YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - The IUPUI basketball team will be back in action on Sunday (Jan. 7) when the Jaguars take on Youngstown State (10-5, 2-2 HL) inside the Beeghly Center at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN+. The Jaguars are coming off a sour performance at Robert Morris on Thursday as they fell to the Colonials, 92-48. Sophomores Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson scored a team-high 12 points apiece in the defeat. Brady also grabbed a team-high six boards in the defeat. 

The Jaguars are seeking a rare win against Youngstown State, coming into play at 2-19 all-time against the Penguins. IUPUI has dropped five straight to YSU coming into Sunday's contest. 

For the season, junior guard Jlynn Counter tops the Jaguars in scoring (14.8 ppg), assists (2.7 apg) and ranking second on the squad in rebounding (4.3 rpg). Behind him, senior guard Bryce Monroe is averaging 10.9 points per game while both Brady and Jackson are averaging in double-digits since joining the starting five. Jackson has scored in double-figures in five straight games coming into Sunday's matchup while Brady has done so in three-in-a-row. 

SCOUTING YOUNGSTOWN STATE
Youngstown State is 10-5 on the season and 2-2 in Horizon League play. The Penguins are 7-1 in eight home games with the only loss having come to Oakland by an 88-81 score on Dec. 31. YSU is scoring 81.1 points per game and shooting 46.6 percent from the floor while outrebounding foes by 6.6 rebounds per contest. Brandon Rush (13.5 ppg 40 3's) and Ziggy Reid (12.0 ppg) lead four Penguins averaging double-figures while Murray State-transfer DJ Burns (11.4 ppg, 8.9 rpg) is anchoring the interior. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 2-19 all-time against Youngstown State and 0-8 in the eight meetings in Indianapolis. YSU has won the last five meetings between the two programs. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will return home to host Green Bay on Wednesday (Jan. 10) at noon inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Wednesday's game will be a Corporate Luncheon Day and local businesses interested in attending can receive FREE tickets by clicking here. 

Notes and Tidbits (click here to download the full IUPUI Game Notes)
    POWER OUTAGE
    IUPUI had an offensive power outage at Robert Morris on Thursday night (Jan. 4), scoring a season-low 48 points while shooting a season worst 32 percent from the floor. In addition, the Jaguars put up season-lows in field goals made (16), defensive rebounds (11), rebounds (22) and rebound margin (-17). 
    The Jaguars also yielded a season worst 63.3 percent to the Colonials in the 92-48 defeat. 

    #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 three Jaguars (Kidtrell Blocker, John Egbuta and Qwanzi Samuels) have appeared in all 16 games so far this season as 12 different players have missed at least one game due to injury or illness. 

    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 eight games in place of Samuels and both Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson have recently earned five starts. Most recently, sophomore Abdou Samb moved into the starting five, replacing Nkomba ahead of the Dec. 21 game with Defiance.

    SAMB, FOR STARTERS
    In four games in the IUPUI starting lineup (2-2 overall), sophomore Abdou Samb is averaging 7.3 points and 3.8 rebounds, going 12-of-16 from the field in those three contests. 
    The past four games, Samb's field goal percentage has risen from 55.5 percent to 62.8 percent since he moved into the starting five.

    ACTION JACKSON
    Sophomore DJ Jackson has started the past five games, scoring double-digits in all five contests. During that span, Jackson is averaging 12.8 ppg, 3.6 rpg and 1.4 steals/game while shooting 22-of-44 (50%) from the floor and 18-of-22 (81.8%) 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 three games, both in the starting lineup. In his past three outings, Brady is averaging 15.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting 14-of-33 (42.4%) 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 three games. 

     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 (14.8 ppg; 8th in HL),assists (2.7 apg) and free throws made (41). He ranks second on the team in rebounding (4.3 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 673 career points. 
    ...He's scored in double-digits 32 times in 46 career games
    ...He's hit for 20-or-more points 13 times in 46 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 25.8 points per game from its reserves this season and has gotten at least 21 bench points in 14 of 16 games (including five games of 30+). 

    TEN MAN ROTATION
    Ten different Jaguars are playing at least 10 minutes per game, led by Bryce Monroe (29.4 mpg) down to Yves Nkomba (10.4 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.