The IU Indianapolis Jaguars, in an attempt to create a newfangled tradition for themselves, opened the 2024-25 college basketball season by playing their lone game this year at the Indiana Farmers Coliseum against the IU Columbus Crimson Pride in a battle of big cat/Indiana University affiliate supremacy and packed the facility with a bunch of schoolchildren in an endeavor to present the vibe of a high-energy auditorium… which, to be fair, is something that the Jags are definitely going to be seeing… just not during the Horizon League and especially not at home; the Jungle only can fit around a thousand at most.
I’m just stating facts. *shrugs*
The Crimson Pride, most definitely worn out from playing multiple games as the appetizer for many a team’s opener in their first-ever season of play, struggled immensely with Owen Law leading the way with 14 points. You almost have to feel for them given that they have to play the majority of their games on the road and if they do win one game this season, they will definitely treasure that one victory. But I’m not here to be sentimental for IU Columbus; I’m the IU Indianapolis writer, and I’m supposed to analyze the performance of the Jaguars under Paul Corsaro’s first official foray as a Division I basketball coach.
Sean Craig led the way with 16 points, with Jarvis Walker having a rather efficient 13 points in only 23 minutes of action. And yes, the game was so out of control that Ajay Holubar got in on the action and scored a three pointer. Good on the lad.
Now… some random thoughts about the game:
*If you actually subscribed to the Patreon of Horizone Roundtable, you would have seen the prediction I made for the starting lineup. I was 3/5th correct. Sean Craig and Keenan Garner, whom I expected to be reserve players or having minimal appearances, managed to have that first-ever start for Corsaro’s Jaguars. I don’t expect Corsaro to maintain the lineup he had with this encounter moving forward, but I do expect him to maintain Nathan Dudukovich as a reserve, which given his 11 points and 5 rebounds off the bench, seems to be an ideal position for the guy.
*Props for the school for attempting to build a tradition where they do get kids from around Indianapolis to head to the Coliseum during the morning to fill up the arena and use it as a chance for literacy programs and to see cool stuff like the Indiana Pacers’ own Boomer perform stunts. Certainly, went a lot better this year than it did last year when they almost lost to Cleary. As I said, this’ll be the only game this year at the Fairgrounds; the Coliseum is going to be a lot lonelier now that the Jags and the ECHL’s Indy Fuel have moved on, although the Horizon League Tournament still will be here for the foreseeable future.
*Even against an infantile and already worn-out IU Columbus, the Jags did struggle in the first half; only shooting 38% and 7 of 19 from beyond downtown. Thankfully, things improved in the second half, with it going to 54%, but you want offensive efficiency to look better on a team that was atrocious last year in terms of scoring.
Next up, the Jaguars go to Cincinnati and play against Xavier and this time, they’re the cupcake. It’ll be up to Corsaro to ensure that the team is able to compete against the Musketeers, as most media circles have them around 4th or 5th in the Big East and trying to return to the tournament. They barely survived Texas Southern, so they will most definitely be trying to put on a statement victory at home to emphasize that was a fluke performance. Will Corsaro pull off the upset as he aims to focus on the here and the now? We’ll find out.
