INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will have a quick turnaround when the Jaguars host UIC (4-8, 0-3 HL) at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Monday night (Jan. 10) at 7:00 p.m.. The game comes on the heels of the Jaguars' 72-58 loss at Wright State on Saturday. 

UIC has had three of its past four scheduled games canceled due to COVID protocols, all sandwiched around its own 90-72 loss at Wright State. Both teams come in seeking a first Horizon League victory this season. Monday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Bob Lovell (analyst) describe the action.

A short-handed IUPUI (1-11, 0-3 HL) squad fought hard at WSU on Saturday, but ultimately succumbed to the league's hottest team. The Jags built an early five-point lead and hung close throughout until a 14-1 WSU run in the second half put the game away. Senior Azariah Seay continued his solid play with a team-high 16 points and five boards while Bakari LaStrap matched his career-high with 11 points and five assists off the IUPUI bench. Boston Stanton III also hit for a new career-high, tallying 10 points in 26 minutes of action. 

B.J. Maxwell turned in seven points and seven boards and Nathan McClure had five points, six boards and a career-high six steals. Defensively, the Jaguars allowed Wright State to shoot 58 percent after halftime and 40 percent from three-point range after holding the Raiders to 38 percent in the opening stanza. Tanner Holden led Wright State with 20 points. 

IUPUI swept last season's series with the Flames, defeating UIC 89-69 on Feb. 12 and following up with an 88-81 home victory the following day. 

QUOTABLE
"I was really proud of the team. A lot of times, you can go into a game and people seem defeated going into the game. (Today), guys were upbeat and understood that we were short coming into the game, but they fought. Wright State's a great team - one of the best teams in this league and they've been that way consistently. I thought the game was a little closer than what the final score was and how we played and what we did, but I was really proud of them," head coach Matt Crenshaw said following Saturday's loss at Wright State. 

SCOUTING UIC
UIC is 4-8 on the season, which includes road wins at Valparaiso and Central Michigan. The Flames are paced by Damaria Franklin, who leads the team in scoring (16.7 ppg), rebounds (8.1 rpg), steals (17) and is tied for the team lead in threes made (21). He is joined in double-digits by Kevin Johnson (11.8 ppg) and Zion Griffin (11.8 ppg). Collectively, UIC is being outscored by 2.7 points per game and is shooting 43.3 percent from the floor and 29.9 percent from three. UIC's opponents are shooting 46 percent overall and 32 percent from beyond the three-point line. 

SERIES NOTES
UIC leads the all-time series by a 9-3 margin, despite IUPUI winning both meetings last season, both in Indianapolis. IUPUI is 2-4 in the six meetings all-time in Indy and the series dates back to February 1980. UIC won the first five meetings in the all-time series from 1980 to 2018 before IUPUI finally scored a road win on Jan. 4, 2019. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will kickoff a two-game road trip at Green Bay on Thursday, Jan. 13 with an 8:00 p.m. Eastern tip on ESPN+. 

Game Notes (click here for the full PDF packet)
    DEFENSIVE NUGGETS
    While the IUPUI offense has struggled to score, defense has been the Jaguars' calling card, holding six of 12 foes under 40 percent shooting. IUPUI ranks 83rd in the country in scoring defense at 64.6 points allowed per game, topping the Horizon League in the category
    No IUPUI opponent has topped 50 percent from the field in a game this season. 

    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 five lowest offensive outputs in the country this season:
    10 - Arizona State vs. Washington State (Dec. 1, 2021)
    10 – IUPUI vs. Spalding [Non D1] (Nov. 13, 2021)
    10 – Georgia State vs. Brewerton  [Non D1] (Nov. 9, 2021)
    12 – Detroit Mercy vs. IUPUI (Dec. 2, 2021)
    12 – Pacific vs. Chicago State (Nov. 22, 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. 

    SEAY MY NAME
    After scoring just 30 points in the season's first nine games combined, senior Azariah Seay has tallied 48 points in the team's last two games, including a career-high 17 (8-12 FG, 1-1 FT) against Morehead State on Dec. 21. In addition to averaging 16 points per game during those three games, he's shot 49 percent from the floor and 39 percent from three-point range. 
    After never leading IUPUI in scoring in any of his first 28 career games, he's now done so in the team's last two contests.  

    SEVEN BODIES
    IUPUI entered the 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. 

    BAKARI GOES BACK-TO-BACK
    Sophomore Bakari LaStrap is coming off back-to-back career-high 11-point efforts. With DePersia and Pruitt sidelined, LaStrap has taken advantage of extended minutes, averaging 11.0 points and 4.0 assists per game the past two games. He played 35 minutes in each of IUPUI's last two games, coming off the bench on both occasions. 
    
    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 12 games, IUPUI has had just 19 double-digit scoring games as B.J. Maxwell has done it seven times and six others have tallied 10-or-more once. 
    Behind Maxwell, both Seay and LaStrap have each hit for double-digits three times apiece. 

    TAP INTO THE RESERVES
    With the committee approach being the case, IUPUI is averaging 18.8 points per game off the bench this season. IUPUI has received 10-or-more points from its bench in every game this season and peaked with a season-high 30 in the win over Spalding. 

    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.     

    QUIET KJ
    Before a recent injury sidelined him, freshman KJ Pruitt was quietly beginning to play really solid basketball. At the point of his injury, he was second on the team in minutes played (270) and scoring (5.0 ppg) and had recently had his first career double-digit scoring game at Tennessee State on Dec. 10. 

    FEAR THE PANDA
    After scoring just 13 points in the season's first eight games, senior Dimitar Pandev had an eight-point outburst at Tennessee State followed by a career-high 11 against Morehead State. Pandev is slowly rounding into form after a season ending knee injury derailed him last season.