INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will officially open #HLMBB play on Thursday night (Dec. 2) when the Jaguars host Detroit Mercy at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The Jaguars are coming off a 61-41 home win over Spalding just before Thanksgiving and are currently amidst a stretch of seven out of eight games at home, capped by the Jan. 1 contest with Purdue Fort Wayne. IUPUI (1-5) opened the season with five straight games away from home before beating Spalding in its home opener. 

Head coach Matt Crenshaw's team is building a strong defensive and rebounding identity, ranking 24th in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 57.5 points per game. In addition, the Jags lead the Horizon League in rebounding margin, outrebounding opponents by 2.7 caroms per contest. The Jags were outrebounded in the season's first two games, but have since outrebounded four straight opponents by an average of 8.8 rebounds per game. 

Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell, who played for Detroit Mercy in 2019-2020, currently leads the Jaguars in scoring (12.6 ppg), rebounding (5.6 rpg), minutes played (30.5 mpg), field goals made (20) and free throws made (16). Maxwell has been the team's top offensive threat and is complemented by a group of seven others, all of whom average between four and six points per game. Nathan McClure is second on the team at 5.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while Bobby Harvey (5.3 ppg) and Bakari LaStrap (5.0 ppg) are next in line. Against Spalding, IUPUI had just nine players in uniform and five either matched or eclipsed their previous career-highs in the scoring column. 

The Jags also have 10 players averaging more than 14 minutes per game with only one, Maxwell, topping 30 minutes per contest. 

SCOUTING DETROIT MERCY
Detroit has opened the season at 0-6 with all six losses having come on the road in six different states. The Titans boast the league's Preseason Player of the Year in Antoine Davis and the 6-foot-1 guard has lived up to the advance billing. Davis leads his team in scoring (23.7 ppg), assists (22), threes made (26) and rarely comes off the floor, playing 38 minutes per contest. South Florida-transfer Madut Akec has provided a strong second option at 14.2 points and a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game while shooting 49 percent from the floor. As a team, Detroit Mercy shoots 41 percent overall and 36 percent from three, but allows opponents to knock down 52 percent overall and 40 percent from three. The Titans are being outrebounded by 3.7 boards per game and have a negative turnover margin at -2.3 per game. 

SERIES NOTES
Detroit Mercy leads the all-time series, 4-2, and has won the most recent three games in the series. IUPUI is 2-1 in the three meetings in Indianapolis. 

QUOTABLE
"I'm pleased with the win and the overall effort. We still have a lot of work to do. I thought we showed a lot of intensity defensively in the first half, but we got a little sloppy once we got a big lead. We still had way too many turnovers and that's the area we need to continue to improve the most," Crenshaw said after the win over Spalding on Nov. 23. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will cap the week with a noon tip-off with Oakland University on Saturday, Dec. 4. Fans can receive a FREE ticket to Saturday's game by bringing a new, unwrapped toy to benefit the kids of the Ruth Lilly Women's and Children's Center. 

Game Notes (click here for the full PDF packet)
    DEFENSIVE NUGGETS
    IUPUI has been incredibly stingy all season long, holding four of six foes under 40 percent and ranking No. 24 in the country in scoring defense at 57.5 points allowed per game. They easily lead the Horizon League as Cleveland State is second in the league at 62.7 points allowed per game. In addition, IUPUI is holding opponents to just 38.3 percent shooting, tops in the Horizon League and 47th in the country. 

    CLAMPS
    IUPUI held Spalding to just 10 first half points in its 61-41 win over the Golden Eagles on Nov. 23. The 10 first half points matched the fewest by any team in the country this season. Below is the list of the four lowest offensive outputs this season:
    10 – IUPUI vs. Spalding [Non D1] (Nov. 13, 2021)
    10 – Georgia State vs. Brewerton  [Non D1] (Nov. 9, 2021)
    12 – Pacific vs. Chicago State (Nov. 22, 2021)
    16 – Murray State vs. Long Beach State (Nov. 23, 2021) 

    The 41 points allowed matched the fewest by an IUPUI opponent in program history, tying the 41 scored by Indiana State on Dec. 23, 2008 in the Jaguars' 62-41 victory. 

    ON THE GLASS
    IUPUI is also tops in the Horizon League in rebounding margin, outrebounding opponents by 2.7 caroms per game. The Jags are one of just three teams in the Horizon League with a positive rebounding margin at this point in the season. 

    PLAYING IN FRONT
    Entering tonight's game, IUPUI has led 76:36 of its last 80 minutes played, which included a wire-to-wire win over Spalding last Tuesday (Nov. 23). Prior to that, IUPUI led virtually the entire game at UTSA before ultimately falling in the game's closing minutes. 

    TRENDS
    IUPUI has outshot four of its six opponents from the field this season and outrebounded four of its six opponents on the season. After being outrebounded by a combined 19 boards in the season's first two losses at Butler and Evansville, the Jags have since outrebounded their last four foes by an average of 8.8 rebounds per game. 

    SPALDING TIP-INS
    In IUPUI's 61-41 win over Spalding, the Jaguars had a season-high 20 points off turnovers (Spalding had 19 turnovers) and the Jags scored a season-high 30 bench points. 
    IUPUI had just nine players in uniform in the Spalding game and five - Bakari LaStrap (10), Jonah Carrasco (8), Boston Stanton III (8), Dimitar Pandev (7) and KJ Pruitt (5) - eclipsed or equaled their previous career-highs in the scoring column. 

    BY COMMITTEE
    It's becoming evident that IUPUI's offense is going to come by committee this season as the Jaguars lack a true go-to-scorer. Through six games, IUPUI has had just eight double-digit scoring games as B.J. Maxwell has done it four times and four others have tallied 10-or-more once. 
    Conversely, IUPUI has eight players scoring more than four points per game. 
    Maxwell has led the team in scoring in five of the Jags' six games while LaStrap paced IUPUI in the win over Spalding. 

    TAP INTO THE RESERVES
    With the committee approach being the case, IUPUI is averaging 19.7 points per game off the bench this season. Harvey (5.3 ppg) and LaStrap (5.0 ppg) lead the reserves in scoring this season.  

    MAD MAX
    Graduate transfer and former Detroit Titan B.J. Maxwell has been IUPUI's top weapon thus far, leading the team in scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounding (5.6 rpg) and easily pacing the squad in field goal attempts (63), three-point attempts (28) and free throw attempts (20), despite missing a full game due to injury.
    He ranks among the top 20 in the Horizon League in six different categories, including scoring and rebounding.  
    His 63 shot attempts are 22 percent of the team's tries as Nathan McClure is second on the team with 28 hoists.