INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will continue its current homestand on Thursday night (Jan. 25) when the Jaguars host Youngstown State (14-6, 6-3 HL) at 7:00 p.m. inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Thursday's game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) call the action. 

The Jaguars are coming off an 80-63 defeat to Robert Morris to kickoff the homestand, despite a game-high 23 points from junior Jlynn Counter. Counter connected on 8-of-14 shots and closed with a team-high four assists in 33 minutes. DJ Jackson scored 11 points, including a pair of treys, off the bench and Bryce Monroe and Vincent Brady II finished with 10 apiece. Robert Morris hit 16 treys in the victory with six different players hitting at least one. Josh Corbin paced the Colonials with 20 points and Justice Williams added 17 with five treys. 

RMU built a 42-26 halftime lead and never looked back in the 17-point win. 

For the season, Counter leads the squad in scoring (15.2 ppg), assists (2.8 apg) and minutes played (29.9 mpg) while ranking second on the team in steals (25) and rebounds (4.3 rpg). Monroe also averages double-digits at 10.9 points per game while Jackson (9.6 ppg) and Brady (9.3 ppg) are just under the mark. 

SCOUTING YOUNGSTOWN STATE
YSU is 14-6 on the season and 6-3 in Horizon League play. The Penguins have won four of their past five games, including a 105-64 win at Detroit Mercy on Saturday. The Penguins outscore foes by more than 10 points per game with four YSU players averaging double-digits in Ziggy Reid (13.9 ppg), Brandon Rush (12.9), Brett Thompson (12.2) and DJ Burns (11.3). Two others, Bryson Langdon (8.4) and John Lovelace Jr. (8.0) also score better than eight per game. Burns leads the team in rebounding at 9.1 caroms per contest while the Penguins outrebound foes by 6.3 rebounds per contest. As a team, YSU is shooting 46.1 percent from the floor and holding foes to just 41.6 percent overall. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 2-20 all-time against Youngstown State and 0-8 in eight meetings in Indianapolis. The Penguins have won the last six meetings between the two sides, including a 75-65 victory in Youngstown earlier this season. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will cap its three-game homestand on Sunday (Jan. 28) when it hosts Wright State at noon inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum on ESPN+. 

Notes and Tidbits (click here to download the full IUPUI Game Notes)
    JLYNN COUNTS
    Junior Jlynn Counter ranks among the Horizon League's top-15 in five statistical categories - field goal percentage (6th, 48.3%), scoring (8th, 15.2 ppg), free throw percentage (9th, 76.0%), assists (11th, 2.8 apg) and steals (t-13th, 1.3 spg). In league play, Counter is second in the league in free throw shooting (90.3%) and also ranks in the top-15 in steals, assists and field goal percentage. 
    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 is coming off a 23-point showing against Robert Morris, matching his season-high and most by a Jaguar this season. The Oklahoma City-native tallied his 500th career point against Elon on Nov. 17 and enters today with 756 career points. 
    ...He's scored in double-digits 37 times in 51 career games
    ...He's hit for 20-or-more points 14 times in 51 career games

    BIG. ROAD. DUB. 
    IUPUI recently earned its best win of the season, having won at Purdue Fort Wayne last 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 the 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 eight games, sophomore Vincent Brady II is averaging 13.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting 41 percent overall.  
    The last time IUPUI played 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 six games, forward Qwanzi Samuels is a combined 19-of-25 from the field and is now shooting 51.8 percent from the floor this season. 
    His field goal percentage has climbed from 41.6 percent to 51.8 percent during that span. 

    THAT'LL DOU    
    Sophomore Abdou Samb recently had his best offensive output of the season, scoring a season-high 13 points (6-10 FG) at Purdue Fort Wayne, including four dunks. 
    In nine games in the IUPUI starting lineup (3-6 overall), Samb is averaging 6.9 points and 3.7 rebounds, going 26-of-38 from the field (68.4 percent). 
    Samb's field goal percentage has risen from 55.5 percent to 63.1 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 21 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 past two games 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 13 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 19 starts) and 10 different players have started at least one time. 

    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 24.7 points per game from its reserves this season and has gotten at least 21 bench points in 16 of 21 games (including six games of 30+). 
    Nearly 37 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 (29.9 mpg) down to Cooper Dewitt (12.3 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.