By
Blair Johnson
in the
College basketball
Jan 21, 2021 3:23 p.m. PST
The IUPUI Jaguars (3-4,2-4 Horizons) leave Northern Kentucky in two games as they defeated the Wright State Raiders (9-4, 7-3 Horizon ) in the first of back-to-back legs Friday, January 22nd in Indianapolis. Tipping is set for lunchtime ET at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
The Jags took their first road wins against the Northerners after only starting the season on December 12th. This was followed by a second longer break in connection with COVID for Byron Rimm’s team, with IUPUI only playing its second game on New Year’s Day.
In the meantime, Wright State is currently second in the Horizon League standings behind Cleveland State after winning secured the first regular season title of the program last season.
The Raiders can outperform the Vikings by two games in the league placement, but they’re both 9-4 in the standings and are supported by KenPom ranked almost 100 points as the top team of the Horizon. Scott Nagy’s group is # 83 – a whopping 90 places ahead of Cleveland State. The couple are the only Horizon League program in the top 200.
As for IUPUI, the jaguars are just happy to be healthy. The program had canceled its Horizon League series against Fort Wayne and Detroit Mercy before returning to use on January 1. The series against Wright State will be IUPUI’s first game at their regular home stadium – Indiana Farmers Coliseum – since kicking off on December 12 because of coronavirus issues.
Despite their current two-game winning streak, the Jaguars are at home for the Raiders strong underdogs.
Wright State emerged as the preseason favorites for the 2020-21 season to win the championship. So far, it’s good.
The Raiders opened the year with an 80-64 loss to Marshall and then tore off seven wins in a row (five of them in the league game). The Raiders have further strengthened their offer for two consecutive Horizon titles, winning or splitting at least every league series, beating the league 2-0-3. That includes the back-end of a two-game set – an 85-49 blowout win – against the Vikings.
Four raiders ended in double digits and eleven different players found the overall split last night when we were head coach Scott Nagy 100th career win at Wright State! Let’s take a look at the highlights: 🎥🎞 # RaiderUP | #GetRowdy pic.twitter.com/8HwXO0kL8c
Tanner Holden, the team’s leading goalscorer (averaging 17.1 points per game), scored 23 points in the 36-point win.
Meanwhile, Louden was Love, the preseason league player of the year, is solid too. Last year’s winner of the award averages 14.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per game.
If Holden and Love continue their stellar game, these Raiders can begin their quest for a return to the NCAA tournament for the first Time not to continue since 2018.
The Jags themselves have a pretty dynamic duo in Marcus Burk and Jaylen Minnett. They are one of only four combinations in the country to return after averaging at least 35 points per game or better last season. Burk and Minnett collectively collect 31.4 points per competition this season, but only seven games due to the COVID breaks.
Burk scored 23 points in the 65:63 win over Northern Kentucky last Saturday, while Minnett 18 had. Like Holden and Love, the duo started the season on the back court with high expectations (Burk was an All-League selection of the first team in the preseason) and has lived up to them so far.
Burk’s 21.3 points per game last season were the highest by an IUPUI player since George Hill averaged 21.5 points per game in 2007-08. The 6-foot-3 guard from Indy is aiming for 17.9 points per game between 2020 and 21. Meanwhile, Minnett set a school record of 3 115 last year. He’s aiming for 13.1 points per game this season.
Unfortunately, IUPUI’s story isn’t on their side on Friday. Wright State completely dominated this series. The Raiders beat the Jags 15-3, winning five times in a row and eight times in the last nine meetings in total. If you take away that one IUPUI win on February 23, 2018, the last time the Jaguars beat the Raiders was over 35 years ago on January 8, 1986.
KenPom got this as an 80-68 Raider win forecast. They have the chances as 11.5 point favorites. I love what Burk and Minnett are doing. But the series history and the entire roster experience made me a favorite here.
Blair Johnson is a seasoned journalist and seasoned sports content developer. He has written and produced content for as long as he can remember, with names such as CNN, NFL Media and Yahoo! Blair currently lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.
Blair Johnson is a seasoned journalist and sports content developer. He has written and produced content for as long as he can remember, with names such as CNN, NFL Media and Yahoo! Blair currently lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.
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