MINNEAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will hit the road to take on Minnesota (7-3) on Tuesday night (Dec. 12) at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on BTN+. It marks the final road non-conference game of the season for the Jaguars, who will then host four straight home games, beginning this weekend. 

The Jaguars have been riding Jlynn Counter's hot hand all season long as the junior guard leads the team in scoring (16.2 ppg), rebounding (4.9 rpg) and assists (2.4 apg), while shooting a robust 54.1 percent from the floor and 50 percent from three. He ranks No. 2 in the Horizon League in field goal shooting and No. 6 in the league in scoring. His past four games, the Oklahoma City-native is scoring 18.5 points per game and shooting 55 percent overall.

Bryce Monroe checks in at 10.5 points per game and a team-high 12 steals while sophomore DJ Jackson is scoring 8.7 points per game off the Jaguars' bench. 

IUPUI is coming off a 75-58 loss at Eastern Illinois last week as Counter finished with a game-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Tuesday's game is IUPUI's first meeting with a Big Ten foe since a 2022 road loss at Ohio State. 

SCOUTING MINNESOTA
Minnesota enters play at 7-3 overall and 7-1 in eight home games inside Williams Arena. For the season, the Golden Gophers are outscoring opponents by 11.3 points per game and shooting 47.7 percent from the floor while limiting the opposition to 41 percent. In addition, Minnesota is outrebounding foes by 7.0 rebounds per game. Dawson Garcia (18.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg) and Cam Christie (10.8 ppg) lead Minnesota in scoring while Joshua Ola-Joseph also averages in double-digits at 10.2 points per game. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
Tuesday's game marks the first-ever meeting between IUPUI and Minnesota on the hardwood. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will kickoff a four-game homestand when the Jaguars host Lindenwood inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum at noon on Saturday, Dec. 16. 

Notes and Tidbits (click here to download the full IUPUI Game Notes)
    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 (16.2 ppg), rebounding (4.9 rpg), assists (2.4 apg) and field goal percentage (54.1%). He ranks second in the Horizon League in field goal percentage and sixth in the league in scoring.  
    Counter, a preseason Second Team All-Horizon League pick, tallied his 500th career point against Elon on Nov. 17 and enters today with 613 points in his two-year career. 

    ROC STEADY
    Counter has upped his output over the past four games, averaging 18.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists over the past four contests while shooting 55.1 percent from the field, 60 percent (6-of-10) from three and 82.4 percent from the foul line. 

    STEAL WORKERS
    IUPUI had a season-high 14 steals at Eastern Illinois last week, including a career-high four picks from senior Cooper Dewitt. 

    FOR STARTERS
    Cooper Dewitt became the seventh different player to start a game this season against Northern Kentucky, replacing Qwanzi Samuels in the starting five and then Vincent Brady II replaced Kidtrell Blocker at EIU last week to become the eighth different starter. 
    Jlynn Counter and Bryce Monroe have started all 10 games this season while Blocker and Yves Nkomba have started nine each.
    All total, IUPUI has used four different starting units this season with Counter-Monroe-Blocker-Samuels-Nkomba being the most frequent five, having started together seven times (2-5 overall).  

    FREE MONEY
    IUPUI is currently tied for 74th in the country (second in the Horizon League) in free throw percentage, hitting 74.1 percent as a team. Senior Bryce Monroe is tops on the team and third in the Horizon League at 87.5 percent (28-of-32) and has made 17 straight dating back to Nov. 25. 

    NINE MAN ROTATION
    Nine different Jaguars are playing at least 12 minutes per game, led by Jlynn Counter (28.8 mpg) down to Yves Nkomba (12.4 mpg). 
    Seven of the nine have scored in double-digits at least once this year.

    ONLY THE LONELY    
    Only six of the Jaguars' 15 players have appeared in all 10 games so far this season as nine different players have missed at least one game due to injury or illness. Most recently Abdou Samb, who had played the nine games prior, sat out the game at Eastern Illinois (Dec. 7) due to injury. 

    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 26 points per game from its reserves this season and has gotten at least 21 bench points in all 10 games (including three games of 30+). DJ Jackson (8.7 ppg) and Vincent Brady II (6.5) have led the reserves with each having scored in double-digits at least once off the IUPUI bench.

    FIRST MAN OFF
    Sophomore Abdou Samb (5.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg) has been IUPUI's first man off the bench in seven of his nine appearances this season, including seven straight before Jackson was the first reserve against NKU on Saturday. 

    ARC ISSUES
    IUPUI has struggled with the three-point line this season, both offensively and defensively. 
    Offensively, IUPUI ranks 357th (of 361) in the country in three-point percentage at 23.6 percent. The Jaguars' 3.5 made/game rank 358th nationally. 
    Defensively, IUPUI is No. 320 nationally in allowing opponents to shoot 36.3 percent from beyond the arc. 

    DEEPER DIVE
    In IUPUI's three wins, opponents are shooting just 19.0 percent from three and making just 2.7 triples per game. 
    In IUPUI's seven losses, foes are shooting 40.7 percent from deep and making 8.1 triples per game. 

    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.