THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCKS MEN'S BASKETBALL… Upper Iowa will open their 2021-22 campaign with an exhibition game at Creighton University on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. The Peacocks will take on the NCAA Division I Bluejays, a member of the Big East Conferencec at the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb. The game will be a reunion for the head coaches as Peacock leader Brooks McKowen, now in his ninth season, played for Bluejay Head Coach Greg McDermott. UIU's Vice President for Athletics Rick Hartzell was the Athletics Director for the University of Northern Iowa when both McDermott and McKowen were Panthers.
 
LIVE OPTIONS... KOZN (1620 AM) will broadcast Saturday's exhibition. The audio is also webcast live at www.1620thezone.com. Saturday's exhibition against Upper Iowa will not be televised, but it will be video webcast on FloSports, with the radio broadcast accompanying the video. FloSports requires a subscription. Live stats will be availbable for the game as well.
 
SCOUTING THE BLUEJAYS (from Creighton Sports Information)... Creighton returns seven lettermen but no starters from last year's team that finished 22-9 overall, runner-up in the BIG EAST, and reached the program's first Sweet 16 since 1974. Of CU's scholarship returners, only Ryan Kalkbrenner (5.9 ppg.), Alex O'Connell (3.4 ppg.) and Shereef Mitchell (3.3 ppg.) are back. The Bluejays brought in grad transfers KeyShawn Feazell (13.1 ppg., 9.9 rpg. at McNeese State) and Ryan Hawkins (22.6 ppg., 8.8 rpg. at Division II Northwest Missouri State) to bolster the front line. Creighton also features the nation's No. 7 recruiting class, including top-100 prospects Trey Alexander, Arthur Kaluma, Mason Miller and Ryan Nembhard.
 
NSIC PRESEASON COACHES' POLL... The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference released their 2021-22 Preseason Coaches Poll on Thursday and the Peacock men's basketball team was selected fifth overall and third in the NSIC South Division. Minnesota State University Moorhead was selected by the league coaches as the preseason favorite in the NSIC for the 2021-22 season. In the south, Minnesota State and Wayne State each had 42 points, with Wayne State collecting four first place votes and the Mavericks two. Upper Iowa was third with 39 points and the other two first place votes.
 
QUICK GLANCE AT THE PEACOCKS... Upper Iowa returns all 10 of their top-ten scorers from a season ago including All-Northern Sun Conference First Team performer Jareese Williams, All-NSIC Second Teamers Joe Smoldt and Jake HIlmer and the NSIC South Division Defensive Player of the Year Lucas Duax. The quartet combined for 64.3 points, 18.3 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 5.2 steals per game last season. Upper Iowa finished last season with a 10-7 record overall and an 8-4 mark in NSIC competition. UIU's run in the postseason ended prematurely in an overtime loss at Minot State University 90-85 in a quarterfinal matchup of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament. Head Coach Brooks McKowen is back on the sidelines for his ninth season with the Peacocks; the northeast Iowa native has led UIU to an overall record of 124-110 and an 89-77 mark in the NSIC.
 
SUPER SIZE ME... Leading the way will be Williams and Smoldt, who both return this season for a super senior campaign. Williams, this season's NSIC Player to Watch for UIU, has scored 1,243 points for UIU including a 17.6 scoring average in 2021. The Mason City product has hit 42.7% of his three-point attempts converting 256 of his 599 career tries from long-range. Smoldt returns for a fifth season as well with a whopping 1,478 career points for the Peacocks. Last season, Gladbrook-Reinbeck prep averaged 16.8 points knocking down 40.3% of his threes and 85.3% of his free throws.
 
FAMILIAR FACES... In addition to the four award winners from last season, Upper Iowa brings back posts Dylan Jones, Cade Moritz and Baden Noennig, as well as guards Max Duax, Jackson Joens and Jackson Foley. Mixing in with the group of familiar faces will be a pair of transfers Connor Duax (University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh) and Nick Reid (Emporia State University).
 
LOOKING AHEAD... The Peacocks will open the regular season in Kansas City, Mo. playing Missouri Southern State University and Pittsburg State University on Nov. 12 and 14. UIU's first home and conference game is slated for Nov. 23 against Winona State University.