
And while the IUPUI (0-2) defense was stingy for a second straight game to open the season, the offense was unable to match at the other end.
"(Defense) is an area we focused on in the offseason," head coach
Matt Crenshaw said. "We're trying to lay the foundation to win championships and to do that, we have to be great defensively. That's where we want to hang our hat.
"Obviously, we have some offensive struggles right now and I think some of it is some early game jitters. If you look at our team, we're young. Even though we've got a lot of seniors, the only one that's really played a lot of Division I basketball is
Mike DePersia.
Mike DePersia has played more Division I basketball than the rest of the team combined. That's hard because the only way you get experience is by playing and getting that experience."
The Jaguars' relative lack of experience played a role in the the offense getting off to a second straight sluggish start. Despite a mountain of turnovers, the defense allowed the Jags to stay in contact.
The overall look was a stark contrast from the Butler game as IUPUI kept the driver in the bag and opted for the short game for much of the first half. LaStrap found success knifing through mismatches while Carrasco got free inside for an early layup off a DePersia feed and a dunk thanks to LaStrap's find.
The Jags got within three when
Nathan McClure splashed an open trey after Maxwell blocked a shot and IUPUI had 5-on-4 in transition. Evansville pushed the lead to 23-19 by halftime.
IUPUI still had a glimmer of hope after Carrasco thundered home an emphatic three-point play, but Evansville fired back with a decisive 11-0 run to take a 42-26 lead with 12:13 left. Givance started and capped the run with layups as part of his 5-of-11 shooting performance. Once down double-digits, the Jags were never able to sustain much of a threat as IUPUI shot under 26 percent overall after halftime and saw the hosts heat up to 65 percent.
Evansville closed the game at 47 percent overall and 6-of-19 from three. The Jaguars' shooting woes extended to the foul line as they made just 5-of-10 attempts. Conversely, the hosts made 18-of-24 free throws and drew 19 fouls while being called for just 10 infractions.
DePersia closed with three assists before fouling out in just 19 minutes off the bench.
"Honestly, I think we're in a situation where on most teams, they have a guy that is their go-to guy," Crenshaw said. "Givance was their guy. He's going to make plays, he's going to get to the rim and he's going to draw the shot blocker and find the open man.
"We don't have that - it's by committee. It's going to be game-by-game and different guys are going to step up at different times. We just have to be more consistent and find some consistency from some guys."
Maxwell, who had a team-high 14 points in the opener, was held to eight on just 3-of-13 shooting in 31 minutes.
IUPUI will be back in action on Monday, Nov. 15 when the Jaguars take on Denver in the first of three games at the UTSA Tournament in San Antonio. That contest will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. Eastern and will not be broadcast.
