CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The IU Indianapolis men's basketball team will play its lone exhibition game of the 2026-2027 season on Tuesday night (Oct. 27) when the Jaguars face Austin Peay at 7:00 p.m. CT inside F&M Bank Arena. Tuesday's contest will be broadcast on ESPN+. 

Head coach Ben Howlett's team is coming off a 7-25 campaign and returns a pair of letterwinners in junior forward Kameron Tinsley (7.9 ppg, 47 3's) and sophomore forward Reece Hagy (2.4 ppg, 23 starts). Optimism is high in Howlett's second season after an offseason in which the Jaguars brought in eight transfers and four true freshmen. The group of transfers is highlighted by 6-foot guard Gus Etchison, who averaged nearly nine points per game at Idaho State last season. The local product was one of the top NAIA players in the country at nearby Marian University from 2023-25 before playing last season in the Big Sky. 

Senior Precious Idiaru provides size and versatility at 6-foot-10 and was a key member of Gannon University's NCAA Division II National Championship team last year as he averaged 11.2 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Another transfer, Billy Smith, returns home after having scored more than 1,000 collegiate points in stops at Miami, Bellarmine and Chattanooga. The 6-foot-7 swingman has made more than 200 career treys and averaged a career-high 14.0 points per game two seasons ago at Bellarmine. Other transfers include Antoine Arnett (Cal. U.), Jason Clarke Jr. (Appalachian State), Peyton Heiss (Mount Vernon Nazarene), Markus Pastorcic-Straun (Colorado School of Mines) and Manasseh Stackhouse (Cloud County C.C.).

The freshman class is headlined by rookie guards Trey Drexler and Tarik Fadel Mula. Drexler was a two-time finalist for Ohio Mr. Basketball while at Brunswick High School while Fadel Mula was one of the top guards in the Cincinnati-area after beginning his high school career in the Orlando-area. Another rookie guard, Kaloyan Kolev, joins the program after a standout high school career at Virginia Episcopal School. 

QUOTABLE
"I think we're ready to go out and compete and see where we stack up," Howlett said. "The guys are buying in and have been working really hard in practice. We've played a couple closed scrimmages, but it's different to go out and play in front of a crowd in front of the lights. This will be a good test for our guys because this is a really good team and really good program."

SCOUTING AUSTIN PEAY
Austin Peay is coming off a 22-9 campaign and 15-3 record in the ASUN a season ago. The Govs won a previous exhibition game on Oct. 11, defeating Evansville 79-74. Rashaud Marshall led three Govs in double-digits with 17 points and Zyree Collins added 16 points and seven rebounds. Talon Todd came off the bench to add 13 points on four treys. Marshall, an Ole Miss-transfer, averaged 16.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game last season while Collins averaged 13.5 points as a true freshman a season ago. 

INSIDE THE SERIES
IU Indy and Austin Peay have played three times in the regular season, going 1-2 in those contests. IU Indy's lone victory in the series was the most recent meeting in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2009 by a 77-63 score in the Glenn Wilkes Classic to improve to 3-0 to start the season. 

UP NEXT
The Jaguars will open the regular season on Monday, Nov. 2 at 11:00 a.m. when they host Miami-Middletown in the annual NCAA 'Readers Become Leaders' Game, officially opening James T. Morris Arena.