MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - The IUPUI basketball team will open the 2024 calendar year on Thursday (Jan. 4) when the Jaguars take on Robert Morris (4-11, 0-4 HL) at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+. IUPUI (5-10, 1-3 HL) has won two of its last three games and just missed a three-game winning streak, but fell in the closing minutes to Cleveland State at home on New Year's Eve. IUPUI was tied with the Vikings with just more than four minutes to play before the Vikings closed with a 13-4 rally to win, 86-77. 

Sophomore Vincent Brady II and senior Bryce Monroe scored a team-high 16 points apiece and senior John Egbuta tallied a season-high 14 points off the bench, including three threes. Monroe also delivered a season-high six assists with just one turnover while IUPUI turned it over just 10 times in the loss. IUPUI trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half, but rallied all the way back to take a two-point lead in the closing minutes. However, CSU threw the final punch of the day, fueled by a career-high 23 points from Jayson Woodrich and 18 points from Tristan Enaruna. 

Sophomore DJ Jackson tallied 10 points for the Jaguars and Jlynn Counter, who missed the prior game due to sickness, contributed six points, three boards and three assists off the bench. 

QUOTABLE
"I thought we fought hard today. We really fought and that's a really good team. Your margin for error is really small against a good team like that and it came down to some close misses down the stretch," head coach Matt Crenshaw said following the loss to Cleveland State on Sunday (Dec. 31). 

SCOUTING ROBERT MORRIS
Robert Morris is 4-11 overall and 0-4 to start Horizon League play. The Colonials are 3-4 at home this season with wins over Point Park, Fairleigh Dickinson and Saint Vincent inside the UPMC Events Center. Five different RMU players are scoring in double-digits, led by Markese Hastings (15.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg), Justice Williams (12.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg) and Josh Corbin (12.5 ppg, 32 3's). In addition, Stephaun Walker (11.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and TJ Wainwright (10.4 ppg) also score in double figures. As a team, RMU is shooting 43.2 percent and 31.8 percent from three-point range while allowing opponents to shoot 47.2 percent from the floor. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 2-3 all-time against Robert Morris and 1-2 in the three meetings in Pennsylvania. RMU won the most recent meeting on Feb. 28, 2023, 67-64 in Moon Township in the opening round of the 2023 Horizon League Tournament. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will close out the trip at Youngstown State on Sunday (Jan. 7) at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+.  

Notes and Tidbits (click here to download the full IUPUI Game Notes)
    FOR STARTERS
    With the glut of injuries and sickness, head coach Matt Crenshaw has found himself shuffling the starting five of late. After relying on the starting group of Jlynn Counter, Bryce Monroe, Kidtrell Blocker, Qwanzi Samuels and Yves Nkomba to start the season (8 games, 2-6 overall), Crenshaw has tried some alternatives of late. 
    Cooper Dewitt has started the past seven games in place of Samuels and both Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson have recently earned four starts. Most recently, sophomore Abdou Samb moved into the starting five, replace Nkomba ahead of the Dec. 21 game with Defiance.  

    SAMB, FOR STARTERS
    In three games in the IUPUI starting lineup (2-1 overall), sophomore Abdou Samb is averaging 8.3 points and 4.7 rebounds, going 11-of-12 from the field in those three contests. 
    The past three games, Samb's field goal percentage has risen from 55.5 percent to 66.7 percent. 

    ACTION JACKSON
    Sophomore DJ Jackson has started the past four games, scoring double-digits in all four contests. During that span, Jackson is averaging 13.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg and 1.8 steals/game while shooting 18-of-35 (51.4%) from the floor and 15-of-19 (78.9%) from the foul line. 
    Jackson had scored in double-digits just two times in the season's first 11 games. 

    PRINCE VINCE
    Sophomore Vincent Brady II has taken on a larger offensive role the past two games, both in the starting lineup. In his past two outings, Brady is averaging 16.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game while shooting 11-of-23 (47.8%) from the field. Brady had scored in double-figures just one time in the season's first 13 games before hitting for 10-or-more in the past two games. 

    JOHNNY BE GOOD
    Senior John Egbuta is coming off his best game of the season, scoring 14 points (5-6 FG, 3-4 3's, 1-2 FT) in just 15 minutes against Cleveland State on Dec. 31. Egbuta made a career-high three threes and entered the game having made three threes all season long. 

    #SCTOP10
    IUPUI players were featured on ESPN's SportsCenter Top10 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. 

     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 (15.4 ppg),assists (2.7 apg), field goal percentage (49.4%) and free throws made (41). He ranks second on the team in  rebounding (4.5 rpg) and finds himself among the Horizon League's top-10 in scoring 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 tallied his 500th career point against Elon on Nov. 17 and enters today with 667 career points. 
    ...He's scored in double-digits 32 times in 45 career games
    ...He's hit for 20-or-more points 13 times in 45 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 26.3 points per game from its reserves this season and has gotten at least 21 bench points in 14 of 15 games (including five games of 30+). 

    TEN MAN ROTATION
    Ten different Jaguars are playing at least 10 minutes per game, led by Jlynn Counter (30.0 mpg) down to Yves Nkomba (10.5 mpg). 
    Eight of the 10 have scored in double-digits at least once this year.

    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.