This Week In Peacock Basketball... The Upper Iowa men's basketball team will hit the road this weekend for a pair of road games against NSIC opponents. Upper Iowa will square off against Augustana on Friday at 7:30pm followed by a 5:30pm tip off against Wayne State on Saturday. The Peacocks are coming off a tough weekend after suffering a pair of losses to Northern State and MSU Moorhead. The Peacocks will look to get back to .500 both on the season and against conference opponents with a pair of wins this weekend.
 
Weekend Recap... The Peacocks took on the NSIC North leading Northern State Wolves on Friday night in Dorman gym. Despite having one of their strongest shooting performances of the season, Upper Iowa fell to the Wolves 102-73. The Peacocks and Wolves put on a shooting clinic in the first half with the Wolves making 70 percent of their first half shots and the Peacocks connecting on 63 percent of their attempts. Upper Iowa was unable to maintain their first half success, as they would put up just 25 second half points to fall to Northern State. One of the bright spots from the game was Munachiso Okonkwo recording a career high 25 points.
 
Saturday's matchup against MSU Moorhead went to overtime in a thriller against the Dragons. The Peacocks trailed by as many as 10 in the second half and battled their way back thanks to strong offensive performances from Joe Smoldt (19), Chris Olson (19), Mu Okonkwo (18), and Kyle Haber (14). Smoldt added six boards and six assists in his performance and Okonkwo hauled in 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
 
Powering the Peacocks... After averaging 21.5 points over the weekend, Okonkwo joins four of his Peacock teammates who are averaging double-digits in scoring this season. Jareese Williams remains UIU's top scorer with 14.1 points per game and he is followed closely by Smoldt (13.6), Olson (12.5), and Haber (11.4).
 
Battling for Boards... So far this season, the Peacocks have had their difficulties rebounding the ball with opponents pulling in more boards in 12 of their 14 games. Upper Iowa ranks towards the bottom of the conference in rebounding but, in the two games where the Peacocks have outrebound their opponent, Upper Iowa has won both.
 
About the Opponents…
 
Augustana Vikings…  The Vikings are entering the weekend in as the NSIC South's third ranked team with a 6-2 conference record and 10-4 overall. Sophomore forward, Tyler Riemersma, has been a standout for Augie this season, leading the Vikings in both points per game (17.3) and rebounds per game (9.5). The Vikings roster features three other players who are averaging in the double digits in scoring this season: Matt Cartwright (14.8), Michael Schaefer (11.9), and A.J. Plitzuweit (11.3).
 
Wayne State Wildcats… The Wildcats currently hold the #2 spot in the NSIC South with a 6-2 conference record and have gone 11-3 overall. Wayne State currently features the top defense in the NSIC, allowing just 64.8 points per game to opponents. This is thanks in part to their strong three-point defense, which ranks second in the NSIC holding opponents to just 32.3 percent from beyond the arc. This does not bode well for the Peacocks who rely heavily on their three-point game and feature the NSIC's top three-point offense averaging 11.2 threes per game.
 
The Series…
Vs. Augustana… The Peacocks stumbled in the first meeting between these two sides, falling to the Vikings 76-91 in Dorman Gym. Augie and UIU have met 25 times in program history with the Vikings holding the series lead at 18-7.
 
Vs. Wayne State… When the Wildcats came to Dorman earlier in the season, they outplayed the Peacocks and came out with an 83-56 victory. The win snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Peacocks and gave WSC their first victory in Fayette since the 2009-2010 season. The Peacocks maintain a 14-7 all-time series record against the Wildcats.
 
Both games this weekend can be viewed at uiupeacocks.com/live on a live webcast with live stats available as well as on the NSIC channel through Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple and Android tvs.