FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The IUPUI basketball team will open the second half of Horizon League play on Wednesday night (Jan. 25) when the Jaguars take on Purdue Fort Wayne (13-8, 5-5 HL) inside Gates Sports Center at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday's game will be aired on ESPN+. 

IUPUI (3-18, 0-10 HL) is coming off a collection of near misses as the Jaguars still seek a first Horizon League victory this season. The Jaguars dropped an overtime affair to Oakland last Thursday and were then foiled down the stretch against Detroit Mercy on Saturday afternoon. 

Head coach Matt Crenshaw's team had a number of standout efforts during the week, highlighted by freshman Vincent Brady II collecting his fourth #HLMBB Freshman of the Week honor of the year. Brady had a career-high 23 points, including four threes, against Oakland and has made at least one three in 16 straight games. Sophomore Jlynn Counter hit for better than 20 points in both contests and has moved among the Horizon League's top 15 in scoring, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and assists. 

Freshman DJ Jackson notched a career-high 17 points, including three threes, against Detroit Mercy, becoming the tenth IUPUI player to record a double-digit scoring game this season. 

QUOTABLE
"We're getting better and we're getting closer. We just had too many turnovers, especially early in the game. We strung together stops, but didn't capitalize when we needed to. (Davis) is really, really good. He made some tough shots, he made open shots and he made contested shots. With (Detroit), it's pick your poison and Davis really took it upon himself to carry them today. Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap and give credit to a kid," Crenshaw said following Saturday's loss to Detroit Mercy. 

SCOUTING PURDUE FORT WAYNE
The Mastodons check in at 13-8 overall and 5-5 in Horizon League play. PFW is 7-3 at home this season and 1-0 inside Gates Sports Center, site of Wednesday's game. The Mastodons defeated IUPUI earlier this season 70-55 in Indianapolis back on Jan. 12. Jarred Godfrey (16.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.0 apg) leads the Mastodons and Bobby Planutis is averaging 11.8 points per game with a team-high 53 threes. Deonte Billups (9.1 ppg, 42 3's) and Damian Chong Qui (9.0 ppg) are next in line in scoring. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will close out the stretch of two straight road games at Cleveland State on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 3:00 p.m. inside CSU's Wolstein Center. 

Tidbits heading into Wednesday's game (click here for full game notes)   

    FOUR TIMES
    IUPUI freshman Vincent Brady II has won the #HLMBB Freshman of the Week Award four times this season, including this past week. Brady, a 6-foot-4 guard, is second on the team in scoring (10.2 ppg) and rebounding (3.9 rpg) and leads the squad in minutes played (31.1 mpg) and threes made (37).
    Brady comes in having made at least one three in 16 straight games and in 19 of the team's 21 games this season.   

    FRESH DUBS
    It would appear that Brady will be hovering around double-digits in scoring all season long.  
    He had a stretch of four straight games with 15-or-more earlier this season, becoming the first IUPUI freshman to do so since Alex Young in 2008. 
    Freshmen scoring in double-digits has been a rarity for the IUPUI program as just two have done so in the program's Division I-era. Young went on to score 2,286 points in his four-year career and George Hill scored 1,619 points in three-plus seasons before being drafted in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft. 
    Alex Young - 10.8 ppg (2008-09); George Hill - 10.7 ppg (2004-05)

    DJ SPINNIN'
    While Brady is the reigning #HLMBB Freshman of the Week, he wasn't even the best freshman on his own team in IUPUI's last outing - the Jaguars' 89-77 home defeat to Detroit Mercy. In that game, fellow freshman DJ Jackson had his best game of the season, tallying a season-high 17 points (6-14 FG, 3-5 3's, 2-2 FT), seven boards, two assists and two steals. Jackson's three made threes were his first three of the season. 
    For the year, Jackson is now averaging 6.0 points and 2.7 boards per game after having missed seven weeks earlier this season due to injury. 

    INDY ELEVEN
    Nope, not referring to the city's USL soccer club - the 11 refers to the number of different players that have started at least one game for the Jaguars this season. While Chris Osten (21 starts), Vincent Brady II (20) and Jlynn Counter (18) have been fixtures among the starting five, the other two spots have been revolving doors. 
    Eight others have started at least once with Cooper Dewitt becoming the most recent to crack the starting unit. 

    TEN HIT TEN
    Jackson became the tenth different IUPUI player to have a double-digit scoring game for the Jaguars this season, doing so against Detroit Mercy on Jan. 21. Amazingly, of all the 10 players who have scored in double-digits this season, none were on the IUPUI roster last season. 

    CHRIS DON'T MISS
    Graduate transfer Chris Osten is currently shooting 66.2 percent for the season, chasing the school record for single-season shooting percentage (Jon Avery - 67.9 percent in 2008-09). The 6-foot-9 forward is shooting an absurd 77 percent from the field (47-of-61) at home this season. 
    Coming into this season, he had scored in double-digits just one time in his Division I career
in stops at both Arizona State and Northern Illinois, and never had a double-double. However,
in 21 games this season, Osten has hit double-figures 12 times and registered four double-doubles.

    OSTEN POWERS
    In the seven games in the 2023 calendar year, graduate transfer Chris Osten has been nothing short of awesome. In those games, Osten is averaging 13.6 points per game while shooting 75.5 percent (40-of-53) from the field. Osten had a career-high 21 points (8-10 FG, 5-7 FT) at Robert Morris on Monday, Jan. 9.

