Box Score

The Peacock men's basketball team opened the exhibition schedule with a game against in-state, Division-1 foe Northern Iowa and fell to the Panthers, 83-66.

It was a homecoming for Upper Iowa Head Coach Brooks McKowen, who played and coached at UNI before taking over the UIU program prior to the 2013 season.  

The Panthers started the game on a 12-0 run, making five of their first six shots, while the Peacocks started 0-6 from the floor. The lead got as big as 17-2 before the Peacocks offense got a spark from Jernell Hughes off the bench.

Hughes scored six and Josh Weeber had five as UIU got back into the game with a 13-0 run late in the half to bring UIU back within eight, 37-29. Northern Iowa and UIU went back and forth for the remainder of the half and the Peacocks went to the locker room down 48-37, despite shooting only 29 percent from the floor.

The Peacocks hung within ten points of the Panthers for the first five minutes of the second half, but the Panthers tightened up the defense and outscored UIU 34-16 in the final 13 minutes.

Weeber led the Peacocks with 15 points, while Hughes and Jordan Hay added 13. The Peacocks out rebounded the Panthers 36-34 as Upper Iowa crashed the offensive glass, pulling down 13 offensive boards. Weeber and Hay grabbed five rebounds each for a team high. Jace Hanna scored six points, pulled down four boards and had three steals.

The Panthers had four players in double-figures with Deon Mitchell and Wyatt Lohaus scoring 13 each. UIU held Seth Tuttle, a Missouri Valley Preseason First Team All-Conference selection, to six points on 2-6 shooting and five rebounds in sixteen minutes of play.    

Upper Iowa opens their regular season in Maryville, Mo. on Nov. 14-15 against Fort Hays State University and Northwest Missouri State University.  The first home game for UIU is Nov. 19 against the Warriors of Waldorf College at 7 p.m.