THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK MEN'S BASKETBALL... Upper Iowa will hit the road and play their first pair of NSIC away games of the 2019-20 season. The Peacocks will first face off against Wayne State University on Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Wayne, Neb. The Peacocks will finish the road trip in Sioux Falls, S.D. as they take on Augustana University on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 5:30 p.m. Live stats and a webcast for both games will be available at UIUPeacocks.com/LIVE, audio for the Augustana game will be accessible as well. The game will also stream live on the NSIC app through Roku and Fire devices, as well as Apple and Android TV.
 
WIN OVER WARRIORS… The Peacocks started conference play with an 84-79 victory over the Warriors of Winona State. The exciting bout was highlighted by four Peacocks scoring in double-digits, a half-court buzzer beater from Jareese Williams, and the Upper Iowa defense shutting down Winona State's leading scorer in crunch time.
 
The Peacocks and Warriors went head-to-head in the first half until Upper Iowa broke away on a 10-0 run. The stretch was highlighted by five points from Joe Smoldt and put Upper Iowa up 33-25 with 5:25 left to play in the half. Neither team led by more than two scores up until that point. Upper Iowa ended the half on a high note when Jareese Williams sunk a half-court shot as time expired. The three pointer put the Peacocks ahead 43-33, the largest lead of the game.
 
Winona State then took control of the game with 15:31 left to play in the second half. The Warriors went on an 18-4 run that put them ahead 67-60 at the 9:37 mark. The run featured 11 straight unanswered points and ended with three-consecutive, three-pointers from Kevion Taylor. Taylor had 25 points and 17 rebounds on the day. However, he was shut down by the Peacock defense for the remainder of the game after the scoring stretch.
 
Upper Iowa then evened things up at 72 with 5:20 left to play after a 12-5 run. Five points from Smoldt again fueled the stretch for the Peacocks. Upper Iowa continued their strong play for the remainder of the game. UIU outscored WSU 12-7 in the final 5:02 thanks to strong play from Joshua Carter. Carter had six points and three rebounds in the final stretch for Upper Iowa, helping close out the Warriors in a 84-79 win for the Peacocks.
 
PROSPEROUS PEACOCKS…Joe Smoldt's big game on Saturday earned him a spot on the week four NSIC top performers list. Smoldt had 17 points, shot 7-13 (53.8%) from the field, grabbed six rebounds and dished out a pair of assists in the game. Smoldt is averaging 9.9 points per game, which is tied for second highest on the team.
 
Jareese Williams' 15-point performance against Winona State puts his points per game average at 14.9, the team high and the 16th-best in the NSIC. Williams' 45.5% field goal percentage is 20th in the NSIC, his 49% three-point field goal percentage is second in the league, and his 3.4 three pointers per game is the fourth-best mark in the NSIC. Additionally, Williams is averaging a team high 5.7 rebounds per contest.
 
Jake Hilmer's passing remains among the best in the conference. His 4.3 assists per game is the fourth best in the NSIC while his 1.8 assist to turnover ratio ranks ninth in the league. Hilmer (9.0) is one of five Peacocks averaging nine or more points per game this season. 
 
Josh Carter has scored double-digits in four consecutive games. His 9.9 points per game is tied for second highest on the team with Smoldt. Carter is also averaging the second highest rebounds per game out of all Peacocks with 5.3. Lucas Duax is averaging 9.4 points and has a team high 58.3% field goal percentage, although he has yet to register the league minimum made field goals per game to be ranked league wide in that category. His 1.9 steals per game, however, are the third-highest in the NSIC.
 
Jackson Joens is averaging 8.0 points in 15.8 minutes per game. Dylan Jones and Cade Moritz share 11th place in the league in blocks per game with 1.0. Jones is also averaging 6.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest. Mortiz is scoring 5.3 points and grabbing 2.4 boards per game.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS… Upper Iowa has controlled the series with Wayne State over the last nine seasons. The Peacocks hold a 13-3 record against the Wildcats since the 2010-11 season including a 10-game win streak that spanned from February 2014 to February 2018. The most recent matchup was a close 85-81 Upper Iowa loss in January 2019 on the road. Jareese Williams led the Peacocks in the matchup. He scored 15 points, shot 4-8 (50%) from three-point range and grabbed eight rebounds. 
 
Wayne State finished 2018-19 with a 21-10 (14-8 NSIC) record. The Wildcats made it all the way to the NSIC tournament semifinals before falling to Southwest Minnesota State University in an overtime loss (84-78). Wayne State is 3-6 this season, one of their three wins came against the University of Central Missouri (73-63), a team that the Peacocks were defeated by a slim margin (70-65) on the road earlier this season. Jordan Jansen returns to the Wildcats for his sophomore year. Jansen averaged 11.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last season. He also shot 57.8% from the field, started all 31 games for the Wildcats and led the NSIC in offensive rebounds per game with 3.2.
 
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS… Augustana has held the advantage against Upper Iowa over the last nine years. The Vikings are 11-6 against the Peacocks since the 2010-11 season. The last matchup took place in Sioux Falls, S.D. in January 2019 and resulted in a 94-85 Upper Iowa loss. Williams again had the hot hand for the Peacocks scoring 18 points, shot 6-10 (60%) from long-distance and came down with five boards.
 
Augustana ended last season with an 18-11 (14-8 NSIC) record. They were defeated by the University of Minnesota Crookston (87-72) in the first round of the NSIC tournament. The Vikings are 6-1 this year, they have wins against Central Missouri (76-72) and Wayne State (75-66). Matt Cartwright, Augustana's 2018-19 leading scorer, returns to the Vikings for his junior season. Cartwright averaged 16.0 points and 4.2 rebounds per game which earned him a spot on the All-NSIC second team.