IUPUI and Evansville played a college basketball game on Thursday evening. It might of not been all that pleasing to watch, but it was a basketball game.
Evansville won the game by a score of 60-40, moving IUPUI to 0-2 on the season.
Although they didn’t score a field goal for five and a half minutes, it didn’t matter. The Jaguars kept it close in the first half, never trailing by double digits.
IUPUI trailed at the break by a score of 24-19. They did that without shooting a free throw and only having on three-point attempt in the first half.
The Jaguars would finish the evening with only 14 points from behind the arc and at the charity stripe.
In the second half, it was all Purple Aces. They won it by a score of 37-21, as the Jags shot 25.9% in the second half.
Evansville picked up the victory as IUPUI was unable to score more than 50 points for the second consecutive game to begin the season.
Not a single Jaguar scored double digits.
This all comes after a tough loss against local rival and Big East opponent, Butler on Tuesday by a score of 56-47.
The Jags offense struggled once again, as they missed 13 straight threes at a time, but its defense was what was able to make it so close. IUPUI kept Butler to 34% shooting from the field.
IUPUI had a chance to make it a two-possession game with just over a minute left, but BJ Maxwell missed a contested layup, allowing the Bulldogs to survive the upset and pull out the victory.
Maxwell had a strong debut for the Jags, as he led the way with 14 points.
They’ll look to turn the tides as they play in a tournament at UTSA next week, opening against Denver on Monday at 6:00pm ET.
