INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will return home to host Cleary University on Saturday (Nov. 25) at 2:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Rick Johnston (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call. Tickets are available by clicking here. 

The first 150 fans at Saturday's game will receive FREE IUPUI script t-shirts as the first of three in this year's t-shirt series. 

The Jaguars are coming in on a four-game skid, having dropped three-in-a-row at the recent Rock Hill Classic in Rock Hill, S.C. IUPUI (2-4) started the year 2-0 with back-to-back wins over Spalding and a road win at Valparaiso. Junior Jlynn Counter has moved atop the team lead in scoring (14.7 ppg), rebounding (5.0 rpg) assists (2.3 apg) and field goal percentage (53.4 percent). Counter has a pair of 20-point games this season and tallied his 500th career point against Elon last week. Behind him, Bryce Monroe (9.7 ppg) and Kidtrell Blocker (8.2 ppg) are next in line in scoring. 

IUPUI has relied heavily on depth with the reserves contributing 27.2 points per game, having gotten at least 22 bench points in all six games thus far. DJ Jackson (7.3 ppg), Vincent Brady II (6.8) and John Egbuta (6.2) have led the bench with each having scored in double-digits at least once this season. 

    QUICK HITTERS
-Through six games, junior guard Jlynn Counter has been the team's top performer, leading the Jaguars in scoring (14.7 ppg), rebounding (5.0 rpg), assists (2.3 apg) and field goal percentage (53.4%). The Oklahoma City-native is the lone IUPUI player scoring in double-digits, having hit for 20 points on two different occasions this season. He tallied his 500th career point in the Nov. 17 game against Elon. 
-IUPUI returns 10 letterwinners and a redshirt from last year's squad, keyed by Counter and two members of the Horizon League's All-Freshman Team in Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson. Nine of the 10 returners started at least one game a season ago and eight had at least one game of double-digit scoring last year. 
-IUPUI wasn't bashful in the transfer portal, inking four newcomers to this year's squad via Division I transfer in Kidtrell Blocker (Buffalo), Yves Nkomba (Kennesaw State), Abdou Samb (Rhode Island) and Qwanzi Samuels (George Washington). Nkomba is the team's tallest player at 6-foot-11 while Samuels (6-foot-9) and Samb (6-foot-8) represent the second and third tallest members of the squad. Blocker, Nkomba and Samuels have all started all six games this season.

    MR. DO-IT-ALL
    In his second season with the program, junior guard Jlynn Counter has become the Jaguars' Mr. Do It All, leading the team in scoring (14.7 ppg), rebounding (5.0 rpg), assists (2.3 apg) and field goal percentage (53.4%). 
    Counter, a preseason Second Team All-Horizon League pick, tallied his 500th career point against Elon on Nov. 17 and enters today with 539 points in his two-year career. 

    NINE MAN ROTATION
    Nine different Jaguars are playing at least 12 minutes per game, led by Bryce Monroe (27.7 mpg) down to Yves Nkomba (12.7 mpg). 
    Seven of the nine have scored in double-digits at least once this year as Counter and Monroe have four games in double-figures and Kidtrell Blocker, Vincent Brady II, John Egbuta, DJ Jackson and Abdou Samb each have one double-digit scoring game. 

    SEEING RED
    It's likely that both Amhad and Armon Jarrard will redshirt this season. Amhad missed the entire summer and preseason after suffering an injury last season and Armon was limited to just three games this season while playing through an injury. He was shutdown after trying to play at Indiana State on Nov. 14. 
    The Jarrards are one of 21 sets of brothers playing for the same team this season and one of nine sets of twins in Division I basketball. 

    FIRST TO TIP
    IUPUI was the first team in the country to tip-off the 2023-24 season, starting at 11:00 a.m. on Nov. 6 in front of a crowd of 4,867 on the annual NCAA 'Readers Become Leaders' Day at Indiana Farmers Coliseum. 
    The 4,867 represented a new home attendance record for the Jaguars, eclipsing the previous mark of 4,114 from last year's similar event. 

    ROAD KILL
    The road win at Valpo was a welcome event, marking IUPUI's first road win since winning at Robert Morris on Feb. 17, 2022. It was the first road non-conference victory since winning at South Florida on Nov. 13, 2019 at the Cayman Islands Classic. 

    BENCH WORK
    IUPUI is averaging 27.2 points per game from its reserves this season and has gotten at least 22 bench points in all six games thus far. DJ Jackson (7.3 ppg), Vincent Brady II (6.8) and John Egbuta (6.2) have led the reserves with each having scored in double-digits at least once off the IUPUI bench. The trio represent IUPUI's fourth, fifth and sixth leading scorers this season. 

    PAINT CREW
    IUPUI has outscored five of its six opponents in the paint this season, outscoring foes by more than five points per game inside the paint. The only game in which IUPUI has been outscored on the interior was the loss at Indiana State. 

    ARC ISSUES
    IUPUI has struggled with the three-point line this season, both offensively and defensively. 
    Offensively, IUPUI ranks 359th (of 361) in the country in three-point percentage at 19.8 percent. The Jaguars' 2.8 made/game rank 358th nationally. Only four different Jaguars have made a trey this season as Monroe (5), Brady (5), Counter (4) and Blocker (3) have the team's entire output. 
    Defensively, IUPUI is No. 311 nationally in allowing opponents to shoot 37.2 percent from beyond the arc. The past four games, IUPUI foes have hit 41-of-95 (43.2 percent) from three-point range. 

    BRYCE WAS NICE
    A day after his 22nd birthday, senior Bryce Monroe dropped 20 points (7-16 FG, 2-5 3's, 4-4 FT) to go along with four rebounds and four steals in the win at Valpo. It marked his second 20-point game of his IUPUI career and came on the heels of being held scoreless in the season opener against Spalding. 

    RETURNING CREW
    The IUPUI roster enjoyed considerable continuity from a season ago, bringing back 10 letterwinners from a season ago, including three primary starters in Jlynn Counter, Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson. 
    Counter was a 3rd Team All-Horizon League selection while Brady and Jackson were voted to the Horizon League's All-Freshman Team. 
    Other key returners include John Egbuta, Armon Jarrard and Amhad Jarrard.  

    NO FRESHIES
    IUPUI was responsible for nine Horizon League Freshman of the Week Awards a season ago as Vincent Brady II (4x), DJ Jackson (3x) and Armon Jarrard (2x) had a stranglehold on the award. However, this season, it was be a complete stunner if an IUPUI player received the award as redshirt walk-on Braden Allen is the lone rookie on the roster. Head Coach Matt Crenshaw has no true freshmen on this year's roster and no players younger than 20 years old.