COLUMBUS, Ohio - The IUPUI basketball team will face a daunting task on Tuesday (Jan. 18) when the Jaguars take on No. 19/18 Ohio State (11-4) inside Value City Arena at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network as Chris Vosters (pxp) and Trent Meacham (analyst) call the action. 

IUPUI (1-14) is coming off a tough road trip through Wisconsin as the Jaguars dropped contests at both Green Bay and Milwaukee last week. On Saturday, Bakari LaStrap and Azariah Seay had nine points apiece as the Jaguars fell at Milwaukee, 89-54. It marked IUPUI's worst defensive effort of the year as the Panthers posted 89 points and shot 62 percent from the floor against the Jaguars. It marked the first time this year the Jags had allowed a foe to hit better than 50 percent from the floor, coming in the season's 15th game. 

Junior Mike DePersia came off the IUPUI bench with eight points, four boards and three assists and Jonah Carrasco had seven points, four rebounds and a career-high three steals. DeAndre Gholston led Milwaukee with 21 points, including hitting five treys. 

The Jags enter Tuesday's game at 0-17 all-time against ranked opponents and have lost 10 straight to Big Ten foes since defeating Northwestern back in 2002. The Jags are 0-2 against Ohio State, having lost on trips to Columbus in 2001 and 2010. 

SCOUTING OHIO STATE
Ohio State is ranked No. 19/18 nationally and comes in at 11-4 overall and 8-0 at home this season. The Buckeyes have impressive wins this season, having defeated both Duke and Seton Hall in non-conference play. E.J. Liddell leads OSU in scoring (19.9 ppg), rebounds (7.1 rpg), minutes played (31.0 mpg) and blocked shots (45). Malaki Branham also scores in double-digits at 10.2 points per game while eight different OSU players average better than six points per game. As a team, OSU shoots 48 percent overall and 37 percent from three while holding foes to 41 percent overall and 32 percent from beyond the arc. 

SERIES NOTES
IUPUI is 0-2 all-time against Ohio State, losing in trips to Columbus in 2001 and 2010. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will return home and return to Horizon League play when the Jaguars host Wright State at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday night (Jan. 20) inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. 

Game Notes (click here for the full PDF packet)

QUICK HITTERS

• IUPUI is 0-17 all-time against ranked opponents in the program's Division I era (1998-present). The last time IUPUI faced Ohio State on Dec. 9, 2010, the Buckeyes were ranked No. 2 nationally and outlasted the Jaguars, 75-64. 
• IUPUI hasn't defeated a Big Ten opponent since Nov. 27, 2002 when the Jaguars won at Northwestern, 56-53. Since then, IUPUI has dropped 10 straight to Big Ten opponents, which includes the 2010 meeting with Ohio State. 
• IUPUI has made three trips to Ohio State's Value City Arena in the program's history - road games against the Buckeyes in 2001 and 2010, both of which ended in defeat. Additionally, IUPUI opened the 2006-07 season by participating in the BCA Classic in Columbus, facing Alabama A&M, Kent State and Loyola Chicago in neutral site games. 
• With a rash of injuries in December, the IUPUI starting lineup and rotations has become a patchwork chore for first year head coach Matt Crenshaw. Of the 11 players who have seen action this season, 10 have now started at least one game this season. Freshman Boston Stanton III is the lone IUPUI player to have started all 15 games. 
• Of IUPUI's 11 active players, 10 have scored in double-figures in at least one game this season with senior Jonah Carrasco adding his name to that list last Monday night (Jan. 10). Carrasco had a perfect shooting night, hitting all four field goals and both of his free throws in tallying a career-high 10 points against UIC. The only player to have not scored in double-digits this season is junior guard Mike DePersia.  
• Maxwell leads IUPUI in scoring (11.6 ppg), rebounding (4.6 rpg), minutes played (31.5 mpg), free throw percentage (81.4%) and threes made (18). Maxwell has led IUPUI in scoring in nine of his 14 appearances and had a career-high 20 points (6-11 FG, 3-4 3's, 5-5 FT) against Chicago State just before Christmas break. 
• The IUPUI basketball team had a 3.23 grade point average for the fall with 10 of the 14 team members notching a 3.0 or better. Nathan McClure had a perfect 4.0 in the fall and Stanton had a 3.95 mark. As a team, the Jaguars currently have a cumulative 3.37 team GPA. 

