THIS WEEKEND IN MEN'S BASKETBALL... The Peacocks will open the season with two tough games at the 20th Annual Hillyard Tip-Off Classic in St. Joseph, Mo. Upper Iowa starts the season against No. 6 Northwest Missouri State on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the MWSU Fieldhouse at the Looney Complex. UIU then squares off with the hosts Missouri Western State on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. Friday's game against the Bearcats will have a live stats option only, while Sunday's game with the Griffons will have both live stats and live video available.
   

GAME ONE	GAME TWO
VS #6 NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE	VS MISSOURI WESTERN STATE
MWSU FIELDHOUSE AT LOONEY COMPLEX	MWSU FIELDHOUSE AT LOONEY COMPLEX
ST. JOSEPH, MO.	ST. JOSEPH, MO.
FRIDAY, NOV. 11, 2016 || 3:00 PM	SUNDAY, NOV. 13 || 3:00 PM

 
BASKETBALL 101... Upper Iowa enters its 101st year of men's basketball with the start of the 2016-17 season and fourth year under head coach Brooks McKowen. The 18th head coach in program history was hired prior to the 2013-14 season and holds a 49-44 record at UIU.

NOTHING LIKE EXPERIENCE... The Peacocks return 8 of the 13 players who played in the majority of the games in 2015-16 season. This includes five seniors in Jimmy Roth, Luke Lenhart, Josh Weeber, Jordan Hay, and Jace Hanna. Junior Carson Parker, who has played in every game the last two seasons, joins this experienced group, along with backup forward Mitch Eighme. Roth, Lenhart, Weeber and Parker all average double figures last season for Upper Iowa.
 
NEW FACES... UIU brought in seven new faces to their roster for the 2016-17 season, including four freshman Jareese Williams, Peghuentz Pericles, Christian Mosley, and Anthony Williams. The Peacocks also added a pair of transfers in junior Kam Rowan from Des Moines Area Community College and senior Ezell Craft III from Central Texas College. 

NSIC PRESEASON COACHES POLL... The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released the 2016-17 Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches' Poll on Oct. 27 and the Peacocks have been picked to finish 9th in the 16-team league, and 6th in the NSIC South Division. The Peacocks were selected 7th last season, and but finished ninth overall and fourth in the South Division. Since the division alignment prior to the 2012-13 season, Upper Iowa has finished 4th in the south, hosted a first round tournament game, and advanced to the quarterfinals in each of the last four seasons.
 

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THE SERIES...

vs NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE: The Peacocks will play the Bearcats for the fifth consecutive season, and the second straight year at the Hillyard Tip-Off Classic. Upper Iowa earned their first ever win over NMSU last November, defeating the then-No. 14 Bearcats 76-72. UIU is 1-6 all-time in the series, with the first game dating back to the 1940-41 season when Northwest Missouri State beat UIU 43-12.
 
vs MISSOURI WESTERN STATE: This will be the fourth straight season where the Peacocks and Griffons do battle, with UIU coming out victorious each of the last two years, 86-78 last season and 82-70 in 2014. Upper Iowa has tied the all-time series with MWSU, with each team winning two games apiece.
 

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ABOUT THE OPPONENTS... 

#6 NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE:  The Bearcats are ranked sixth in the 2016-17 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Pre-Season Poll which was released this week. NMSU received 270 votes after finishing 27-6 last season, winning the MIAA's regular season and tournament titles. For the third straight year, the Bearcats reached the NCAA's Central Regional Championship game. Northwest returns four starters off last year's squad including MIAA Player of the Year Justin Pitts. Ben McCollum enters his eighth season at the helm, compiling a 141-70 career mark. The Bearcats were picked first in the 2016-17 MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll.

MISSOURI WESTERN STATE:  The Griffons return five players from last year's team that made the quarterfinals of the MIAA Championship Tournament. All-MIAA guard Aaron Emmanuel will lead the Griffons again this season. Emmanuel led the team averaging 30.4 minutes, 11.3 points per game and 4.2 assists per game. MWSU also returns Cole Clearman who appeared in all 30 games last season.  For the season, Clearman averaged 7.5 points per game and shot 75% from the free throw line.