The Peacock men's basketball team battled hard to avoid repeating history, but ended their season with a loss to the Dragons of Minnesota State Moorhead 98-82 in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals for the third consecutive year. The Dragons shot a Northern Sun Conference Tournament record 50 free throws in the game and converted 40 of them, a setting record as well. 

In the loss, the Peacocks had a pair of juniors Jimmy Roth and Josh Weeber reach the milestone of 1,000 career points. Roth came into the game with 995 points and hit the milestone on a 3-pointer at the 15:41 mark of the first half. Weeber entered the game with 997 points and knocked down a 3-pointer with 7:10 left in the opening half. The duo becomes the 23rd and 24th Peacocks to reach 1,000 points and the first to do so since Tucker Wentzien did it in 2013.

Upper Iowa started the game strongly and led for the opening five minutes. The opening 20 minutes was a 3-point shooting exhibition as the Peacocks hit seven trifectas and the Dragons knocked down eight shot from beyond the arc. Both teams shot an identical 53.1% in the first half, but MSUM took a 52-43 lead into the halftime break.

MSU Moorhead came out of the locker room with a 6-0 run to stretch the Upper Iowa deficit to 15, 58-43. The Dragon lead would reach as high as 20, but the Peacocks battled back with a late 9-1 run to cut the deficit to 12 when senior Jernell Hughes hit a pair of threes and Roth added another. Upper Iowa came up with a couple defensive stops in a row, but couldn't convert on the offensive end and get back within single digits. The Dragons shot just 33.3% (8-24) in the second half, but MSUM was 30-of-37 (81.1%) from the free throw line in the final 20 minutes.

Roth led the Peacocks with 24 points, while Hughes added 21, most of which came late in the second half. The Dragons got double figure scoring from four of their five starters, including 29 points from center Isaac Sevlie and 24 from guard Tanner Kretchman. 

UIU finishes the season 16-17 overall and had an 11-11 mark in conference play. The Peacocks finished fourth in the NSIC South and earned a home game for the opening round of the NSIC Tournament for the fourth consecutive season.