THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK MEN'S BASKETBALL… Upper Iowa will play their final pair of regular season home games this weekend. The Peacocks will first face the Mustangs of Southwest Minnesota State University on Friday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. Upper Iowa will then take on the University of Sioux Falls Cougars on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. Live stats and a webcast will be available at UIUPeacocks.com/LIVE. The games will also stream live on the NSIC app through Roku and Fire devices, as well as Apple and Android TV. Friday night's game will broadcast locally on KCRG TV 9.3 while Saturday night's showdown can be viewed on KCRG TV 9.2.
QUEST TO THE NSIC/SANFORD HEALTH BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT… Upper Iowa currently sits in second place in the NSIC South Division, three games behind the league-leading University of Sioux Falls. The Peacocks hold a one-game advantage over Winona State University and Minnesota State University, Mankato, who are currently tied for third place in the south. Upper Iowa hopes to finish the regular season on a winning note and claim their first NSIC South Title in program history, the NSIC expanded into North and South divisions during the 2012-13 season. UIU is also on pace to host their first NSIC tournament game since 2017. Prior to the last two seasons, the Peacocks hosted five consecutive NSIC tournament first round matchups.
SENIOR SOLO… Prior to Saturday's game against the Cougars, Upper Iowa will recognize their only senior, Joshua Carter. The Dubuque, Iowa native will be playing his final regular season game in Dorman Memorial Gymnasium. Carter has helped lead the Peacocks to a 15-9 record this season. Carter started 23 of UIU's 24 games this season and averaged 9.7 points and a team-high 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the floor. The University of Missouri-St. Louis transfer has posted 12 double-figure performances throughout his lone season in Peacock blue and white including a season-high 20 points against Concordia University, St. Paul in December.
WEEKEND SPLIT… The Peacocks split their weekend series in North Dakota. UIU first fell to the University of Mary by a 85-71 count on Friday night before picking up a 94-71 victory over Minot State University on Saturday.
UMary was in control for the majority of the game Friday night. The Peacocks went ahead once by a 27-26 count with 8:08 to play in the first half. After that point, the Marauders held the advantage. A pair of runs stretched the home team's lead to as high as 21. The Marauders shot the lights out converting over 50% of their attempts from the field and from beyond the arc in addition to posting a 85% rate from the charity stripe. The efficient performance on offense led UMary to the 85-71 win.
Saturday night's game went in similar fashion but ended in UIU's favor. The Peacocks started the game on an 11-4 advantage. Upper Iowa then tacked on two more runs to go ahead 59-40 with 14:02 to play. The Peacocks continued to dominate, pushing their lead to as many as 28 points before claiming the victory with a 94-71 final count. The Peacocks were red-hot all night as they went 36-60 (60.0%) from the floor including 13-23 (56.5%) from long range.
PEACOCK POWER… Joe Smoldt's play over the weekend earned him a spot on the NSIC top performers list for the third time this season. Smoldt averaged 14 points, five rebounds, and four assists per game as well as shooting 11-22 (50%) from the field between the two games. Smoldt tied a career-high seven assists on Saturday night.
Carter had a pair of strong performances tallying 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals against UMary while posting 14 points, four rebounds and two steals against Minot State. Carter shot 14-24 (58.3%) from the field between the two games. Carter saw his rebounds per game average of 5.0 bump into the NSIC top 25 over the weekend.
After a slow Friday night, Jareese Williams led the Peacocks with 18 points on Saturday, the majority of which came from beyond the arc where he went 5-8 (62.5%). Williams is the NSIC's top three-point threat and ranks 19th nationally posting a 46% mark from downtown. Williams leads the Peacocks in scoring with 13.8 points per game, Jake Hilmer is a close second with 12.5. Hilmer totaled 21 points, eight assists, six rebounds and four steals against the Marauders and Beavers. His 4.8 assists per game rank third in the conference.
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS… Upper Iowa pulled off a tremendous comeback victory over SMSU when the teams last met in January 2020. The Peacocks outscored the Mustangs 12-2 in the final moments of the game to come from behind and win 80-77. The win was the Peacocks' sixth straight at the time.
The Mustangs hold a 21-9 advantage in the career series. SMSU is at the bottom of the NSIC South this season with a 7-17 record overall and a 4-14 mark in conference play. The Mustangs have lost six out their last seven games including three straight games dropped to Bemidji State University (78-64), Minnesota State University Moorhead (67-52) and Northern State University (74-66). Kenny Byers leads SMSU in points (17.3), rebounds (7.2) and assists (3.0) per game. Byers ranks in the top 15 in the NSIC in all three of the aforementioned categories. As a team, Southwest Minnesota State (4.2) records double the amount of blocks per game as their opponents (2.1).
SCOUTING THE COUGARS… Upper Iowa picked up a 68-60 road win over Sioux Falls when the two teams met last month. The Peacock defense shined allowing a season-low 60 points to the high-powered Cougar offense. A late 12-4 advantage fueled by seven points from Hilmer pushed the Peacocks over the edge leading UIU to victory.
Upper Iowa holds a slight advantage in the career series against Sioux Falls eight wins to seven. The Cougars have a league-best 19-5 overall record and 15-3 mark in NSIC play this season. Since falling to the Peacocks, Sioux Falls has broken off a five-game win streak. Their most recent victories came against Northern State (68-61) and MSU Moorhead (79-68). The Cougars core combines for over 50 points per contest: Chase Grinde (12.4), Teathloach Pal (10.8), Jack Thompson (10.6), Austin Slater (9.8), and Devin Green (8.0). Pal (9.0) and Slater (7.0) both rank among the top 11 NSIC players in rebounds per game. As a team, Sioux Falls holds a +4.1 scoring margin and a +6.6 margin on the boards.
