FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The IUPUI basketball team will kickoff a stretch of five straight road games this week when the Jaguars head north to face Purdue Fort Wayne (13-10, 8-6 HL) at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday (Feb. 10). The upcoming trip will span 10 days and stretch more than 1,600 miles, broken up by an approximately 30-hour stay at home in Indianapolis in the middle. On the court, head coach Matt Crenshaw's team is down to just six players as a myriad of injuries have decimated the team's numbers. 

Of the six, graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell has played well of late and is knocking on the door of 1,000 points in his collegiate career. He enters play with 992 collegiate points, spanning four schools and both the Division I and Division II levels. Sophomore Bakari LaStrap comes in averaging 11.2 points per game over his last 10 games and junior Mike DePersia recently crossed 200 career assists after a season-high six against Robert Morris last Saturday. 

Thursday's game marks the first meeting with the Mastodons this season and the first meeting as Horizon League foes. The two teams didn't play last season due to COVID and IUPUI hasn't trekked to Fort Wayne since December 2018 when both were members of The Summit League. 

SCOUTING PURDUE FORT WAYNE
Purdue Fort Wayne is 13-10 overall and 8-6 in Horizon League play. The Mastodons are riding back-to-back wins over Milwaukee and Green Bay at home last weekend. Jarred Godfrey leads the 'Dons in scoring (14.9 ppg), assists (87), threes made (49) and minutes played (32.7 mpg) while ranking second on the team in rebounding (4.2 rpg). Jalon Pipkins also scores in double-digits with 13.0 points per game while two others - Damian Chong Qui (9.7 ppg) and Bobby Planutis (9.0 ppg) - average at least nine per game. 

SERIES NOTES
Tonight marks the 51st meeting all-time between the two schools with IUPUI leading the all-time series, 32-18. The series is tied at 12-12 in games played in Fort Wayne. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI continue the road trip at Cleveland State on Saturday (Feb. 12) at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN+.

Game Notes (click here for the full PDF packet)

QUICK HITTERS

• Today marks the 51st meeting all-time between IUPUI and Purdue Fort Wayne. The Jaguars own a 32-18 lead in the all-time series and the two teams are knotted at 12-12 in 24 meetings in Fort Wayne. Tonight's game marks IUPUI's first trip to Fort Wayne since Dec. 18, 2018. 
• Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell is on the cusp of 1,000 collegiate points after his 16-point effort against Robert Morris on Saturday (Feb. 5). For his collegiate career, Maxwell now has 992 career points, spanning four schools at the Division I and Division II levels. Maxwell had 385 points at Abilene Christian, 2 at Detroit Mercy, 371 at St. Edward's University and has 234 this season at IUPUI. 
• IUPUI has used 11 different players this season and amazingly, all 11 have scored in double-digits at least once this season. B.J. Maxwell has a team-high 11 double-digit scoring games this season and Bakari LaStrap has done so nine times. Mike DePersia was the last of the 11 Jaguars to score in double-digits this season, doing so against Northern Kentucky on Jan. 22. 
• Speaking of LaStrap, since Jan. 1 the sophomore is averaging 11.2 points and shooting 38.5 percent from three-point range in the Jaguars' nine games. 
• Only two Jaguars have played all 21 games this season - Bakari LaStrap and Chuks Isitua. Every other IUPUI player has missed at least one game this season due to injury or COVID protocols. IUPUI has had just six players in uniform in each of its past four games and likely will have just six in uniform going forward as five different players have suffered season ending injuries.
• Maxwell leads IUPUI in scoring (11.7 ppg), minutes played (32.6 mpg), free throw percentage (81.1%) and threes made (25) and is second on the team in rebounding (4.7 rpg). Maxwell has led IUPUI in scoring 11 times this year and has tallied 20-or-more in a game twice. 
• 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.  

    FANTASTIC VOYAGE
    Tonight's game kicks off a five-game road stretch for the Jaguars over the next 10 days as the team will log 1,612 miles and more than 26 hours on the bus. During the stretch, IUPUI will play road games at Purdue Fort Wayne (Feb. 10), Cleveland State (Feb. 12), UIC (Feb. 14), Robert Morris (Feb. 17) and Youngstown State (Feb. 19). 
    The Jaguars will spend roughly 30 hours at home in Indy following the UIC game before trekking 350-plus miles east to Moon Township, Pa., for the Feb. 17 game at Robert Morris. 

