MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - The IUPUI basketball team is back on the road on Thursday (Feb. 17) when the Jaguars take on Robert Morris (7-19, 5-12 HL) inside UPMC Events Center at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. The Jaguars were hard luck losers at UIC on Monday night (Feb. 13), dropping a 57-54 heartbreaker on the road to the Flames. The Jags (2-22, 0-13 HL) led the majority of the night but faltered in the closing minutes, including committing a pair of costly turnovers in the final minute. Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell tallied a game-high 14 points and Bakari LaStrap chipped in 12 points. Freshman Chuks Isitua continued his hot play with eight points and 10 rebounds in the loss. 

IUPUI led by as many as 10 in the opening half and had a six-point lead at halftime. However, UIC broke a 51 all tie with 1:46 to play and never relinquished the lead from there. 

Maxwell has continued his hot play, averaging 16.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game over his past six games and tallied his 1,000th collegiate point at Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 10. The Jaguars have continued to be limited to just six players due to a myriad of injuries. 

SCOUTING ROBERT MORRIS
RMU enters play at 7-19 overall and 5-12 in Horizon League play. The Colonials are 4-8 at home this season and are coming off a 73-68 win at Youngstown State on Sunday (Feb. 13). Do-it-all forward Kahliel Spear leads RMU in scoring (14.4 ppg), rebounding (7.8 rpg), blocked shots (31) and field goal percentage (55.5%). Michael Green III pilots the offense at 10.8 points per game and a team-high 74 assists while Kam Farris averages 9.6 points per game and has made a team-high 40 threes, despite missing eight games to injury. 

SERIES NOTES
Robert Morris owns the lone win in the all-time series, having defeated the Jaguars in Indianapolis earlier this season, 66-49 on Feb. 5. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will cap its stretch of five straight road games on Saturday (Feb. 19) when the Jaguars face Youngstown State at 2:00 p.m. inside the Beeghly Center. That game will be broadcast on ESPN+.  

Game Notes (click here for the full PDF packet)

QUICK HITTERS

• Tonight marks the second meeting all-time between the two teams with the two contests being separated by just 12 days. Robert Morris won the first-ever meeting between the two schools earlier this month, 66-49, in Indianapolis on Feb. 5.  
• Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell tallied his 1,000th collegiate point last Thursday night (Feb. 10) as part of his team-high 19-point effort at Purdue Fort Wayne. Maxwell has 1,042 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 284 this season at IUPUI. 
• Over his past six games, Maxwell is averaging 16.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. 
• In his past five games, all as a starter, freshman Chuks Isitua is averaging 7.6 points and 8.2 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 15 double-digit scoring games this season and Bakari LaStrap has done so 10 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 24 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 seven 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 (12.3 ppg), rebounding (5.0 rpg), minutes played (32.8 mpg), free throw percentage (80.3%), free throws (53) and threes made (29) and second on the squad in steals (22). Maxwell has led IUPUI in scoring 13 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 spent roughly 30 hours at home in Indy following Monday's game before trekking 350-plus miles to Moon Township, Pa., for tonight's game at Robert Morris. 

    SIX STRONG
    IUPUI has played its past seven 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 was 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 67.3 points per game. 

    OH SO CLOSE
    IUPUI just missed collecting a road win at UIC on Monday night (Feb. 14), leading for more than 26 minutes before falling short, 57-54. UIC broke a tie with a three with 1:46 to play and never relinquished the lead in the final 100-plus seconds. IUPUI committed a pair of turnovers in the final minute, hindering the late offensive efforts. 
    B.J. Maxwell tallied a game-high 14 points and Bakari LaStrap added 12 in the loss. 

    JERSEY MIKE DELIVERS
    Junior Mike DePersia currently leads the Horizon League (31st nationally) with a 2.46 assist-to-turnover ratio, having delivered 59 assists against just 24 miscues. He recently moved into the top-15 in the league in assists at 3.11/game and had a season-high six assists and no turnovers in the first meeting with Robert Morris on Feb. 5. Included in those six assists was the 200th dime of his collegiate career.
    He's only had more turnovers than assists in a game once this year and just eight times in his 69 career games played. 
    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, 2021 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 2.53 career assist-to-turnover ratio (215 assists / 85 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. 

    JONAH TIES THE BLOCK MARK
    Not only did Jonah Carrasco register his first career double-double against East-West on 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
    The past 14 games, sophomore Bakari LaStrap is averaging 10.6 points and 2.6 assists per game. 
    Fellow point guard junior Mike DePersia is rounding back into form after suffering an injury earlier this season. The past 10 games (nine starts), DePersia has played 35.0 minutes per game while averaging 7.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game while turning it over just 16 times total. During that same 10-game span, he's shooting 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) from three-point range and 16-of-17 (94.1 percent) from the foul line.

    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, but recently put up a goose egg at Cleveland State.
    For the season, IUPUI reserves are averaging 15.3 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 entered 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 1,042 collegiate points entering play - 385 at Abilene Christian, 2 at Detroit Mercy, 371 at St. Edward's University and 284 this season at IUPUI.