THIS WEEKEND IN MEN'S BASKETBALL The Peacocks (14-15, 10-10 NSIC) will try to bounce back from a couple of losses a week ago as they head into the final weekend of the regular season. Upper Iowa will start with an opportunity to upset one of the best teams in the country, the #3 Augustana Vikings, in Sioux Falls, S.D. on Friday night at 8 p.m., followed by a meeting with former Head Coach Brian Dolan and the Wayne State Wildcats in Wayne, Neb. on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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NOTES FROM LAST WEEKEND Â
UIUÂ fell to the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears 87-79 in Dorman Gym on Friday night. The Peacocks had a tough shooting second half, going 12-of-37 (32.4%) in the final 20 minutes, while the Golden Bears shot 50% (14-28) and outscored UIU by 13 in the second half. On Saturday, The Peacocks struggled from the free throw line in their 88-83 loss to the Minnesota State Mavericks in Dorman Gym. Upper Iowa finished 12-of-26 (46.2%) from the charity stripe, while the Mavericks were 26-of-32 (81.3%) on freebies.Â
KEY NOTES TO CONSIDER Â
1 Â Â Â Â Â A CENTURY IN THE MAKING: Upper Iowa enters its 100th year of men's basketball with the start of the 2015-16 season and third year under the tutelage of
Brooks McKowen. The Fairbank, Iowa native was named the 18th head coach in Peacock men's basketball history prior to the 2013-14 season and holds a 47-42 record at UIU.
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2 Â Â Â Â Â 1,000 POINT CLUB WATCH: The race for a couple of Peacock juniors to reach 1,000 career points is heating up as the end of the season nears.
Josh Weeber is just 35 points away from 1,000, while
Jimmy Roth is only 36 points away.
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3 Â Â Â Â Â TOURNAMENT TIME: Since the NSIC moved to the current format for the Sanford Health Conference Tournament, UIU has hosted the first round game each year.
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4 Â Â Â Â Â 90 TELLS THE STORY: When the Peacocks score 90 points, UIU is 5-0. When the opponent scores 90, Upper Iowa is 0-5.Â
THE SERIES Â
vs AUGUSTANA: (5-14) - The Vikings won the first seven meetings between these two teams, dating back to 1962, but the series is much closer at 4-5 since 2012.
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vs WAYNE STATE: (10-8) - The Peacocks hold a slight edge in the all-time series with the Wildcats, but have dominated lately, picking up five straight wins and seven of the last eight overall.Â
ABOUT THE OPPONENT Â
AUGUSTANA: (22-2, 19-1 NSIC) - Augustana swept a pair of road games at Southwest Minnesota State and USF last weekend. With the two wins, Augustana clinched at least a share of the NSIC Overall Championship. A win on Friday would secure the outright NSIC Championship for the Vikings. The Vikings enters the weekend averaging 92.1 points per game which leads the NSIC and ranks sixth in the country. Augustana has out-scored its opponents by 19.6 points per game in 2015-16 which leads the NSIC and ranks second in the country.WAYNE STATE: (5-21, 3-17 NSIC) - WSC dropped NSIC road games at Sioux Falls 79-58 and at Southwest Minnesota State 88-76. Adam Moon and Matt Thomas each scored double digits in both game. Moon averaged a team-best 17.0 points and 5.0 rebounds a game. Moon scored a weekend high 20 points with six rebounds vs. Sioux Falls. Thomas had 16 points at SMSU and 14 points at Sioux Falls.
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