INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will open its final regular season homestand on Thursday (Feb. 24) when the Jaguars host Milwaukee (9-20, 7-13 HL) inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum at 8:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call.

IUPUI's (3-23, 1-14 HL) iron man, six person rotation has played well of late, including getting a road win at Robert Morris last week by a 66-56 score. Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell has led the way, averaging 16.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game over IUPUI's last eight contests. The Texas-native has scored in double-digits in all eight of those contests and notched a pair of double-doubles in that span. In the middle, freshman Chuks Isitua is looking to earn a spot on the league's All-Freshman Team, averaging 5.7 points and 4.9 boards per game against league foes. Isitua is coming off a career-high 14 points at Youngstown State on Saturday as he made 6-of-9 shots and grabbed seven boards. 

IUPUI had a balanced outing as four players reached double-digits as both Isitua and Maxwell led the way with 14 each. Nathan McClure pumped in 13 points and played all 40 minutes for the third time in IUPUI's past five games while sophomore Bakari LaStrap finished with 10 points and five assists. The entire starting five almost finished in double-digits as Mike DePersia closed with nine points, four boards and four assists with no turnovers. 

SCOUTING MILWAUKEE 
Milwaukee comes in at 9-20 overall and 7-13 in Horizon League play. The Panthers have used 11 different players in their starting lineup this season and no Panther has started all 29 games. DeAndre Gholston leads the Panthers in scoring (14.1 ppg) and threes made (49) while highly touted freshman Patrick Baldwin Jr. averages 12.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, but has been limited to just 11 appearances. Josh Thomas checks in at 9.3 points per game and Donovan Newby scores 8.4 points per game and has made 89.2 percent at the free throw line. 

SERIES NOTES
Milwaukee leads the all-time series by a 12-6 mark although IUPUI is 4-3 in the seven meetings in Indianapolis. The teams are 4-7 all-time as league opponents. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will cap the regular season on Saturday (Feb. 26) when the Jaguars host Green Bay at 4:45 inside The Jungle. IUPUI will honor the quartet of Jonah Carrasco, Bobby Harvey, B.J. Maxwell and Nathan McClure prior to Saturday's contest. 

Game Notes (click here for the full PDF packet)

QUICK HITTERS

• IUPUI is wrapping up the regular season this week when the Jaguars host Milwaukee (Feb. 24) and Green Bay (Feb. 26) in Horizon League games. 
• Tonight's game marks the 19th meeting all-time between the two teams with Milwaukee having won 12 of the first 18 meetings. IUPUI is 4-3 in the seven meetings in Indianapolis. 
• Graduate transfer B.J. Maxwell tallied his 1,000th collegiate point on Feb. 10 at Purdue Fort Wayne as part of his team-high 19-point effort. Maxwell has 1,075 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 317 this season at IUPUI. 
• Over his past eight games, Maxwell is averaging 16.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and has scored in double-digits in all eight of those contests. He's had a pair of double-doubles during that span with 13 points and 12 boards against East-West and 17 points and 11 boards at Cleveland State.
• Freshman Chuks Isitua is making a real case to earn a spot on the league's All-Freshman Team as he's averaging 5.7 points and 4.9 rebounds against league foes. He's second among true freshmen in the league in rebounding (4.0 rpg) and is shooting 52 percent from the floor. He also ranks among the league's top-20 in total blocked shots (16) this season. 
• 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 16 double-digit scoring games this season and Bakari LaStrap has done so 11 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 26 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 nine 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 (12.6 ppg), rebounding (5.0 rpg), minutes played (33.2 mpg), free throw percentage (80.3%), free throws (57) and threes made (33) and second on the squad in steals (25). Maxwell has led IUPUI in scoring 15 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 recently completed a five-game road stretch between Feb. 10-19, logging 1,612 miles and more than 26 hours on the bus. During the stretch, IUPUI played road games at Purdue Fort Wayne (Feb. 10), Cleveland State (Feb. 12), UIC (Feb. 14), Robert Morris (Feb. 17) and Youngstown State (Feb. 19), going 1-4 on the trip. 
    The Jags spent roughly 30 hours at home in Indy following the game at UIC before trekking 350-plus miles to Moon Township, Pa., for the game at Robert Morris. 

    SIX STRONG
    IUPUI has played its past nine 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. 

    SINCE SIX
    It could be argued that IUPUI has played better basketball since being relegated to just six players, beginning with the Jan. 22 game against Northern Kentucky. 
    Here are some comparables of full season vs. last nine games. 
                        Full Season        Last 9 Games
    FG%:                    38.1%        39.4%
    3FG%:                  28.8%        31.9%
    REB MARGIN:          -1.2        +0.9
    OPP FG%:              .438        .420
    PPG:                       52.6        55.9
    OPP PPG:               67.1        65.3

    All six individuals have seen dramatic production increases as well. Here are some individual numbers over the past nine games: 
    B.J. Maxwell (15.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg)
    Bakari LaStrap (11.8 ppg, 3.3 apg)
    Nathan McClure (8.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 40.5 3FG%)
    Mike DePersia (7.9 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.1 apg, 2.85 a/to ratio)
    Chuks Isitua (6.8 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.0 bpg)
    Boston Stanton III (4.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg)

    GET DEFENSIVE
    Through a combination of pace and production, IUPUI is second in the Horizon League in scoring defense, allowing 67.1 points per game. 

    DAT DUB
    IUPUI finally got the monkey off its back, capturing a road win at Robert Morris last Thursday (Feb. 17), 66-56. IUPUI hit 7-of-8 from three in the second half to finish at 50 percent for the game. B.J. Maxwell and Bakari LaStrap both finished with a game-high 18 points and Mike DePersia scored 11 of his 13 points after halftime. 
    The win was IUPUI's first victory over a Division I foe this season and the Jaguars' first road win of the season. 

    JERSEY MIKE DELIVERS
    Junior Mike DePersia currently leads the Horizon League (24th nationally) with a 2.64 assist-to-turnover ratio, having delivered 66 assists against just 25 miscues. He recently moved into the top-15 in the league in assists at 3.14/game and had a season-high six assists and no turnovers against 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 71 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 2.58 career assist-to-turnover ratio (222 assists / 86 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.  

    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. 

    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 has yet to do so in eight of the team's past nine games. 
    For the season, IUPUI reserves are averaging 14.3 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 1,075 collegiate points entering play - 385 at Abilene Christian, 2 at Detroit Mercy, 371 at St. Edward's University and 316 this season at IUPUI.