INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will close out the 2022-23 regular season on Saturday night (Feb. 25) when the Jaguars welcome Horizon League leader Youngstown State to The Jungle for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and tickets will be available in-person only, going on sale at 6:00 p.m. when doors open. 

IUPUI will honor its four graduates prior to Saturday's game as Jonah Carrasco, Zach Gunn, Chris Osten and Marlon Taylor will all be recognized. 

On the court, the Jaguars are coming off an 81-75 win over Robert Morris on Thursday night as freshman DJ Jackson posted a career-high 24 points and 12 rebounds in the victory. Jackson connected on 7-of-11 shots and all 10 of his free throw attempts to lead the way offensively while Jlynn Counter added 17 points and three assists and Vincent Brady II closed with 12 points and seven rebounds. IUPUI shot better than 55 percent from the floor in the second half and piled up 52 points in erasing RMU's five-point halftime lead. Defensively, the Jags held RMU to just 39.7 percent shooting and without a made three in the second half in the come-from-behind win. 

The Jags also cleaned up the glass well, outrebounding the Colonials 42-32 overall. 

QUOTABLE
"Honestly, just a gutsy win. Our freshmen are growing up and not really playing like freshmen now. You saw DJ have a monster game and Armon had two four-point plays down the stretch. Those aren't plays that freshmen make. Vince has continued to be really good for us and another guy, (Counter), played like a go-to player for us. Every guy that played tonight contributed to the win. That was special to be able to take down a team that's as hot as anyone in our league right now. Now, we have to back it up and take care of business on Saturday," head coach Matt Crenshaw said following his team's win over Robert Morris. 

SCOUTING YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Youngstown State enters play at 22-8 overall and 14-5 in Horizon League play. The Penguins are 9-6 away from home this season and are easily one of the league's most efficient offensive squads. They shoot 49.1 percent from the floor and 37.6 percent from three-point range while averaging 83.1 points per game. They have outscored their opponents by more than 10 points per game this season and also generally win the glass, having outrebounded foes by 3.3 boards per game. Dwayne Cohill (17.9 ppg, 4.9 apg, 52.4 FG%) is one of four Penguins scoring in double-digits and is followed by Brandon Rush (14.0 ppg, 67 3's), Malek Green (13.7 ppg, 7.0 rpg) and Adrian Nelson (13.1 ppg, 9.6 rpg). 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will open the Horizon League Tournament on Tuesday, Feb. 28 on the road for its opening round game. Tuesday's opponent will be determined by Saturday's outcomes across the league. 

Tidbits heading into Saturday's game (click here for full game notes)
    DJ SPINS A DOUBLE-DOUBLE
    Freshman DJ Jackson spun his first career double-double on Thursday night (Feb. 23) with a career-high 24 points (7-11 FG, 10-10 FT) and career-high 12 rebounds. Jackson, the reigning #HLMBB Freshman of the Week, has scored 20-or-more in two of IUPUI's last three games. 
    Having missed nearly two months earlier this season, Jackson has since shaken off the delayed start and is averaging 9.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game in 19 games (15 starts).  

    ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT HONOREES
    IUPUI's Jonah Carrasco and Boston Stanton III were both named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District earlier this week. Carrasco completed his undergrad with a 3.64 GPA and has maintained a 3.83 mark as he pursues his Master's degree in organizational leadership. Stanton has a 3.70 GPA while majoring in psychology. 

    ABOUT TIME
    IUPUI's six-point win over Robert Morris on Thursday was the first time this season the Jaguars have won a game by seven points or fewer. Coming in, IUUPI was 0-8 this season in games this season decided by seven points or less. 
    Half of IUPUI's most recent 12 losses have come by seven points or fewer, including an overtime loss to Oakland on Jan. 19. 
    Thursday's win also marked the first time in head coach Matt Crenshaw's two-year tenure that the Jaguars erased a halftime deficit to come back and win. 

    EIGHT AWARDS; THREE FRESH AWARDEES    
    IUPUI freshmen have collected eight #HLMBB Freshman of the Week Awards this season as Vincent Brady II has collected four honors and DJ Jackson and Armon Jarrard have been honored twice.
    Brady is second on the team in scoring (11.0 ppg) and third in rebounding (4.0 rpg) and leads the team in minutes played (32.0 mpg, 14th in the HL) and threes made (55). Brady comes in having made at least one three in 25 straight games and in 28 of the team's 30 games this season. He comes in having scored in double-digits in a career-high six straight games, averaging 14.5 points per game during that span and shooting 40.5 percent from three in those five contests. 

    A VERY BRADY DUNK
    Speaking of Brady, you may have seen him on your timeline recently as his dunk in the closing minutes of IUPUI's win over Green Bay went viral on social media. Brady threw down a vicious one-handed hammer with 2:40 to play over GB's Cade Meyer, later earning ESPN's #SCTop10's No. 1 play and 'Dunk of the Day' honors, along with additional mentions from Fox Sports, NCAA March Madness, House of Highlights and other social accounts. It received just under 1-million views on ESPN's SportsCenter account alone. 

    FRESH DUBS
    It would appear that Brady will be hovering around double-digits in scoring all season long as he sits at 11.0 points per game entering today's game, which would break the program's freshman record.   
    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. The aforementioned Young went on to score 2,286 points in his four-year IUPUI career and current Indiana Pacer George Hill scored 1,619 points in three-plus seasons before being drafted in the first round of the 2008 NBA Draft. 
    Here's the full list of IUPUI true freshmen to score in double digits for a season in the Division I era (1998-present). 
    Vincent Brady II - 11.0 ppg (2022-23)
    Alex Young - 10.8 ppg (2008-09)
    George Hill - 10.7 ppg (2004-05)

    COUNTER POINTS
    It's safe to say that sophomore guard Jlynn Counter has emerged as the program's most important player this season. Here are a few nuggets about the Oklahoma City-native.
    -he's scored 20-or-more in five of IUPUI's last 11 games and scored in double-digits in eight of the team's last 11 games
    -he ranks among the Horizon League's top-15 in scoring (14.0 ppg), assists (3.3 apg), field goal percentage (48.6%) and free throw percentage (81.4%)
    -in Horizon League play, he's averaging 14.0 points, 4.0 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game
    -he started the year 0-of-14 from three in the season's first 12 games, but has shot a manageable 13-of-41 (31.7 percent) since.

    BAKERS DOZEN
    Senior Marlon Taylor became the 13th different player to start a game this season as he was awarded his first collegiate start at Oakland on Feb. 15. All 12 of the Jaguars' scholarship players have started at least one game this season as graduate student Jonah Carrasco started in place of an injured Chris Osten at Cleveland State. 

    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 (26 games missed) and DJ Jackson (11 games). Other scholarship student-athletes who have missed multiple games this season include Daylan Hamilton (12 games), Amhad Jarrard (9 games), Armon Jarrard (7 games), John Egbuta (5 games), Cooper Dewitt (5 games) and Boston Stanton III (3 games). 
    Behind IUPUI, Wyoming and Iona have all had nine student-athletes miss time.  
    IUPUI has not had a game this season in which the entire roster was available. 

    THE ONLY ONE IS NO. 1
    True freshman Vincent Brady II is the only IUPUI player to have appeared in all 29 games this season and is tied with Chris Osten with a team-high 28 starting nods. 

    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 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 67.9 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 76.3 percent from the field (58-of-76) at home this year and shooting 73.1 percent in Horizon League games. He's doesn't qualify to be among the national or Horizon League leaders (needs 5 FGM/game to qualify), but would rank fifth nationally if he did qualify. 
    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.