THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK MEN'S BASKETBALL… Upper Iowa heads west for a pair of NSIC matchups against Wayne State College. The Peacocks will face off against the Wildcats on Friday, Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 23 at 2:30 p.m. Live stats and a webcast produced by Wayne State are available through the links above or at UIUPeacocks.com/Live. The games will also stream live on the NSIC Network app through Roku devices, as well as Apple and Android TV.
"TWO" CLOSE TO CALL… The Peacocks dropped a pair of non-conference games over the weekend to Winona State University, each by just two-points. On Saturday, Upper Iowa fell 81-79. The Warriors started the day on a hot streak connecting on 7-9 (77.8%) of their three-point attempts including four straight putting WSU up 27-17 with 10:29 to go in the half. A 10-2 run gave the Warriors their largest lead of the day at 61-45 with 17:14 remaining, UIU held a 34-20 advantage putting the game within reach at 81-79 with 2:12 to play. The Peacocks were unable to complete the comeback as they uncharacteristically ended the game missing their final five field goal attempts.
On Sunday, UIU came out on fire jumping out to a 14-3 lead, Upper Iowa led wire-to-wire in the first frame. The Warriors stormed out of halftime with a 10-0 stretch that gave WSU its first lead of the day before the Peacocks responded with a 10-2 run that put the home team back up 75-65 with 7:41 left to play. Winona State took control for the remainder of the game using a 22-8 run to reclaim the lead 87-83 with just 1:46 to go. A plethora of fouls and subsequent free throws for both squads followed, but Winona State was able to edge Upper Iowa until the score stood at 92-90 in favor of WSU at the final buzzer. Sunday marked the first time since February 2019 that UIU allowed 15+ three-point makes as perimeter defense over the weekend hurt both teams.
"SMOLDT"-ERING HEAT… Joe Smoldt was named to the NSIC top performers list this week after averaging 20.5 points per game on a 14-31 (45.2%) rate from the field and a 9-16 (56.3%) mark from deep. The senior added eight rebounds and six assists to his weekend totals. Smoldt's 16.0 points per game sits in 12th place in the NSIC and leads the Peacocks, his 44% three-point percentage is the league's sixth-best rate while his 22 made trifectas leads the conference.
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADERS… Lucas Duax and Jareese Williams have registered six-straight games scoring in double-figures. Duax and Williams are averaging 15.7 and 15.5 points per game, respectively, which rank 15th and 17th on the NSIC leaderboard. The Peacocks are the only team in the NSIC to have four scorers in the top 20 as Jake Hilmer also averages 15.5 points per night and lies in 17th place. The four-headed monster along with big man Dylan Jones (9.5 points per game), score more at 72.2 points per game than any other starting unit in the conference. In fact, Upper Iowa's starters alone score more than six NSIC teams. The team as a whole is the league's second-highest scoring offense at 86.2 points per game.
Hilmer's 11 assists over the weekend allowed him to remain the NSIC assists leader. The sophomore's 26 points on Sunday was a career-high and led the team on an efficient clip of 7-12 (58.3%) from the field, 4-5 (80.0%) from the deep, and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe. Jones added a career-high 18 points on Saturday with an efficient 5-7 (71.4%) rate from the floor and a 7-8 (87.5%) mark from the line to go along with five rebounds. Duax returned to form on the defensive end Saturday swiping a season-high four steals. The Dubuque, Iowa native added 21 points and nine rebounds between the two games. Williams followed last weekend's achievements with a cumulative 28 points and 10 boards.
WINNING IN WAYNE… Upper Iowa holds the career series 14-4 against Wayne State including a 6-3 mark on the road. The Wildcats have won three of the last four although up until that point, the Peacocks won 13 out of 14 games including 10 straight from February 2014 to February 2018. The Peacocks were victorious by an 80-73 count at home in the two team's most recent matchup last season. Upper Iowa had five double-digit scorers in the back-and-forth battle including Hilmer (15), Smoldt (13), Williams (11), and Duax (10). Wayne State finished the 2019-20 campaign at 10-22 overall and 7-15 in the NSIC.
WHAT'S UP WITH THE WILDCATS... Wayne sits at an even 3-3 on the season, 3-1 in conference play after dropping a series to Northern State University, winning a series over Concordia University, St. Paul, and most recently, splitting its series with Minnesota State University, Mankato. The Wildcats are led by Jordan Jansen, who passed 1,000 career points against the Mavericks last weekend. The junior was named to the All-NSIC Second Team last season after ranking in the top 10 in the NSIC in seven statistical categories. Jansen is already off to a hot start this season claiming back-to-back NSIC South Player of the Week Honors. Jansen ranks third in the NSIC in scoring at 18.8 points per game and is the league's top rebounder with 9.3 boards per game. Nate Mohr runs the Wildcats' offense. The junior is averaging 11.7 points and 2.3 assists per night through six games. As a team, WSC holds a +5.2 scoring margin and +3.3 margin in the paint over their opponents.
