INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI basketball team will cap its current homestand with a Sunday meeting (Jan. 28) with Wright State (11-10, 6-4 HL) inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum at noon. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and IUPUI Hall of Famer Bob Lovell (analyst) describe the action from courtside. 

The Jaguars (6-16, 2-9 HL) are looking to salvage a victory on the current three-game homestand after losses to Robert Morris and Youngstown State. IUPUI is also looking to avoid a regular season series sweep against Wright State after having lost to the Raiders in Dayton back on Nov. 29, 103-74. Senior Bryce Monroe led four Jaguars in double-digits in that defeat with 20 points and Jlynn Counter chimed in with 17 points. Kidtrell Blocker just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds and Abdou Samb added 11 points off the bench. 

Wright State shot 61 percent from the floor in that win as Tanner Holden scored a game-high 26 points on 11-of-14 shooting. IUPUI fell to Youngstown State on Thursday night, 78-50, as Monroe scored a team-high 11 points in that defeat. IUPUI shot just 33.9 percent overall and went 0-for-14 from three against the Penguins. YSU closed at 51 percent from the floor and was paced by 16 points apiece from Ziggy Reid and DJ Burns. 

Counter continues to lead the team in scoring (15.0 ppg) and assists (57) while Monroe is second on the team in both categories at 10.9 points per game and 51 assists. Sophomores DJ Jackson (9.3 ppg) and Vincent Brady II (9.1 ppg) are third and fourth on the team in scoring, respectively. In league play, Counter (13.8 ppg), Brady (11.1) and Monroe (11.0) are all scoring in double-digits while Jackson is fourth at 9.2 per game. 

SCOUTING WRIGHT STATE
Wright State is 11-10 overall and 6-4 in Horizon League play. The Raiders come in riding back-to-back wins, having defeated Milwaukee and at Cleveland State in their past two outings. Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year Trey Calvin leads the Raiders in scoring (19.6 ppg), assists (4.2 apg) and threes made (39) while Tanner Holden is second on the team in scoring (16.9 ppg) and rebounding (6.1 rpg). Five different Raiders average double-digits as Brandon Noel (13.9 ppg), Alex Huibregtse (11.0) and AJ Braun (10.9) are next in line. WSU comes in scoring 86.3 points per game and shooting 53.7 percent as a team.  

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 3-22 all-time against Wright State and has lost 12 straight to the Raiders. IUPUI is just 2-9 all-time in home games against WSU. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will travel to Green Bay on Thursday, Feb. 1 for an 11:00 a.m. CST (12 Eastern) tip-off 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 (9th, 47.4%), scoring (10th, 15.0 ppg), free throw percentage (12th, 75.3%) and assists (11th, 2.7 apg). In league play, Counter is second in the league in free throw shooting (86.5%) and also ranks in the top-15 in 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 had a 23-point showing against Robert Morris on Thursday, 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 766 career points. 
    ...He's scored in double-digits 38 times in 52 career games
    ...He's hit for 20-or-more points 14 times in 51 career games

    BIG. ROAD. DUB. 
    IUPUI earned its best win of the season at Purdue Fort Wayne on 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 in that contest
    -IUPUI's five three-point attempts were the team's fewest since also attempting four against Denver on Feb. 14, 2015

    HOT QWANZ
    The past seven games, forward Qwanzi Samuels is a combined 21-of-27 from the field and is now shooting 52.9 percent from the floor this season. 
    His field goal percentage has climbed from 41.6 percent to 52.9 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 10 games in the IUPUI starting lineup (3-7 overall), Samb is averaging 6.9 points and 3.8 rebounds, going 29-of-43 from the field (67.4 percent). 
    Samb's field goal percentage has risen from 55.5 percent to 62.9 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 22 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 two games due to illness before returning on Thursday night against YSU. 

    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 14 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 20 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. 

    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.