THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK MEN'S BASKETBALL… Upper Iowa is ready to close out the 2022 calendar year on Saturday with a home game against the Warriors of Winona State University. Last time Upper Iowa was on the hardwood, they lost a pair of tough decisions on the road at Augustana in overtime, 99-98, and at Wayne State, 86-77, while Winona State lost at Wayne State, 81-72, but then defeated Augie in double overtime, 82-79. In the first meeting of the season, Upper Iowa escaped Winona, Minn. with an 82-81 win in a wild finish. Winona State comes into the game with a 7-5 record overall and a 2-5 mark in their first run through the NSIC South Division, while Upper Iowa is 7-6 overall and 4-3 in the NSIC South.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… The game will have live options available for fans who can't make it to Fayette. 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. The game will also be broadcast live across the eastern half of Iowa on KCRG's Eastern Iowa CW 9.3.
 
GET YOUR TICKETS… Upper Iowa has partnered with HomeTown Ticketing for all of this season's basketball games in Dorman. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time at UIUPeacocks.com/Tickets or by paying cash in person prior to the match. Fans are encouraged to stay ahead of the curve this season with the HomeTown Ticketing Fan App available on all mobile device platforms. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids (ages 5-18) and free for kids under 5 and is good for both games of the double header.
 
DIGITAL MATCHDAY PROGRAM… Digital programs are available to fans in Dorman Gymnasium or at home for the game this weekend. Fans can access the interactive gameday program at any time at UIUPeacocks.com/Programs. QR Codes will also be located around the lobby to scan with your cell phone's camera that will link you directly to the game's specific digital gameday program.
 
FIRST GLANCE AT UPPER IOWA… The Peacocks entered the final week of action before the holiday break in first place in the NSIC South with a 4-1 mark, but tough road losses snapped the roll that UIU had been on winning six of their last seven games. For the season, Upper Iowa is averaging 80.5 points per game on 44.5% shooting from the floor, 34.2% from deep and 76.0% from the charity stripe. UIU has turned the ball over thirty fewer times than their opponents over the course of their 13 contests.
 
PACING THE PEACOCKS… Jake Hilmer leads the team in scoring with 20.0 points (34^th NCAA DII/4^th NSIC), 5.5 assists (18^th NCAA DII/2^nd NSIC), and 3.2 rebounds per game while shooting 42.8% from the field, 35.9% from deep and 83.1% (8^th NSIC) at the free throw line. Lucas Duax is averaging 18.2 points (65^th NCAA DII/10^th NSIC), 4.8 rebounds, 2.5 steals (13^th NCAA DII/1^st NSIC) and 2.3 assists per game and is shooting 54.3% (6^th NSIC) from the floor, 32.0% from beyond the arc and 78.8% (9^th NSIC) on his free throws. Nick Reid is posting per-game averages of 14.1 points, 9.2 rebounds (34^th NCAA DII/2^nd NSIC), 1.2 assists and 0.9 blocks (11^th NSIC) per game while shooting 40.2% from the field, 34.8% from deep and 88.3% (1^st NSIC) from the free throw line.
 
MOVING UP THE LEADERBOARD… When Lucas Duax scored his first points at Augustana two weekends ago, he became the 31^st member of the Peacock men's basketball 1,000-point club. He currently stands in 28th place all-time in scoring at UIU with 1,037 points. His 182 career steals have him within striking distance of catching Kevin Clipperton, who holds the career steals record with 207 thefts from 1993 to 1997. Jake Hilmer was able to push his way into 12th place on the all-time scoring list in UIU's last weekend of action and now has 1,403 career points in Peacock blue and white after recently passing Al Albers (1365), Larry Albers (1373), Eric McCoy (1,377) and Matt Lesan (1,383).
 
SOUTHERN LOGJAM… To this point in the season, the conference schedule has consisted of one trip through the NSIC South for the Peacocks and the other NSIC South Division members. After one run through the rotation, two teams, the University of Sioux Falls and Wayne State, have a 5-2 conference mark and a one-game lead over three teams with a 4-3 conference record including Upper Iowa, Minnesota State University, Mankato and Southwest Minnesota State University. With Augustana (3-4), Winona State (2-5) and Concordia University, St. Paul (1-6) rounding out the standings in the division. All the conference teams are scheduled to face their travel partners on Saturday, Dec. 31 before crossing over and facing all eight NSIC North Division teams in succession before closing out the season with six games back in the southern half of the conference. The race for the division crown and spots in the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament may very well come down to the final games of the regular season in February.

LOOKING BACK AT THE FIRST MATCH UP… Upper Iowa put together an unforgettable final 32 seconds that capped off a 52-point second half and allowed the Peacocks to rally from a big halftime deficit and score an 82-81 win on the road at Winona State University. The Peacocks went into the halftime break trailing 46-30, but rallied to win on a buzzer-beating, three-pointer out of the right hand of Jake Hilmer. Upper Iowa opened the second half with a 16-9 run that included 4-4 shooting at the free throw line, 5-6 from the field and 2-2 from three. The efficient offense led to UIU cutting the gap to nine points, 55-46. Still trailing by ten with 3:25 to play, Jake Hilmer went to the free throw line and calmly knocked down a pair to begin Upper Iowa's wild, 21-point finish over the final three and a half minutes. The Peacocks slimmed the margin back to six, 74-68, after a layup for Jones and a three-pointer from Reid, but Winona State had an answer scoring a basket and adding two free throws around a Reid free throw to establish a nine-point advantage, 78-69, with 41 seconds to play. Austin Hilmer knocked down a pair of free throws with 32 seconds to play, and after WSU got one of two at the free throw line, Reid gave the Peacocks hope with a three-pointer to bring UIU within five, 79-74, with 26 seconds on the clock. The Warriors hit one of two free throws on their next trip to the line, but Reid got UIU within three, 80-77, when he was fouled on a three-point attempt and knocked down all three freebies with 13 seconds to play. Winona State missed both free throws on their next possession, and Jake Hilmer was fouled with six seconds to play before he could get a game-tying attempt off. The point guard made both free throws to bring UIU within one point, 80-79. The Warriors made one of two free throws with four seconds to play with UIU continuing to push WSU to the charity stripe. Hilmer caught the inbounds pass on the run and raced up the right sideline and launched a three-pointer from the right wing that splashed down into the net as the buzzer sounded giving Upper Iowa the come-from-behind win. UIU's lead at the buzzer was their only lead of the game. The Peacocks scored 13 points in the final 32 seconds of the game on 7-7 shooting at the free throw line and 2-2 from deep. Winona State was only able to convert 3-8 at the free throw line over the final half minute of action.
 
SCOUTING THE WARRIORS… The Warriors opened the season with four straight wins in non-conference action, but have posted a 3-5 record since those first four games. All five of WSU's losses were to NSIC foes, but Winona State was able to snap a three-game skid with their win over Augustana in double overtime in their last game before break. WSU is shooting 40% from the floor, 30.6% from three and 68.9% from the free throw line, while holding a plus-3.0 advantage in rebounding margin. Connor Dillon leads the team in scoring with 19.0 points per game, while also pulling down 4.5 rebounds a contest. Luke Martens leads the team in rebounding with 7.8 boards a game and is adding 12.3 points per game, while Connor Drew is averaging 10.7 points and 5.0 rebounds.
 
THE HOMESTAND CONTINUES…  The Peacocks will remain at home for two more games to kick off the New Year on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 6-7 against Bemidji State University and the University of Minnesota Crookston. The games open UIU's run through the NSIC North Division as the first two of eight straight cross-division games.