Turnover trouble and a tough Wayne State defense led to Upper Iowa's second NSIC loss of the season, falling to the Wayne State Wildcats 56-83 on Friday night. The loss drops the Peacocks to 3-4 overall and 0-2 against NSIC competition while the Wildcats improve to 7-1 and 2-0. 

Wayne State's leading scorer Kendall Jacks led the Wildcats on a 13-3 run early in the first half that would give WSC enough breathing room to be able to hold UIU at bay for the remainder of the game. Jacks was perfect in the first half, hitting all 7 of his shots for 15 points. Wildcat big man, Tony Bonner, earned a hard-fought six points in the paint to add to Wayne State's lead in the first half. 

The Peacocks got off to a quick start in the second half, scoring four points out of the gate thanks to a pair of buckets from Munachiso Okonkwo. UIU tried to crack WSC's lead when Chris Olson knocked down 7 points during an 11-5 Peacock run midway through the half. However, the Wildcat defense was steadfast again in the second half, holding the Peacocks to just 28 points despite Upper Iowa shooting 40% from the floor. 

The pressure defense from the Wildcats was a key factor in their win as they were able to slow Upper Iowa's offensive efforts and kept UIU's leading scorer, Joe Smoldt, off the board for the first time in his career. The Wayne State defense was able to slow the NSIC's leading three-point offense, allowing the Peacocks to hit just 5 of their 19 attempts from beyond the arc. 

Upper Iowa committed 15 turnovers on the evening and Wayne State used that to their advantage, scoring 26 points off Peacock turnovers.

Upper Iowa's offense was paced by Chris Olson (14), Okonkwo (12), and Jareese Williams (11). Olson and Williams both reached double-digits for the fifth time this season, while Okonkwo accomplished the feat for the fourth time.

Upper Iowa will attempt to quickly rebound from Friday nights loss in a Saturday afternoon game against Augustana. The Peacocks will tipoff against the Vikings at 5:30pm as UIU will look to earn there first win against Northern Sun competition this season.