SAN ANTONIO - The IUPUI basketball team will continue a stretch of five straight games away from home to open the 2021-2022 campaign when the Jaguars compete in three games at UTSA to start this week. IUPUI will face former league foe Denver on Monday (Nov. 15) before playing Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Tuesday (Nov. 16). The Jaguars will cap the three games in three days on Wednesday (Nov. 17) when they face tournament host UTSA inside the Convocation Center. 

IUPUI (0-2) comes in seeking its first win of the year and first victory under head coach Matt Crenshaw. The Jaguars have authored a pair of strong defensive efforts to start the year, but have struggled to score the ball at the other end. Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell is the lone IUPUI player averaging double-figures at 11.0 points per game. Sophomore guard Bakari LaStrap checks in at 7.0 points per game on 50 percent shooting and veteran big man Jonah Carrasco is coming off a career-high seven point effort at Evansville on Thursday. 

Collectively, IUPUI is averaging just 43.5 points per game, but is holding foes to 58 points per game and 40.2 percent shooting. The Jags have also guarded the three-point line well, limiting foes to just 29.5 percent overall.

IUPUI has yet to yield more than 60 points in the season's first two games, but also has yet to top 50 offensively. Maxwell is the lone player to have hit for double-digits in either of the season's first two games, having tallied 14 in the opener at Butler. 

This week's trip will mark a homecoming, of sorts, as five IUPUI players have ties to the Lonestar State. Maxwell hails from nearby Austin, Texas and freshman KJ Pruitt is from Lewisville, Texas, just outside the DFW area. LaStrap and Nathan McClure are from the Houston-area, while freshman Chuks Isitua played high school basketball in Houston as well. 

QUOTABLE
"Honestly, I think we're in a situation where on most teams, they have a guy that is their go-to guy. Givance was (Evansville's) 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," Crenshaw said following the Jaguars' 60-40 loss at Evansville.

SERIES NOTES
IUPUI has played Denver eight times in the program's history as the two teams were Summit League foes for four seasons. The Jaguars lead the all-time series with the Pioneers by a 5-3 margin. This week's games will be the first ever between IUPUI and TAMUCC and IUPUI and UTSA. 

SCOUTING DENVER (1-1) 
Denver comes in at 1-1 to start the season with a win over Regis (Colo.) and a loss to Ottawa (Ariz.). The Pioneers shoot 45 percent from the floor and 32 percent from three-point range, but are being outrebounded on the season and turn the ball over 15.5 times per game. Morehead State-transfer KJ Hunt leads Denver in scoring (20.0 ppg) and is shooting 52 percent from the floor while Jordan Johnson averages 12.0 points per contest. Tevin Smith is also scoring in double figures at 10.5 points per game. 

SCOUTING TAMUCC (1-1)
The Islanders come into the tournament at 1-1 overall with a home win over Texas Lutheran and a road loss at Texas A&M. Trevian Tennyson (13.5 ppg, 5-14 3's) and Myles Smith (13.0 ppg, 5-11 3's) lead the TAMUCC attack while the Islanders are outrebounding opponents by more than 10 boards per game to start the year. They are also shooting nearly 49 percent from the floor, but allow opponents to shoot 45 percent and 37.3 percent from three-point range. 

SCOUTING UTSA (1-1)
UTSA enters the event at 1-1 on the year with a home win over Trinity (Texas) and a road loss at Oklahoma. Jacob Germany paces three UTSA players in double-digits at 15 points per game and Jordan Ivy-Curry scores 14.5 points per game. Dhieu Deing is scoring 14 points per game and has made 8-of-18 (.444) three-point attempts in the season's first two games. UTSA is shooting just 36 percent from the floor as a team and being outrebounded by 6.5 rebounds per contest.