INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will open a brief two-game homestand on Thursday (Feb. 2) when the Jaguars host Milwaukee (15-7, 9-3 HL) at 11:00 a.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. More than 1,000 elementary students from across a variety of Indianapolis Public Schools are expected to be in attendance. Thursday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call. 

IUPUI (3-20, 0-12 HL) has filed a number of contests in the 'close but no cigar' category of late, including a six-point loss at Cleveland State on Sunday. Freshman Armon Jarrard fueled a comeback effort as the Jaguars trailed by as many as 20 in the second half before whittling the deficit to three with 3:01 to play. Jarrard tallied a career-high 22 points, including five threes, off the bench and Jlynn Counter contributed 13 points, all after halftime. Freshman Vincent Brady II had seven points and a career-high seven rebounds and five assists in the loss. 

Jarrard was later honored with his second #HLMBB Freshman of the Week Award for the season as it became the sixth time this season an IUPUI rookie has been awarded. 

IUPUI enters Thursday's game looking to avenge a Dec. 3 loss to the Panthers as Milwaukee won the prior meeting, 74-61. The Panthers are currently one of four teams tied atop the Horizon League standings at 9-3 in league play. Milwaukee has won the last five meetings in the series, dating back to January 2021. 

QUOTABLE
"We dug too big of a hole and you can't do that against good teams. We left some points on the free throw line and turned it over a little too much, but this team doesn't quit. We stayed in the fight. We knew it would be tough without (Osten) and without some other guys, but we didn't fold," head coach Matt Crenshaw said following the contest at Cleveland State on Sunday. 

SCOUTING MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee is 15-7 overall and 9-3 in the Horizon League this season. The Panthers are 5-5 away from home this season and are coming off an improbable comeback win at Northern Kentucky on Saturday (Jan. 28). B.J. Freeman (16.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Kentrell Pullian (10.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg) lead the Milwaukee attack while Markieth Browning II averages 9.9 points per game. Collectively, MKE is outscoring foes by more than seven points per game and are holding their opponents to just 39.5 percent shooting overall and 28.4 percent from three. The Panthers are the top shot blocking team in the Horizon League, swatting 5.9 shots per game. Ahmad Rand leads the league in blocked shots (48) and 7-foot-1 center Moses Bol is second in the league with 26 rejections. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will close out the homestand on Saturday (Feb. 4) when the Jaguars host Green Bay at noon inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. That game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Bob Lovell (analyst) are on the call. Tickets are available by clicking here. 

Tidbits heading into Thursday's game (click here for full game notes)   
    SIX AWARDS    
    IUPUI freshmen have collected six #HLMBB Freshman of the Week Awards this season as Vincent Brady II has collected four honors and Armon Jarrard has been honored twice, including this past week. 
    Brady is second on the team in scoring (10.1 ppg) and rebounding (4.0 rpg) and leads the team in minutes played (31.4 mpg, 14th in the HL) and threes made (39). Brady comes in having made at least one three in 18 straight games and in 21 of the team's 23 games this season. 
    Jarrard is coming off a career-high 22 points (6-8 FG, 5-7 3's, 5-5 FT) at Cleveland State on Sunday in earning his second award of the year. 

    FRESHIES    
    All total, IUPUI freshmen are accounting for 27.8 points per game, paced by Vincent Brady's 10.1 points per game. 
    Here's a look at how the four have performed so far this season.     
Vincent Brady: 31.4 mpg (14th in the HL), 10.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 39 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: 19.5 mpg (7th on the team), 5.6 ppg, 18 steals (t-3rd on the team)
DJ Jackson: 19.7 mpg, 6.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg

    FRESH DUBS
    It would appear that Brady will be hovering around double-digits in scoring all season long as he sits at 10.1 points per game entering today's game.  
    Earlier this season, 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 IUPUI 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)

    ALL 12
    Following IUPUI's game at Cleveland State on Sunday (Jan. 29), all 12 of the Jaguars' scholarship players have now started at least one game this season. Graduate student Jonah Carrasco started in place of an injured Chris Osten, becoming the 12th different IUPUI player to start a game and IUPUI's 12th different starting unit of the year. 

    TOPS IN THE COUNTRY
    IUPUI is tops in the nation, having had 14 different players miss at least one game due to injury or illness, 12 of whom are scholarship student-athletes. Highest on the list are Zach Gunn (out for the season), Bryce Monroe (19 games missed) and DJ Jackson (11 games). Other scholarship student-athletes who have missed multiple games this season include Amhad Jarrard (8 games), Armon Jarrard (7 games), John Egbuta (5 games), Daylan Hamilton (5 games) and Cooper Dewitt (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. 

    COUNTER POINTS
    Sophomore Jlynn Counter, IUPUI's top scorer at 14.1 points per game (11th in the Horizon League), has hit for 20-or-more in three of IUPUI's last four games. He matched his career-high with 27 points (10-18 FG, 2-5 3's, 5-5 FT) at Purdue Fort Wayne last Wednesday (Jan. 25). 
    Counter has now moved among the Horizon League's top-15 in scoring, free throw percentage, field goal percentage, assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. 

    TEN HIT TEN
    Freshman DJ 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.

    BUTA EMERGES
    The past five 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 12.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while making 24-of-40 (60 percent) shots. 

    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. 

    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 five of its past seven games, falling short on all five 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 Jan. 21, it was a two-possession game with five minutes remaining before the Titans outscored the Jags 20-12 down the stretch. 
    At Purdue Fort Wayne, IUPUI rallied from 11 down to cut the Mastodons' lead to two in the waning minutes, but couldn't get over the hump late. 
    The most recent close call came at Cleveland State on Sunday as the Jaguars rallied from down 20 in the second half to down three with 3:01 to play. However, IUPUI was never able to draw even late in that contest before ultimately falling short, 78-72. 

    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 expected to miss the remainder of the season.  

    LOOK AT THE ARC
    The three-point line has been a tell as to IUPUI's success, or struggles, this season. 
    As a whole, IUPUI ranks No. 341 (of 352) nationally in three-point percentage (28.9%) and No. 345 in threes made per game (4.6). 
    In IUPUI's 20 losses, opponents are shooting 40 percent from three and connecting on 9.3 threes per game, while outscoring the Jags by 14.0 points per game from deep. 
    In IUPUI's three wins, opponents are shooting just 13.3 percent from deep and connecting on just 2.6 threes per game. IUPUI is outscoring foes by five points per game from three and shooting a respectable 34.2 percent from beyond the arc. 

    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.