[dropcap]The[/dropcap] peculiarly named IUPUI, sometimes mockingly pronounced “Ooey-Pooey”, is the second of two Summit League teams on Creighton’s non-conference slate this year. The Jays defeated their conference mates Western Illinois 97-67 two weeks ago; WIU was picked 9th out of 9 teams in the league before the season, and IUPUI was picked 6th.
The Jaguars are 3-8 overall and 1-7 away from home, with the lone win coming in Terre Haute against the Indiana State Sycamores. Their record is a bit deceiving, as they took Marquette to OT in Milwaukee before losing 75-71, they took Georgia State to OT in Atlanta before losing 78-72, they played #11 Purdue close for 3/4 of the game in West Lafayette (trailing by single digits most of the game, and were down just eight points with 13 minutes to play before the Boilermakers blew them out late), and they led by nine at the half at Missouri State before the Bears overtook them in the second half.
That game in Springfield was indicative of their season. IUPUI has played the first halves of games virtually even this year, but they’ve been outscored 447-380 in second halves and overtime periods this season – which equates to more than six points per contest.
IUPUI’s roster has four D1 transfers who sat out a year ago, all of which are in their starting lineup. Here’s the crazy thing (as if four impact D1 transfers in one year wasn’t crazy enough) — three of them are from the same school. Matt O’Leary, Nick Osborne, and Jordan Pickett all transferred to IUPUI from Loyola Chicago, while Darell Combs came from Eastern Michigan.
That’s right, just when you thought the Loyola nightmare was over, here comes IUPUI with three transfers from Loyola, and they’re all starters!
Combs, a 6’2″ junior and the best of those four transfers, leads IUPUI in scoring (15.6 points) and assists (2.5) per game in his first year in Indy. He also has made a team-high 20 three-pointers and 46 free throws. Combs has scored in double-digits in six straight games and in nine of the 11 games IUPUI has played this season. Over the past six games, he’s 36-of-78 (.462) from the floor and 15-of-34 (.441) from three-point range. On the downside, he’s a sloppy ballhandler, turning it over twice as often (52) as he dishes out an assist (27).
If you watched ESPN SportsCenter’s Top 10 on Thursday night, you may have seen Combs in action — he buried a 60-footer at the end of the first half of the loss at Missouri State, and the play was the No. 3 play that night.
Their second-leading scorer is the 6’1″ sophomore Pickett, who moved into the starting lineup three games ago after starting his IUPUI career as their sixth man. He’s averaging 10.5 points a game, while shooting 33% from outside (11-33) and 34% overall (26-75). Pickett was one of the top prep guards in Indiana coming out of high school and a prized recruit for Porter Moser at Loyola, but after an injury-shortened freshman season, he opted to transfer closer to home.
O’Leary, a 6’8″ junior from Terre Haute, is their third leading scorer at 9.4 points per game and ranks second on the team in rebounds (5.5). O’Leary played two seasons for Loyola, averaging 4.0 points and 2.6 rebounds for the Ramblers, but the year off seems to have allowed him to improve his game. Against Missouri State earlier this week, he had a career night, scoring 16 points on 6-9 shooting from the floor, with eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks. After making just eight treys for the entire 2013-14 season at Loyola, he’s already hit 13 treys this season, including four in his career-high 17-point effort at NC State.
The new-and-improved 6’8″ O’Leary is now a versatile player that stretches the defense, as half of his shot attempts (40 of 87) have come from three-point range, and a third of his made baskets (13 of 38) are from long range.
The third Loyola transfer and the second 6’8″ player plucked from the Rambler roster is Nick Osborne, who hails from nearby Muncie, Indiana. Osborne is a good shooter, making 47% from the field (37-79) and while he doesn’t take a lot of them, is capable from behind the arc (6-10). He’s also an excellent free-throw shooter, missing just one all year (12-13). He’s been foul prone, fouling out in two of 11 games and averaging nearly four fouls a game.
The only starter who isn’t a D1 transfer is Marcellus Barksdale, a fifth-year senior who was their leading scorer a year ago but has taken a bit of a backseat to the talented newcomers on the roster this year. A preseason second-team All-Summit League selection, Barksdale is averaging 6.9 points and 4.6 boards a game and as their only senior who’s played his entire career for IUPUI, he’s their active leader in virtually every statistical category.
Oddsmakers have the Jays as double-digit favorites, and while it’s very possible that happens, IUPUI has had a way of staying with teams — they did it to Marquette, they did it to Missouri State, and they even did it to one of the best teams in the country in Purdue. Don’t be shocked if this is a nail-biter. The Jays do have a height advantage as O’Leary and Osborne are both just 6’8″, but the Jays struggled with lineups like that against Loyola — which is coincidentally where both of those players started their careers. If the Jays capitalize on their advantage inside, like they did against Nebraska, they should win comfortably.
