MILWAUKEE - The IUPUI basketball team will close out its two-game Wisconsin tour on Sunday (Feb. 4) when the Jaguars face Milwaukee (11-11, 6-5 HL) at 2:00 p.m. CT (3 Eastern). The Jags are coming off a road loss at Green Bay on Thursday despite a career-high 15 points from senior John Egbuta. 

IUPUI (6-18, 2-11 HL) started well against the Phoenix and had a 34-30 lead late in the first half before Green Bay closed the stanza with six straight points to take a 36-34 halftime advantage. The Phoenix blew the game open to start the second half and outscored the Jags 43-22 after intermission. 

IUPUI played without top scorer Jlynn Counter as Egbuta emerged with 15 points. Behind him, Bryce Monroe had 12 points and Kidtrell Blocker had 10 points and six rebounds. Blocker has scored in double-digits in consecutive games for the first time this season. 

QUOTABLE
"(We're) optimistic - feeling good. Honestly, the guys are upbeat, positive and kind of collectively coming together," head coach Matt Crenshaw said during Monday's IUPUI Coaches Show. "When you have transfers, you have new pieces, you have pieces who have been out, it just takes a minute for everybody to gel and truly understand their role."

SCOUTING MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee is 11-11 overall this season and 6-5 in Horizon League play. The Panthers are 7-3 at home with the most recent home loss having been a double overtime defeat to league leader Oakland. BJ Freeman (18.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg) leads three Milwaukee players in double-digits, trailed by Erik Pratt (12.8 ppg, 49 3's) and Kentrell Pullian (12.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg). 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 6-15 all-time against Milwaukee, having lost the last six meetings between the two schools. The Jags are 2-10 in 12 meetings in Milwaukee. 

UP NEXT
IUPUI will return home to host Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday (Feb. 10) at 12:00 p.m. 

Notes and Tidbits (click here to download the full IUPUI Game Notes)
    GREEN BAY TIDBITS
    At Green Bay on Thursday, senior John Egbuta, making his third start of the year, matched his career-high in scoring with 15 points (6-8 FG, 3-7 FT) while grabbing five boards... senior Bryce Monroe (12 pts, 3 ast) and Kidtrell Blocker (10 pts, 6 reb) also finished in double-figures... Vincent Brady II collected three steals for a third straight game and has 11 picks in his last four games... IUPUI played without top scorer Jlynn Counter, who missed his second game of the season

    JLYNN COUNTS
    Junior Jlynn Counter ranks among the Horizon League's top-15 in four statistical categories - field goal percentage (9th, 47.5%), free throw percentage (10th, 77.0%), scoring (10th, 15.1 ppg) and assists (t-13th, 2.7 apg). In league play, Counter is second in the league in free throw shooting (88.4%) and also ranks in the top-15 in assists, steals 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 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 785 career points. 
    ...He's scored in double-digits 39 times in 53 career games
    ...He's hit for 20-or-more points 14 times in 53 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 nine games, forward Qwanzi Samuels is a combined 27-of-40 from the field and is now shooting 52.0 percent from the floor this season. 
    His field goal percentage has climbed from 41.6 percent to 52.0 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 12 games in the IUPUI starting lineup (3-9 overall), Samb is averaging 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds, going 32-of-51 from the field (62.7 percent). 
    Samb's field goal percentage has risen from 55.5 percent to 60.3 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 24 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 23 games - Bryce Monroe, Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson. Everyone else has missed at least two games this campaign. 

    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 started 14 straight games before recently being replaced by John Egbuta. Both Vincent Brady II and DJ Jackson were recently awarded a string of starts and 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 22 starts) and 10 different players have started at least one time. 
    IUPUI has used 10 different starting combinations this season. 

    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 24.5 points per game from its reserves this season and has gotten at least 21 bench points in 17 of 24 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 11 minutes per game, led by Bryce Monroe (30.2 mpg) down to Cooper Dewitt (11.7 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 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.