    SIX STRONG
    IUPUI has played its past four games with just six in uniform as injuries have ravaged the roster. It began in the preseason when Zach Gunn was lost to a season ending injury and four others (Jonah Carrasco, Bobby Harvey, KJ Pruitt and recently departed Azariah Seay) have since been lost for the season. Carrasco became the most recent to be bitten by the injury bug, suffering a likely season-ender against East-West on Jan. 31. In addition, senior Dimitar Pandev is no longer on campus after having returned to Macedonia at the start of the spring semester. 
    Lastly, two freshmen (Kaleb Edwards and Derek Petersen) won't suit up this season as redshirts, leaving head coach Matt Crenshaw with just six in uniform. 

    GET DEFENSIVE
    Through a combination of pace and production, IUPUI is tops in the Horizon League in scoring defense, allowing just 66.8 points per game (115th nationally). 

    JERSEY MIKE DELIVERS
    Junior Mike DePersia currently leads the Horizon League with a 2.94 assist-to-turnover ratio, having delivered 47 assists against just 16 miscues. He recently moved into the top-15 in the league in assists at 2.94/game and had a season-high six assists and no turnovers against Robert Morris last Saturday (Feb. 5). Included in those six assists was the 200th dime of his collegiate career.
    Last season he ranked No. 3 in the country with a 3.74 assist-to-turnover ratio, delivering 71 assists against just 19 miscues. In league play, he upped that figure to 4.13. His 3.74 mark last season easily eclipsed the previous IUPUI single-season mark, which was 3.30 set by Taj Hawkins back in 2001-02.
    DePersia tied IUPUI's single-game record with 14 assists in a game in a Feb. 12 win over UIC, doing so without committing a turnover. He had a six-game span where he didn't turn the ball over once, dishing out 31 assists during that span. 
    His current 2.64 career assist-to-turnover ratio (203 assists / 77 turnovers) is in line to set a new IUPUI career records. The current IUPUI career record in the category is 2.16 as Brady Adkins had 261 assists against just 121 turnovers from 1994-1996.  
    
    CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR
    IUPUI put up a strong showing, but ultimately fell short against Youngstown State at home last Thursday night (Feb. 3), 61-55. IUPUI was behind 28-16 with 4:43 left in the opening half, but used an 18-2 run spanning the two halves to take a 34-30 lead with 16:41 left. YSU fired back with a 7-0 run and never relinquished the lead over the final 13 minutes. 
    It was a two possession game for much of the final 10 minutes, but IUPUI was unable to get over the hump. B.J. Maxwell (career-high 22 pts) and Bakari LaStrap (15 pts, 7 reb) led the way as IUPUI shot 46 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Penguins by a 34-29 margin. However, IUPUI committed 17 turnovers and saw the guests outscore them by a 16-2 margin in points off turnovers. 

    FRESHMEN NO MORE
    The baptism by fire for IUPUI freshmen Boston Stanton III and Chuks Isitua continued against Robert Morris last Saturday (Feb. 5) as both added to already impressive rookie campaigns. 
    Stanton matched his season-high with 10 points (4-9 FG, 1-3 3's, 1-1 FT) and four boards off the bench and Chuks Isitua had eight points and a season-high 12 rebounds (five offensive) in a season-high 31 minutes of action. Isitua, currently playing through an injury, also blocked a pair of shots in each of IUPUI's games last weekend. 

    JONAH TIES THE BLOCK MARK
    Not only did Jonah Carrasco register his first career double-double against East-West on Monday (Jan. 31) with 13 points and 10 boards, he also tied the IUPUI single-game record with seven blocked shots. 
    Coming in, 6-foot-6 John Hester held the single-game record, having swatted seven shots against Indiana Tech on Jan. 21, 1997. 

    PG PLAY
    IUPUI's two point guards have both stepped up their play of late as sophomore Bakari LaStrap has scored in double-digits in eight of IUPUI's last 11 games, including a career-high 19 against East-West last Monday. The past nine games, LaStrap is averaging 11.2 points per game and shooting 38.5 percent from three-point range. 
    Junior Mike DePersia is rounding back into form after suffering an injury earlier this season. The past seven games (six starts), DePersia has played 34.5 minutes per game while averaging 7.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while turning it over just eight times total. During that same six-game span, he's shooting 9-of-15 (60 percent) from three-point range. DePersia has made at least one three in eight straight games.

    THIN BENCH
    IUPUI's bench was averaging nearly 20 points per game for the bulk of the season before injuries beset the roster. IUPUI got at least 10 bench points in each of the first 17 games of the season before notching a season-low two points in three of four games since being relegated to just six total players.
    For the season, IUPUI reserves are averaging 16.9 points per game. 

    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 992 collegiate points entering play - 385 at Abilene Christian, 2 at Detroit Mercy, 371 at St. Edward's University and 234 this season at IUPUI.