INDIANAPOLIS - Coming off its most impressive performance of the season, the IUPUI basketball team will return home to host Robert Morris (7-12, 3-5 HL) inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum on Saturday (Jan. 20) at noon. The Jaguars went on the road and defeated Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday night, 85-79, as five Jaguars finished in double-figures. IUPUI shot a season-high 59.3 percent from the field, attempting just five threes, while outscoring the Mastodons 58-42 in the paint. IUPUI won the glass 38-28, fueled by Qwanzi Samuels' team-high 10 boards and nine points off the bench. 

Junior Jlynn Counter tallied a team-high 18 points in the win while DJ Jackson hit 7-of-9 shots and scored 17 points off the bench. Sophomore Abdou Samb tallied a career-high 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting and had a key block in the closing minutes to help seal the win. IUPUI fell behind 11-2 in the opening five minutes, but retaliated with an 18-2 run to surge in front midway through the first stanza. After leading 39-31 at halftime, IUPUI scored the first two buckets of the second half to rebuild a double-digit lead. The Jaguars then weathered a storm and never relinquished the lead, despite the Mastodons cutting the Jaguars' lead back to one possession on numerous occasions. 

The Jaguars held the usually sharpshooting 'Dons to just 7-of-25 (28 percent) from three-point range while handing Purdue Fort Wayne just its second home loss of the season. Vince Brady II finished with 12 points, including a pair of threes, and Bryce Monroe added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. The victory snapped IUPUI's five-game losing skid. 

QUOTABLE
"Huge road win for us, obviously. The guys executed and we got enough (defensive) stops, especially at key times. This was a true team win. Every guy played their role and that's what has to happen to win on the road," head coach Matt Crenshaw said following Wednesday's win. 

SCOUTING ROBERT MORRIS
RMU is 7-12 on the season and 3-5 in Horizon League play. The Colonials come in having won two straight, including a 102-99 double overtime victory at Detroit Mercy earlier this week. Markese Hastings leads the RMU attack at 15.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and also leads the squad in blocked shots (14). Four other Colonials check in averaging double-digits as Justice Williams (13.1 ppg), Josh Corbin (12.6 ppg, 45 3's), Stephaun Walker (11.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and TJ Wainwright (10.9 ppg) all score better than 10 per game. For the year, RMU is outrebounding foes by nearly four caroms per game. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 2-4 all-time against Robert Morris and 1-1 in two meetings in Indy. RMU defeated the Jaguars earlier this season, 92-48, in Moon Township back on Jan. 4. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will continue its homestand on Thursday (Jan. 25) when the Jaguars host Youngstown State at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum.  

Notes and Tidbits (click here to download the full IUPUI Game Notes)
    BIG. ROAD. DUB. 
    IUPUI is fresh off its best win of the season, having won at Purdue Fort Wayne on Wednesday night (Jan. 17), 85-79. The Jaguars had their best offensive game of the season, shooting a season-high 59.3 percent from the floor. The Jaguars scored a season-high 58 points in the paint, including making 18-of-22 (82 percent) shot at or near the rim. 
    Here are some other notes from Wednesday's win: 
    -It marked just the second home loss for Purdue Fort Wayne this season
    -It was the first time all season IUPUI had five players score in double-digits
    -IUPUI had a season-high six dunks (Samb 4, Samuels 2); Samb had four dunks all season long before finishing four on Wednesday
    -IUPUI's five three-point attempts were the team's fewest since also attempting four against Denver on Feb. 14, 2015

    BRADY BUNCH (OF NOTES)
    The past seven games, sophomore Vincent Brady II is averaging 14 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 42 percent overall and 14-of-37 (37.8 percent) from three. He's made at least one three in each of IUPUI's last seven games and scored in double-digits in six of the team's last seven games.  
    At Youngstown State, Brady hit for a season-high 18 points (5-10 FG, 4-6 3's, 4-4 FT), including a season-high four treys (most by an IUPUI player this season).

