Mastodons Return Home for Weekend Pair

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - After playing four of its last five games on the road, the IPFW men's basketball team returns home for a pair of games, opening with a Thursday evening tilt with the South Dakota State Jackrabbits in a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Gates Sports Center.

GAMEDAY INFORMATION
Who: South Dakota State Jackrabbits (17-7, 8-2 Summit League)
Where: Fort Wayne, Ind. | Gates Sports Center
When: Thursday, February 5 | 7 p.m.
Listen: ESPN Radio 1380 AM | Brett Rump, play-by-play; Art Saltsberg, analyst
Watch: Mastodon All-Access
Live Stats: GoMastodons.com

QUICK HITTERS
•    One game after having no player reach double figure scoring against South Dakota State, six Mastodons reached double figures against North Dakota State.
•    The 1,919 fans in attendance for the men's basketball game against North Dakota State was the first basketball sellout in program history.
•    Against Omaha, Steve Forbes picked up his sixth double-double of the season, the most since Deilvez Yearby had nine in 2009-10.
•    IPFW has put together runs of 10-0 or better in nine of its 20 games this season, with the team totaling 14 different 10-0 or better runs total on the year.
•    IPFW held Denver to just 10 rebounds in the team's victory on Thursday evening, the fourth fewest in NCAA Division I since 1996-97, and the lowest in program history.
•    Forbes currently ranks 27th in the country in career field goal percentage among active players.
•    IPFW head coach Jon Coffman has 11 wins this season, tied for the sixth-most first-year victories in program history, tying with former head coach Tony Jasick and one ahead of Dane Fife from 2005-06.

SCOUTING THE JACKRABBITS
South Dakota State comes into the Thursday evening game riding an eight-game win streak, including a 69-39 win at home against Denver.

In the win over the Pioneers, the Jackrabbits held Denver to 23 first half points and 16 in the second half. George Marshall went 7-of-10 from the field, scoring a game-high 20 points, while Deondre Parks scored 13 and Cody Larson 12. Larson pulled down seven rebounds, while SDSU out-rebounded Denver 27-to-20 for the game. Jake Bittle, who scored six points, also dished out a game-high three assists.

Parks averages a team-best 14.3 points per game, with Larson putting in 13.8. Marshall, who was a mid-season addition after transferring from Wisconsin a year earlier, is averaging 12.7. Two others - Jake Bittle (9.4) and Reed Tellinghuisen (8.8) - are near the double-figure plateau, and have both led the team in scoring during a game this season.

Larson pulls down an average of 7.2 rebounds per game while Bittle pulls down 4.6 boards per game for the 'Jacks, who out-rebound their opponents by an average of 1.3 rebounds per game. Bittle also leads the team with 2.7 assists per game and 30 steals. Larson and Connor Devine pace the squad with 29 and 24 blocks, respectively.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK X2
IPFW senior forward Steve Forbes was recently named the Summit League Player of the Week for the second time this season and second time in his career. He was also named the College Sports Madness Summit League Player of the Week during the same period for his performances against Omaha and South Dakota.

FIRST-YEAR COACHING
IPFW head men's basketball coach Jon Coffman recently picked up his 11th win as a head coach, passing former Mastodon head coach Dane Fife, and tying Tony Jasick for most wins in a coaches' first season at the helm of the program. The program record is 15, held by three different coaches.

SIGNIFICANT TURNAROUND
The IPFW men's basketball team went four days between games in which the team had no players reach double-figure scoring (January 21 against South Dakota State) to having the team have six players reach double-figure scoring (January 24 against North Dakota State).

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Steve Forbes

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics