DETROIT - The IUPUI basketball team will embark on a two-game road trip, beginning on Wednesday (Feb. 14) as the Jaguars take on Detroit Mercy (0-26, 0-15 HL) inside Calihan Hall at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+. IUPUI (6-20, 2-13 HL) comes in seeking a third true road win of the season. 

The are looking to snap out of some recent doldrums, having dropped six straight entering Wednesday's game. Junior Jlynn Counter, who missed two of those six losses, paces the team in scoring (14.8 ppg), while senior Bryce Monroe is second on the team in scoring (11.3 ppg) and leads the squad in assists (63). Monroe is coming off a 16-point effort in Saturday's home loss to Purdue Fort Wayne. Sophomore Vincent Brady II had 11 points, seven rebounds and a career-high five steals in that contest as the Jaguars collected 12 steals. 

IUPUI is looking for a regular season series sweep of the Titans after defeating Detroit Mercy 67-55 back on Dec. 29. IUPUI led wire-to-wire in that contest and led by as many as 25 points midway through the second half. Brady had a team-high 17 points in that victory and Monroe and DJ Jackson added 13 apiece. Both teams' top scorers - Counter and UDM's Jayden Stone - missed that contest. 

SCOUTING DETROIT MERCY
Detroit Mercy enters the game at 0-26 on the season and 0-15 in Horizon League play. The Titans have had five games decided by five points or less, including a one-point loss at Ole Miss back in November and a double overtime loss at Robert Morris in mid-January. Jayden Stone (20.5 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and Marcus Tankersley (16.0 ppg) lead the Titans in scoring as they rank first and ninth in the league in scoring, respectively. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 3-7 all-time against Detroit Mercy, but 0-4 in the four meetings in Detroit.  

UP NEXT
IUPUI will close out the two-game Michigan trip at Oakland University on Saturday (Feb. 17) at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN+. 

Notes and Tidbits (click here to download the full IUPUI Game Notes)
    PURDUE FORT WAYNE LEFTOVERS
    IUPUI fell to Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday (Feb. 10), 92-67... Bryce Monroe had a team-high 16 points (4-9 FG, 8-8 FT) and Vincent Brady II had 11 points (5-11 FG, 1-3 FT), a season-high seven rebounds and career-high five steals... IUPUI had 12 steals, paced by Brady (5) and three from Jlynn Counter... Qwanzi Samuels finished with nine points (4-5 FG, 1-2 FT) off the Jaguars' bench.

    JLYNN COUNTS
    Junior Jlynn Counter ranks among the Horizon League's top-15 in five statistical categories - field goal percentage (10th, 47.4%), scoring (12th, 14.8 ppg), free throw percentage (13th, 76.9%), assists (t-13th, 2.7 apg) and steals (t-13th, 1.3 spg). In league play, Counter is second in the league in free throw shooting (87.2%).
    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 recent 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 792 career points. 
    ...He's scored in double-digits 39 times in 54 career games
    ...He's hit for 20-or-more points 14 times in 54 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
    Since the calendar turned to 2024, forward Qwanzi Samuels is a combined 34-of-50 from the field and is now shooting 53.6 percent from the floor this season. 
    His field goal percentage has climbed from 41.6 percent to 53.6 percent during that span. 

    THAT'LL DOU    
    Sophomore Abdou Samb 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 14 games in the IUPUI starting lineup (3-11 overall), Samb is averaging 7.0 points and 3.8 rebounds, going 41-of-66 from the field (62.1 percent). 
    Samb's field goal percentage has risen from 55.5 percent to 60.2 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 26 games so far this season as the other 14 players have missed at least one game due to injury or illness. Only three others have played in 25 games - Bryce Monroe, Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson. Everyone else has missed at least two games this campaign. 

    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. 

    FOR STARTERS
    With the glut of injuries and sickness, head coach Matt Crenshaw has found himself shuffling his starting lineup, using 10 different combinations this season. 
    No IUPUI player has started every game (Monroe leads the team with 24 starts) and 10 different players have started at least four games. Counter is second on the team with 20 starts.  

    NINE MAN ROTATION
    Nine different Jaguars are playing at least 11 minutes per game, led by Bryce Monroe (30.6 mpg) down to Cooper Dewitt (11.5 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
    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 early season 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.