    MILWAUKEE TIP-INS
    IUPUI is coming off its worst defensive showing of the year, yielding a season-high 89 points in an 89-54 loss at Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 15)... in addition to the 89 points allowed, IUPUI also allowed a season-high 63.2 percent from the floor, 13 threes, 52.0 percent from three-point range and 19 assists... it marked the first time this season an IUPUI foe shot better than 50 percent from the floor... redshirt junior Nathan McClure, who had attempted just seven free throws all season, hit all six of his tries at Milwaukee... both Mike DePersia and Bakari LaStrap were a perfect 2-of-2 from three-point range in the loss... Azariah Seay had a season-high three assists and Jonah Carrasco had a career-high three steals after collecting just two steals in his first 28 career games... the Milwaukee game marked the second time this year the Jags failed to put a player in double-digits... the Jags matched their season-high with 30 bench points, fueled by nine each from LaStrap and Seay off the bench. 

    TRIP THREE
    IUPUI is 0-2 all-time against Ohio State and 1-4 all-time inside Value City Arena. The Jags lost games to Ohio State in both 2001 and 2010 and went 1-2 in the 2006 BCA Classic at Value City Arena, defeating Alabama A&M in the opener before falling to Kent State and Loyola Chicago the following two days. 
    The takeaway from the 2006 trip was future NBAer George Hill suffered a foot injury in game two to Kent State, ultimately causing him to redshirt the 2006-07 campaign. 

    AS A PLAYER
    Head coach Matt Crenshaw was in the IUPUI starting five when the Jaguars visited Ohio State on Dec. 8, 2001, finishing with six points, four boards and two assists while playing a team-high 30 minutes in the 83-70 loss. Antoine Lewis paced the Jaguars with 19 points (9-13 FG) in that contest and Lance Williams added 13 (4-12 FG, 3-5 3's, 2-2 FT). 

    SEAY MY NAME
    After scoring just 30 points in the season's first nine games combined, senior Azariah Seay has been on a scoring binge, averaging 13.2 points per game over the past six games. Seay tallied a career-high 17 on 8-of-12 shooting against Morehead State on Dec. 21. 

    THREE-HEADED MONSTER
    IUPUI has used a trio of bodies in the middle this season in Jonah Carrasco, Chuks Isitua and Dimitar Pandev. Collectively, the group is averaging 10.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots per game while shooting 51 percent (56-of-110) from the field. 

    SEVEN BODIES
    IUPUI entered the Dec. 21 Morehead State game with nine healthy bodies and finished the night with just seven cleared for takeoff. In addition to Seay's career-high 17, two others made the most of an extended opportunity as sophomore Bakari LaStrap finished with a career-high 11 points (5-11 FG, 1-1 FT) in 35 minutes off the bench and senior Dimitar Pandev also had a career-high 11 (3-3 FG, 2-2 3's, 3-6 FT) in just 18 minutes. 
    IUPUI's top scorer, B.J. Maxwell, was limited to just three points on 1-of-7 shooting. 

    TAP INTO THE RESERVES
    With IUPUI's scoring coming via committee, IUPUI is averaging 19.7 points per game off the bench this season. IUPUI has received 10-or-more points from its bench in every game this season and has had a season-high 30 points twice, including at Milwaukee on Saturday (Jan. 15). 

    CRAFTY VETERAN
    Maxwell is an interesting case study in today's new world of college basketball as he's entering his seventh year of college this season. After redshirting his opening season (2015-16) at Abilene Christian, he played three full seasons at ACU before transferring out for a fifth season. He played just two games at Detroit Mercy in 2019-20 before suffering a season ending injury and receiving another season of eligibility. He spent all of last season at Saint Edward's University in Austin, Texas, where he averaged 18.6 points and 5.3 boards per game while earning NABC Second Team All-District honors.
    After all NCAA student-athletes were granted an additional year of eligibility due to COVID-19 issues, Maxwell opted to join the IUPUI program for a seventh season of schooling. He enters this season having played 94 collegiate basketball games and having scored 758 points across both NCAA Division I and II levels.     

    CHASING 1,000
    Maxwell's journey has spanned four schools in three different states at both the Division I and Division II levels, but through it all, he's closing in on 1,000 collegiate points. Maxwell has 921 collegiate points entering play - 385 at Abilene Christian, 2 at Detroit Mercy, 371 at St. Edward's University and 163 this season at IUPUI.