The Upper Iowa men's basketball team will hit the road once again this weekend for a pair of NSIC matchups. The Peacocks will head to St. Cloud, Minnesota to take on the SCSU Huskies (14-6, 9-5 NSIC) on Friday at 7:30pm ahead of their trip to Duluth to face the UMD Bulldogs (11-7, 8-6 NSIC) on Saturday at 5:30pm.
The Peacocks are coming off a pair of home losses last weekend at the hands of USF and SMSU. Both games last weekend saw a Peacock reach the 20-point mark with
Munachiso Okonkwo dropping 20 against the Cougars on Friday and
Jareese Williams scoring 22 on Saturday against the Mustangs. Last weekend's losses brings UIU record to 6-14 on the season and 3-11 in NSIC matchups.
Sharing the Wealth... Upper Iowa's offense features a variety of players who can knocked down shots and score points. This season, the Peacocks have five players who are averaging 10 or more points per game.
Jareese Williams continues to lead all UIU scorers, averaging 15.5 points through the first 20 games this year. Along with Williams,
Joe Smoldt (13.8),
Munachiso Okonkwo (12.2),
Chris Olson (11.1), and
Kyle Haber (10.9) round out Upper Iowa's top scorers.
20-20 Vision... The Peacocks have relied on some big individual performances to drive the offense efforts this season. In the last five games, Upper Iowa has seen five 20-point performances by three different players: Williams, Okonkwo, and Smoldt. Six different players have eclipsed the 20-point mark this season;
Jareese Williams has had five 20-point nights, Smoldt has done it four times,
Munachiso Okonkwo and
Chris Olson each have three, and
Kyle Haber and
Jackson Joens have each gone for 20 or more once.
About the Opponents…
SCSU Huskies… This season, the Huskies have gone 14-6 and 9-5 in NSIC competition, good enough for a third place rank in the NSIC North. SCSU has three players who are averaging 14 or more points through their first 20 games. Senior forward and two-time NSIC Player of the Week, Gage Davis, leads SCSU's scorers with 23.4 points per game and is trailed by Sean Smith (14.6) and Brindley Thompson (14.1). Smith also leads all of Division II with 3.8 blocked shots per game.
Against the Huskies… In the 23 all-time matchups between UIU and SCSU, the Huskies have recorded a 16-7 against the Peacocks. However, Upper Iowa has had luck against St. Cloud in recent meetings, winning four of the last five.
UMD Bulldogs… Three-time NSIC Player of the Week, Brandon Myer, has led the Bulldogs to an 11-7 record including an 8-6 record in the NSIC. Myers is averaging 21.2 points and 9.8 boards per game in his 18 appearances this season. Senior forward, Sean Burns, is averaging 14.6 points and 7.2 boards per game and Logan Rohrscheib round out the Bulldog's scoring leaders with 11.2 points per game.
Against the Bulldogs… The Peacocks hold the all-time record against the Bulldogs, posting a 9-7 record in the 16 meetings against UMD. The Bulldogs took last year's matchup in Fayette but the Peacocks have come out on top in seven of the last eight games against UMD.
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.