    BUTA EMERGES
    The past three games have seen a new star emerge off the IUPUI bench as John Egbuta has provided a huge lift. The New York-native has contributed 13.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game while making 15-of-25 (60 percent) shots and 3-of-5 treys. 

    SEEING 20-20
    IUPUI had a pair of 20-point scorers against Oakland last Thursday as freshman Vincent Brady II had a career-high 23 points (8-16 FG, 4-9 3's, 3-3 FT) and Jlynn Counter tallied 22 (8-16 FG, 1-2 3's, 5-6 FT). It marked the first time under head coach Matt Crenshaw that two players have gone for 20-or-more in the same game. 

    TOPS IN THE COUNTRY
    IUPUI is tops in the nation, having had 13 different players miss at least one game due to injury or illness, 11 of whom are scholarship student-athletes. Highest on the list are Zach Gunn (out for the season), Bryce Monroe (17 games missed) and DJ Jackson (11 games). Other scholarship student-athletes who have missed multiple games this season include Armon Jarrard (7 games), Amhad Jarrard (6 games), John Egbuta (5 games), Cooper Dewitt (3 games) and Daylan Hamilton (3 games).
    Behind IUPUI, Wyoming, Vanderbilt and Iona have all had eight student-athletes miss time.  
    IUPUI has not had a game this season in which the entire roster was available. 

    SOLID AS A ROC
    Jlynn Counter, known as Roc, is riding back-to-back 20-point scoring games for the second time this season, coming off 22 against Oakland (Jan. 19) and 23 against Detroit (Jan. 21).     
    He had a fantastic two-game Indiana Classic in Fort Wayne, averaging 25.0 points in the two contests. He had a career-high 27 points (10-19 FG, 7-7 FT) and five rebounds against Southern Indiana on Dec. 19 and followed up with 23 points (9-13 FG, 1-1 3's, 4-4 FT) in the Dec. 20 win over Texas A&M Commerce. 

    CALL IN THE CLOSER
    We're putting out a call for Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman or Jeff Brantley for that matter. With so many new faces and primarily young faces, head coach Matt Crenshaw is still seeking a closer to help in crunch time. IUPUI has gone down to the wire in three of its past five games, falling short on all three occasions. 
    At Robert Morris on Jan. 9, IUPUI trailed 44-29 at halftime, but rallied to come all the way back in the second half. The Jaguars tied the game at 61 all and again at 63-63 before being outscored 14-7 over the game's first five-plus minutes in the 77-70 loss. 
    Against Oakland on Thursday (Jan. 19), IUPUI again rallied from a nine-point deficit and led by as many as four in the closing minutes before a Jalen Moore trey with 3.0 seconds left sent the game to overtime. Oakland outscored the Jags 15-9 in overtime to secure an 83-77 win, keeping the Jags winless in league play. 
    Against Detroit Mercy on Saturday (Jan. 21), it was a two-possession game with five minutes remaining before the Titans outscored the Jags 20-12 down the stretch. 

    FRESHIES    
    IUPUI rookies have combined on five #HLMBB Freshman of the Week Awards this season as Vincent Brady II is a four-time recipient and Armon Jarrard also collected an honor. 
    IUPUI has relied on freshmen since the start of the season as four have been among the team's regular rotation since DJ Jackson's return from injury on Dec. 31.  
    Here's a look at how the four have performed so far this season.     
Vincent Brady: 31.1 mpg (14th in the HL), 10.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 37 3's made (leads team)
Amhad Jarrard: 22.9 mpg (5th on the team), 5.7 ppg, 2.1 apg (3rd on the team), 7 steals
Armon Jarrard: 18.7 mpg (7th on the team), 4.3 ppg, 17 steals
DJ Jackson (10 games): 19.0 mpg, 6.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg

    FRESH STARTERS
    IUPUI had three freshmen in the starting lineup in the season opener at Iowa State as Vincent Brady II, Amhad Jarrard and Armon Jarrard all got the starting nod. The trio, all of whom are Indianapolis natives, combined on four points, five boards and an assist in their collegiate debut. 
    A fourth freshman, DJ Jackson, made his first collegiate start on Dec. 31 against NKU. 

    4K
    IUPUI hosted its annual NCAA Readers Become Leaders game on Dec. 12 against Spalding University and had a program best 4,114 fans in attendance. The game attracted roughly 3,500 3rd graders from Central Indiana and stressed the importance of creating reading habits at a young age. The 4,114 fans easily surpassed the previous record for an IUPUI home game - 3,327 against Indiana State inside Conseco Fieldhouse on Dec. 23, 2008. 
    The previous record for an IUPUI game inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum was 3,159 in the inaugural game against Indiana State on Nov. 14, 2014. 

    THE MONROE EFFECT
    After missing the first three games of the season to injury, junior transfer Bryce Monroe came in and made a major impact in the Jaguars' lineup. In his four appearances, Monroe led the team in scoring (12.0 ppg) and assists (3.8 apg), despite suffering an injury in his third game back. More importantly, the team as a whole has improved its output. Without Monroe in the lineup, the Jags averaged just 53.4 points per game and scored 65.0 points per game with him available.
    The San Diego-transfer had a monster game at New Orleans on Nov. 24, pumping in 29 points (13-20 FG, 3-6 3's) and seven assists - both of which are the most by an IUPUI player this season. However, Monroe was injured during the New Orleans trip and is currently sidelined indefinitely.  

    BOOK WORMS
    The Jaguars put together a 3.03 team grade point average during the fall semester with 12 members of the team earning a 3.0 or better. Junior John Egbuta was most impressive with a perfect 4.0 mark during the fall.