THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK MEN'S BASKETBALL ... Upper Iowa will host No. 7 Missouri Southern State University on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m. for their last non-conference game of the 2019-20 season. The undefeated Lions will be the toughest test the Peacocks have faced so far this season. As always, you can follow along via live options at UIUPeacocks.com/LIVE. The game will also broadcast live on KCRG-TV 9.2 and stream live on the NSIC app through Roku and Fire devices, as well as Apple and Android TV
TAMING THE TIGERS … Upper Iowa took down the Tigers of Iowa Wesleyan University 93-69 in Tuesday afternoon's home opener. The game was Upper Iowa's second consecutive double-digit win. Neither team led by more than two scores to start the game until Upper Iowa went up 25-17 with 10:09 to play left in the first half. Upper Iowa maintained the lead for the rest of the half going ahead by as many as 13. The Peacocks went up 48-35 with 2:17 remaining in the half after UIU went on an 11-1 run fueled by seven points from Joshua Carter and a pair of layups from Lucas Duax. Iowa Wesleyan crawled back into the game, going an 11-3 run to end the half 51-46 in favor of Upper Iowa.
Upper Iowa came out of halftime red-hot starting out on a 24-6 run that put UIU up 75-52 with 12:04 to play. The run was highlighted by five new Peacocks, Dylan Jones, Jake Hilmer, Joshua Carter, Lucas Duax, and Max Duax all putting up four points apiece during the stretch. Iowa Wesleyan could not recover from dominant performance the Peacocks put on during the run resulting in the 93-69 win for the Upper Iowa. Upper Iowa made 41 field goals in the game, the last time the Peacocks had 40 or more field goals made was December 30, 1972 against Missouri Valley College. The Peacocks' five new faces, who contributed to the key second half run, combined for 68 points in the game: Hilmer (18), Carter (17), L.Duax (16), Jones (9), M.Duax (8).
PRIDE OF THE PEACOCKS … Jareese Williams was named as an NSIC top performer for the second consecutive week after averaging 21.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg and shooting 78.6% from three-point range and 71.4% from the field at the Fairfield Inn Classic. Williams' 16.6 points per game through the Peacocks first five games is the 12th-best in the NSIC. Williams is also third in the NSIC in three-point percentage (57.1%) and three-point field goals made per game (4.0).
Jake Hilmer remains in third place in the NSIC in assists per game column with 5.2 after dishing out five each game at the Fairfield Inn Classic and six on Tuesday afternoon versus Iowa Wesleyan. Hilmer also lies in fourth place in assist/turnover ratio (2.2). Lucas Duax is in second place in the NSIC in steals per game with 2.4 per contest and is also averaging 9.8 points per game, which is the second-highest on the team. Cade Moritz's 1.4 blocks per game has him in sixth place on the NSIC leaderboard.
Other top Peacock performers include Jackson Joens, Joshua Carter, Joe Smoldt and Dylan Jones. Joens has been a reliable scoring option for Upper Iowa, shooting 54.5% from the floor to average 8.6 points in 16.0 minutes per game. Carter is also averaging 8.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in five starts. Smoldt has had a slow start to 2019-20 while recovering from an injury, but has still scored 7.6 points and grabbed 3.0 rebounds per game. Jones has put up 7.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, his play has earned him a spot in the starting lineup alongside Williams, Hilmer, Carter and Smoldt.
SCOUTING THE LIONS… This will be the second time in history Upper Iowa plays Missouri Southern State. The last matchup took place in December of 2018 and resulted in a 105-90 loss for Upper Iowa. The game was highlighted by the play of Jareese Williams. Williams had 20 points, shot 7-11 (63.6%) from the field and grabbed five boards for the Peacocks. Missouri Southern had five double-digit scorers in the game, four of which are returning this season. Cam Martin's dominant play (37 points & 10 rebounds) fueled the Lions; he returns to the forefront this season after averaging 22.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game last year.
Missouri Southern finished the 2018-19 season with a 25-8 record overall and a 14-5 mark in the MIAA. The Lions season ended in an 82-70 loss to No.1 Northwest Missouri State University in the third round of the NCAA DII Central Region Tournament. This season, the Lions are 3-0 with wins against NSIC-members Minnesota State University, Mankato (74-69) and Winona State University (71-50) at the Central Region Challenge.
