CLEVELAND - For the second time in four days, the IUPUI basketball team will face off with Cleveland State inside CSU's Wolstein Center. This time, the stakes will be higher as Tuesday's (Mar. 5) contest marks the opening round of the 2024 Barbasol #HLMBB Basketball Championship. The winner will move on to play on the road in Thursday's quarterfinal round.  

CSU (18-13) defeated the Jaguars in both teams regular season finale on Saturday, 75-66. Junior Jlynn Counter paced the Jags with 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting and sophomore Abdou Samb chipped in 12 points, making 6-of-7 shots. The Jaguars shot an efficient 50 percent from the floor and made 16-of-17 free throw attempts, but were undone by turnovers as 17 miscues led to 20 CSU points. 

Tristan Enaruna led four Vikings in double-digits with 20 points, including a perfect 11-of-11 from the foul line. Despite the Jaguars' stellar day at the free throw line, they were still outscored at the stripe by the Vikings, 21-16. 

IUPUI (6-25) trailed by as many as 15 midway through the second half, but battled back within two possessions in the final three minutes. Similar to the Jaguars prior loss to Milwaukee, CSU closed the game by outscoring the guests 6-2 in the final 2:32 to seal the victory. 

Sophomore Vincent Brady II had nine points and six rebounds and Kidtrell Blocker, DJ Jackson and Bryce Monroe all scored eight points apiece. 

SCOUTING CLEVELAND STATE
Cleveland State is 18-13 overall and 13-3 at home this season. Enaruna (20.2 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.8 apg) was voted First Team All-Horizon League. The Vikings rely heavily on two additional seniors as Tae Williams (12.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg) and Drew Lowder (11.5 ppg, 2.9 apg) are the team's top three scorers. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IUPUI is 4-11 all-time against Cleveland State and 1-6 in the seven meetings in Cleveland. The Jaguars have dropped 10 straight to the Vikings heading into Tuesday's game with the program's last win over CSU coming back on Jan. 10, 2019. CSU swept the regular season series this season. 

UP NEXT
With a win, IUPUI will advance to the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Tournament, to be played on the road on Thursday, Mar. 7 on ESPN+. 

Notes and Tidbits (click here to download the full IUPUI Game Notes)
    SEEKING NO. 1
    IUPUI enters play seeking the program's first Horizon League Tournament victory. IUPUI hasn't won a conference tournament game since 2016 when the Jaguars defeated North Dakota State in the opening round of the Horizon League Tournament, 76-57. 

    ALL-ACADEMIC
    Last Wednesday (Feb. 28), the league office announced the Valeo #HLMBB All-Academic Teams with senior guard Bryce Monroe being among three who earned honorable mention accolades. Monroe maintains a 3.57 grade point average while majoring in general studies and leads the team in games started (26) and is second in minutes played (30.5), scoring (11.0), assists (76), free throws made (64) and free throw percentage (80.0%). 

    SHUTOUT
    Not unexpected, IUPUI was shutout as postseason awards were announced earlier this week. Three Jaguars were up for Horizon League postseason accolades as Jlynn Counter was on the all-league ballot and sophomore guard Vincent Brady II was up for the league's All-Defensive Team. In addition, senior Yves Nkomba was the Jaguars' nominee for the league's first-ever Sportsmanship Award. 

    FRONTCOURT PRODUCTION
    Last Wednesday's game with Milwaukee marked the first time this season that two players in the Jaguars' starting frontcourt both hit double-digits as Abdou Samb (14 pts, 5 reb) and John Egbuta (12 pts) both reached 10-or-more. 
    The duo combined on 10-of-18 shooting and 6-of-7 from the free throw line.

    JLYNN COUNTS
    Junior Jlynn Counter closed the regular season ranked among the Horizon League's top-15 in six statistical categories - steals (t-6th, 1.5 spg), assists (t-10th, 3.0 apg), assist-to-turnover ratio (11th; 0.92 a/to), free throw percentage (12th, 76.7%), scoring (14th, 14.4 ppg) and field goal percentage (14th, 45.2%).
    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 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 855 career points. 
    ...He's scored in double-digits 43 times in 59 career games
    ...He's hit for 20-or-more points 14 times in 59 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 that 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

    THAT'LL DOU    
    In 19 games in the IUPUI starting lineup, sophomore Abdou Samb is averaging 7.5 points and 3.7 rebounds, going 61-of-96 from the field (63.5 percent). 
    Samb's field goal percentage has risen from 55.5 percent to 61.8 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 31 games so far this season as the other 14 players have missed at least one game due to injury or illness. Only two others have played in 30 games - 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 12 different combinations this season. 
    No IUPUI player has started every game (Monroe leads the team with 26 starts) and 10 different players have started at least seven games. Counter is second on the team with 25 starts.  

    NINE MAN ROTATION
    Nine different Jaguars are playing at least 11 minutes per game, led by Jlynn Counter (30.5 mpg) down to Cooper Dewitt (11.2 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.