THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK MEN'S BASKETBALL… Upper Iowa heads back out on the road this weekend for a pair of games at Augustana University and Wayne State College. The Peacocks (7-4, 4-1 NSIC) are coming off a pair of wins at home last Friday and Saturday over the University of Sioux Falls (92-71) and Southwest Minnesota State University (66-57), while the Vikings (6-5, 2-3 NSIC) posted an upset of No. 9 Minnesota State University, Mankato (63-57), but then lost to Concordia University, St. Paul (63-61) and the Wildcats (8-3, 3-2 NSIC) defeated the Golden Bears (77-73), but lost to the No. 9 Mavericks 96-89. UIU enters the contests having won six of their last seven, while Augie had won four of five prior to their loss at Concordia-St. Paul and WSC had won eight of nine prior to falling at Minnesota State.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… Both games this week will have live options available for fans who can't make it to Sioux Falls or Wayne. Live stats and a webcast will be available through links at UIUPeacocks.com/Live. In addition, the games can be streamed through most mobile devices at NSICNetwork.com/UIUPeacocks or through the NSIC Network app on your streaming device.
 
DUAX ON THE VERGE… Senior guard Lucas Duax is this week's Northern Sun Conference South Division Player of the Week after leading the Peacocks to a pair of wins against Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State. Duax averaged 19 points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals a game while shooting 64% from the floor; he scored 28 against SMSU on Saturday. UIU was the only team in the NSIC South to win both of their games last weekend. The Dubuque, Iowa product needs just one point to become the Peacocks' 31^st UIU men's basketball player to reach the 1,000-point milestone. Entering the weekend, Duax has scored 999 points in Peacock blue and white with a career shooting percentage of 52.9% in his 86 games. This season, Duax is averaging 18.1 points (9^th NSIC), 4.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 2.6 steals (11^th NCAA D2/1^st NSIC) per game.
 
UIU'S BIG THREE… Upper Iowa's version of the Big Three had a big weekend in Fayette against USF and SMSU. In addition to Duax's great weekend referenced above, both Jake Hilmer and Nick Reid were integral in the Peacocks' sweep. Hilmer is averaged 21 points and 5.5 assists per game and scored 28 against the Cougars on Friday, while Reid added 15.5 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. The trio scored 55.5 of the team's 79-point average in the pair of victories. For the season, Hilmer is averaging 20.3 points (37^th NCAA D2/6^th NSIC), 5 assists (23^rd NCAA D2/3^rd NSIC), and 3.4 rebounds per game. Reid is scoring 14.5 points (17^th NSIC) and hauling in 9.2 rebounds (33^rd NCAA D2/1^st NSIC) per game.
 
DC UNITED… UIU's two post players, Dylan Jones and Caleb Delzell are combining to score 14.7 points and grab 7.1 rebounds per game. Jones is averaging 7.9 points and 4.8 rebounds and is a terror to opposing posts, who have to cover him on screens, rolls and slips. The Waukee, Iowa native is money around the rim converting 58% of his shots from the field and has knocked down 3-7 of his three-point attempts. Delzell has been hot from the outside since Thanksgiving Week at the end of November. The junior from Camanche, Iowa has knocked down 19 of his 43 three-pointers since and is averaging 8.7 points a game over the last seven games for Upper Iowa.
  
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS (courtesy of Augustana Athletic Communications)...  Augustana is 6-5 overall and 2-3 in the NSIC after earning a split last weekend including a win over No. 9 Minnesota State. The victory handed the Mavericks their first loss of 2022-23 and was the last remaining undefeated team in the NSIC. Augustana is led by Jadan Graves and Ryan Miller, who both average 11.5 points per game. Graves leads AU in assists with an average of 3.5 per game. Isaac Fink is the leading rebounder for Augustana with 8.2 per game. Augustana is a new-look squad in 2022-23 with just six returning players and seven newcomers to the team. Those six returners accounted for 35.6 percent of Augustana's scoring a year ago. The leading returning scorer is Isaac Fink and his 15 points per outing.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS (courtesy of Wayne State Sports Information)… The Wildcats are 8-3 on the season and 3-2 in the NSIC. As a team, Wayne State scores 76.2 points a game and allows 71.9. The Wildcats shoot 44.4% from the field, 38.9% from the 3-point line and a league-leading 80.9% at the free throw line. Fifth-year forward Jordan Janssen leads Wayne State in scoring and rebounding averaging 20.6 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest. Another fifth-year player, guard Nate Mohr, follows with 14.7 points a contest and ranks third in the NSIC in both 3-point field goals per game (3.2) and 3-point field goal percentage (.380). Sophomore guard Justin Eagins accounts for 11.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

ON THE HORIZON… Following a short break for the holidays, Upper Iowa will return to action with a home game on Saturday, Dec. 31 against Winona State University. The Peacocks will remain at home for two more games on Jan. 6-7 against Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota Crookston.