One thing to keep in mind: Geoff Groselle is a game-time decision today after injuring his ankle against Nebraska. That injury happened early in the game and he was able to come back to play a dominant game, so one would assume it’s nothing major and he should be able to go. If not, we’ll see some interesting lineups for the Jays.
Quick Notes on the Jaguars:
- IUPUI’s bench checks in scoring 22 points per game this season and has outscored the opponents’ bench in seven of 11 games this season. Sophomore Jordan Pickett has played a large role in that output, scoring 13.5 points per game in the four games he came off the bench. Other key reserves have been Aaron Brennan (4.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg) and Evan Hall (4.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg).
- In just 42 career games on the IUPUI sidelines, Head Coach Jason Gardner has already taken his team to overtime eight times (2-6 overall), including twice this season.
- IUPUI has the longest formal name of any university in the U.S., Indiana University – Purdue University Indianpolis, and has an enrollment of over 30,000 students in 200 programs. It began in 1969 by merging Indiana and Purdue university extensions which were already in existence in downtown Indianapolis serving mostly non-traditional students. Interestingly, it might be the only university anywhere with no alumni — while the merger brought the IU and PU programs in Indianapolis under one roof for administrative purposes, graduates earn degrees from either Indiana or Purdue, not from IUPUI.
Bluejay Bytes:
- The win over Nebraska was the 127th on the Creighton sideline for head coach Greg McDermott, helping him pass Eddie Hickey for fifth in Creighton history with 127 victories with the Jays. Up next is Tom Apke, who had 130 wins from 1974-81 to stand in fourth place. McDermott’s .679 winning percentage is Creighton’s best since Arthur A. Schabinger’s .714 win rate more 80 years ago.
- Khyri Thomas finished with seven points, seven assists and nine rebounds against the Cornhuskers on Wednesday. He is just the third Bluejay in Greg McDermott’s six-year tenure to post at least seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the same game, joining Austin Chatman and Grant Gibbs. Both Chatman and Gibbs did it twice each. Notably, Creighton has never had a traditional point/rebound/assist triple-double.
- Geoff Groselle had a single-game high of 15 points during his first four years on campus but has exploded this season with five straight games of 15 or more points. Groselle is the first Bluejay with five straight games of 15+ points since Austin Chatman from December 3-19, 2014. Today Groselle can become the first Bluejay with six straight games of 10+ points since Doug McDermott closed his National Player of the Year campaign in 2013-14 with 15 straight such contests.
The Series / The Last Time They Played:
Creighton won the only previous meeting with IUPUI, 99-52, on November 25, 2002 in Kansas City as part of the Guardians Classic. The Bluejays had eight different men make a three-pointer in the first half, and sank 15 of 25 shots from downtown overall to bury the Jaguars.
Brody Deren had nine points and 11 rebounds, while Kyle Korver scored 20 points in 21 minutes for the Jays. Creighton would win the Guardians Classic the following night with an 80-75 win over Notre Dame.
Gratuitous Linkage:
The Indianapolis Star looks at the impact of transfers in college basketball, specifically the Jaguars, whose four top scorers all started their careers somewhere else.
This Date in Creighton Hoops History:
On December 12, 1980, Creighton beat Iowa State 77-72 in Ames. Protecting a two point lead with 4:25 to play, coach Tom Apke called timeout and drew up a play to get Paul Trieschman the ball near the rim. It worked, but he missed the shot, teammate Jim Honz rebounded it, and was subsequently fouled by Iowa State’s Ron Falenschek on his follow-up shot. It was not a well-received call.
Falenschek was enraged, got into an argument with the Bluejays’ Kevin McKenna, and ultimately shoved McKenna to the floor in his fit of post-foul rage, drawing a technical foul. That drew the ire of ISU coach Johnny Orr, who was also T’d up. The flurry of foul shots pushed the Bluejay lead from 57-55 to 62-55, and was the decisive sequence in the game.
Afterward, Orr gave his usually-colorful description of the sequence to the media.
“Orr said the referee who called both technicals asked him if he saw Falenschek foul Honz. Orr said he told the official he didn’t see the play, and then was assessed the technical. ‘Ask him,’ Orr said. ‘If he says differently, he’s a liar and I’ll punch him in the mouth.'”
George Morrow had a double-double for the Jays with 15 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists, while McKenna had 26 points on 7-13 shooting, including a nearly-perfect 12-13 from the line.
Completely Random, Totally Rad Music Video of the Day:
The Bottom Line:
IUPUI has three ex-Loyola players, and they have Indiana University in their name, so on a trollish-level they’re perfectly positioned to give the Bluejays fits. On a basketball level, they aren’t. I predict Creighton gets another big game from Geoff Groselle, and IUPUI’s collection of 6’8″ big men have no answer for the 7-footer.
Bluejays 80, IUPUI 67