    HOT QWANZ
    The past five games, forward Qwanzi Samuels is a combined 17-of-22 from the field and is now shooting 51.2 percent from the floor this season. 
    His field goal percentage has climbed from 41.6 percent to 51.2 percent over the past five games. 

    THAT'LL DOU    
    Sophomore Abdou Samb is coming off his best offensive output of the season, scoring a season-high 13 points (6-10 FG) at Purdue Fort Wayne, including four dunks. 
    In eight games in the IUPUI starting lineup (3-5 overall), Samb is averaging 7.5 points and 3.5 rebounds, going 25-of-36 from the field (69.4 percent). 
    Samb's field goal percentage has risen from 55.5 percent to 63.5 percent since he moved into the starting five.

    #SCTOP10
    IUPUI players were featured on ESPN's SportsCenter Top 10 Plays twice in three days on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 with a pair of dunks. 
    Against Detroit Mercy on Dec. 29, Kidtrell Blocker's one-handed dunk from the right side was the No. 8 play on SportsCenter. 
    Two days later, Vincent Brady II's one-handed dunk from the left baseline was chosen as the No. 4 play in the country that evening. 

    ONLY THE LONELY    
    Only one IUPUI player (Qwanzi Samuels) has appeared in all 20 games so far this season as the other 14 players have missed at least one game due to injury or illness. The most recent to have been sidelined is John Egbuta, who missed the game at Purdue Fort Wayne due to illness.  

    FOR STARTERS
    With the glut of injuries and sickness, head coach Matt Crenshaw has found himself shuffling his starting lineup. After relying on the starting group of Jlynn Counter, Bryce Monroe, Kidtrell Blocker, Qwanzi Samuels and Yves Nkomba to start the season (7 games, 2-5 overall), Crenshaw has tried some alternatives of late. 
    Cooper Dewitt has started 12 straight games in place of Samuels and both Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson were recently awarded a string of starts. Sophomore Abdou Samb moved into the starting five, replacing Nkomba ahead of the Dec. 21 game with Defiance. 
    No IUPUI player has started every game (Monroe leads the team with 18 starts) and 10 different players have started at least one time. 

     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; 10th in HL) and assists (52) while ranking second on the team in rebounding (4.4 rpg) and steals (24).
    Counter, a preseason Second Team All-Horizon League pick, led the team in scoring (14.5 ppg) and assists (3.3 apg) last season. 

    COUNTER COUNT
    Counter tallied his 500th career point against Elon on Nov. 17 and enters today with 733 career points. 
    ...He's scored in double-digits 36 times in 50 career games
    ...He's hit for 20-or-more points 13 times in 50 career games

    QWANZ SEES DOUBLE
    Graduate transfer Qwanzi Samuels recorded his first collegiate double-double at Minnesota (Dec. 16), having finished with a career-high 13 points (5-8 FG, 3-3 FT), 10 rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes off the Jaguars' bench. 
    It marked his first-ever double-digit scoring game (in his 96th career game) and his second career game with 10-or-more rebounds. 

    BENCH WORK
    IUPUI is averaging 25.1 points per game from its reserves this season and has gotten at least 21 bench points in 16 of 20 games (including six games of 30+). 
    Nearly 38 percent of the team's offensive production has come from reserves this season. 

    NINE MAN ROTATION
    Nine different Jaguars are playing at least 12 minutes per game, led by Jlynn Counter (29.7 mpg) down to Cooper Dewitt (12.2 mpg). 

    IN THE CLASSROOM
    Seven members of the squad topped a 3.0 grade point average for the fall semester, paced by John Egbuta (3.62) and Amhad Jarrard (3.51). Others included Vincent Brady II (3.48), Yves Nkomba (3.46), Derek Petersen (3.29), Qwanzi Samuels (3.12) and Bryce Monroe (3.00).  

    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.