GAMES EIGHT & NINE
DECEMBER 12 & 13, 2014 || 8:00 & 6:00 PM DORMAN GYMNASIUMMINNESOTA STATE: LIVE STATS || LIVE VIDEO CONCORDIA: LIVE STATS || LIVE VIDEO
WEEKLY NOTES
UPPER IOWA || MINNESOTA STATE || CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL || NORTHERN SUN
THIS WEEKEND IN MEN'S BASKETBALL The Peacocks (6-2, 2-1 NSIC) open the home conference slate with a pair of games against NSIC South opponents. UIU plays host to the #11 Minnesota State Mavericks on Friday night before taking on the Bears of Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday evening. The Mavericks are 7-1 to start the season, perfect in conference play and are currently on a seven-game winning streak, while the Golden Bears are 5-3 so far this season and 1-1 in conference. Last weekend, Upper Iowa got above .500 in conference play with a weekend sweep of Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State.
KEY NOTES TO CONSIDER 1 BO'S BACK: Senior guard Bo Pagel has returned to action for the Peacocks in a big way. Through the three games he has returned for, Pagel is averaging a team-high 14.0 points per game. In the two games last weekend, Pagel was even better, averaging 16.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 37.5-percent from the field, 33.3-percent from three point range and 75-percent from the free throw line. He has scored in double digits all three games and will look to repeat last season as he scored 16 and 11 against MSU and CU in Dorman Gymnasium.
2 SPREADING THE LOVE: Upper Iowa has seven players averaging 9.4 points per game so far this season, including four in double figures. Through eight games, the Peacocks have had six different players lead the team in scoring for a single game (Roth, Hay, Lang, Lenhart, Weeber, Pagel). Jace Hanna has the most double digit efforts this year with seven, followed by Josh Weeber with five and Grant Lang and Jordan Hay with four each.
3 PROTECTING THE BALL: Upper Iowa has been among the best in country thus far at not committing turnovers as UIU has only given the ball away 8.5 times per game, fourth in the country. Add in the fact that the Peacocks are tops in the conference in steals (9.0/game) and seventh in the nation in turnover margin (7.9/game), UIU isn't giving away many points and is turning opponent turnovers into easy baskets. The Peacocks also average 15.8 assists per game, putting their assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.85, fifth best in all of Division II.
THE SERIES...VS MINNESOTA STATE: (1-15) - The Peacocks lone win came in Mankato on Dec. 8, 2012 when Jake Hughes hit a game-winning layup with 0.4 seconds remaining to propel UIU to a 61-60 win.
VS CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL: (8-13) - The Peacocks have struggled against the Golden Bears of late, losing four straight in Dorman and six-of-eight overall.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS... MINNESOTA STATE: The Mavericks are 7-1 overall and 2-0 in NSIC play after beating Augustana and Wayne State last weekend. MSU is led by Assem Marei (17.3 ppg) and Zach Monaghan (12.3 ppg). The lone loss of the year for the #11 Mavericks came in their opening game of the season, when they fell to Central Missouri by one, 66-67 in the Sanford Pentagon Tournament in Sioux Falls.CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL: The Golden Bears are 5-3 this season and 1-1 in conference, having beaten Wayne State and fallen to Augustana in NSIC play. This will be the first road conference game of the year for CU, who has played five of their last six games at home. Concordia is led by a trio of players averaging double figures, Cole Olstad (14.5), Nuni Omot (10.9) and Mike Yahnke (10.4).
