CLEVELAND - The IUPUI basketball team will continue its lengthy road trip on Saturday (Feb. 12) when the Jaguars take on Cleveland State at 3:00 p.m. inside the Wolstein Center. IUPUI (2-20, 0-11 HL). The scrappy Jaguars have continued an undermanned fight over the latter half of the season, having been relegated to just six individuals in uniform the past five games. At Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday, graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell tallied a team-high 19 points, including his 1,000th collegiate career point in the loss. Maxwell scored 13 of his 19 points in the opening half as the Jaguars trailed by five at the break. However, fatigue and foul trouble derailed the team's efforts after intermission. 

Nathan McClure tossed in a career-high 17 points, including five threes, in a full 40 minutes of work. McClure had made just 14 treys in his first 20 games of the season before connecting on five makes on Thursday night. Sophomore Bakari LaStrap had six points and a season-high six assists and Mike DePersia had five points and five assists. While IUPUI matched its season-high with nine made threes, turnovers derailed the Jags as IUPUI turned it over 19 times, leading to 32 Purdue Fort Wayne points. 

IUPUI comes in having dropped five-in-a-row to the reigning Horizon League champs. 

QUOTABLE
"We had a great first half, we fought. We had great energy from all six players, (we're) just trying to fight and battle every night and come out and compete. We're just trying to show them that we're trying to build a culture," Maxwell said following Thursday's loss at Purdue Fort Wayne. 

SCOUTING CLEVELAND STATE
Cleveland State enters play at 16-6 overall and 12-3 in Horizon League play. The Vikings are 13-3 at home this season but are coming off a home loss to UIC on Thursday night, 76-75. For the year, D'Moi Hodge (16.5 ppg, 50 3's) and Torrey Patton (14.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.6 apg) lead the way for the Vikings while playing a team-high 30.5 minutes per game. Senior guard Tre Gomillion checks in at 9.5 points per game as the Vikings top six scorers are all seniors. 

SERIES NOTES
Cleveland State leads the all-time series by a 6-4 margin and has won the most recent five meetings in the series. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will continue the three-game road trip at UIC on Monday night (Feb. 14) at 7:00 p.m. Central (8 Eastern) before heading home for a brief stint. Monday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+.  

Game Notes (click here for the full PDF packet)

QUICK HITTERS

• Today marks the 11th meeting all-time between IUPUI and Cleveland State and the first meeting in Cleveland since Jan. 30, 2020. Last year's two meetings both occurred in Indianapolis due to the COVID shuffled schedule. CSU has won the last five meetings in the series and IUPUI hasn't won in Cleveland since joining the Horizon League. 
• Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell tallied his 1,000th collegiate point on Thursday night (Feb. 10) as part of his team-high 19-point effort. Maxwell has 1,011 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 253 this season at IUPUI. 
• Over his past four games, Maxwell is averaging 17.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.  
• 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 12 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. 
• Only two Jaguars have played all 22 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 five 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 (12.0 ppg), minutes played (32.4 mpg), free throw percentage (81.0%) and threes made (26) and is second on the team in rebounding (4.6 rpg). Maxwell has led IUPUI in scoring 12 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
    IUPUI is amidst a five-game road stretch between Feb. 10-19 as the team will log 1,612 miles and more than 26 hours on the bus. During this 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 five 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 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 second in the Horizon League in scoring defense, allowing 67.0 points per game (123rd nationally). 

    GREAT NATE
    Nathan McClure is coming off a career-night as he tallied 17 points (6-9 FG, 5-8 3's) against Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday night. He set new career-highs in both points (17) and threes made (5) while playing all 40 minutes for a second consecutive game.  

    JERSEY MIKE DELIVERS
    Junior Mike DePersia currently leads the Horizon League (22nd nationally) with a 2.74 assist-to-turnover ratio, having delivered 52 assists against just 19 miscues. He recently moved into the top-15 in the league in assists at 3.06/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 2.60 career assist-to-turnover ratio (208 assists / 80 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 on 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 12 games, including a career-high 19 against East-West last Monday. The past 12 games, LaStrap is averaging 10.8 points and 2.8 assists per game. 
    Junior Mike DePersia is rounding back into form after suffering an injury earlier this season. The past eight games (seven starts), DePersia has played 34.6 minutes per game while averaging 7.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while turning it over just 11 times total. During that same eight-game span, he's shooting 10-of-18 (55.6 percent) from three-point range. DePersia has made at least one three in nine 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 five games since being relegated to just six total players.
    For the season, IUPUI reserves are averaging 16.4 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.     

    A GRAND NIGHT
    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 pumped in more than 1,000 collegiate points. Maxwell has 1,011 collegiate points entering play - 385 at Abilene Christian, 2 at Detroit Mercy, 371 at St. Edward's University and 253 this season at IUPUI.