THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK BASKETBALL… No. 19/21 Upper Iowa is on the road for a pair of Northern Sun Conference South Division games. The Peacocks will take on Wayne State College on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and then line up with No. 11 Augustana University on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The game on Saturday could have first place bragging rights on the line depending on Friday's outcomes. Upper Iowa enters the weekend with three straight wins, while Wayne State split a pair of games on the road last weekend and Augustana carries a seven-game winning streak into their matchup with Winona State University on Friday. The Vikings win streak dates back to their 84-65 loss to Upper Iowa in Fayette on Dec. 17.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… Live stats and webcasts provided by Wayne State and Augustana for each game will be available through the links at UIUPeacocks.com/Live and included with this story. The contests will also stream live on the NSIC Network app through Roku and Fire devices, as well as Apple and Android TV.
 
STEADY CLIMB... The Peacocks came in at No. 19 in the NABC NCAA Division II Top 25 with 118 points and No. 21 with 91 points in the D2SIDA Division II Media Poll after the team defeated both Minot State University and the University of Mary at home last weekend. Upper Iowa is 3-1 against NABC Top 25. The ranking this week marks the eighth time that UIU has been in the top 25 for the NABC poll and sixth time in the D2SIDA poll.
 
HANGING WITH HILMER… Junior point guard Jake Hilmer scored a career-high 29 points in UIU's win over the University of Mary last Saturday. He and Joe Smoldt combined to average 41 points per game to lead the Peacocks to a pair of wins at home. Hilmer added 3.5 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds per game while shooting 46.7% (14-30) from the floor and 92.9% (13-14) from the free throw line. The Walker, Iowa product needs just 22 points to become the 30th player in UIU history to reach 1,000 career points.
 
STAT THAT… Super senior Joe Smoldt increased his program-best, career three-point total to 339 and his career scoring total to 1,866 points, which ranks fourth all-time in Upper Iowa history. The top three scorers in Peacock history are Jim Bushkofsky (2,194 – 1970-74), Wayne Sawyer (1,922 – 1954-58) and Keith Woolfolk (1,910 – 1975-79); Smoldt is now just 44 points from cracking into the top three. In addition to Hilmer's push to join the 1,000-point club, two other Peacocks are nearing big marks in scoring; Lucas Duax (696) needs four points to reach 700 in his career, while Cade Moritz is just 18 points away from 500. When Jareese Williams returns from injury, his first three-pointer made will mark the 300th of his career, while his current 1,506 points rank ninth all-time at UIU behind Don Dutton's 1,507 (1960-64) and Greg VonArx's 1,551 (1992-96).
 
TOE THE LINE AND DELIVER… Upper Iowa is converting free throw makes at the third-best percentage in the nation at 79.7%; which leads the Northern Sun Conference. Jake Hilmer and Jareese Williams have combined to make 144 of their 152 opportunities. Hilmer has the top percentage in the nation (97-103, 94.2%), while Williams has just fallen under the qualifying mark for free throws attempted despite making 60-63 (95.2%). Hilmer owns the UIU record for consecutive free throws with 39, while Williams owns the second-best streak with 35. The old record was 19, held by Greg Von Arx in 1993-94. Hilmer saw a streak of 28 straight come to an end in the final minutes of the Minnesota Duluth two weekends ago as well.

BALANCE IS THE KEY... In addition to Smoldt, Williams and Hilmer's success this season, six other Peacocks keep defenses honest and combine to score 41.2 points per game, which accounts for 48.7% of Upper Iowa's 84.6 points per game. Nick Reid is averaging 7.4 points, 6.0 rebounds with 1.0 assist and 1.2 blocks per game, while Lucas Duax is scoring 9.4 points and grabbing 3.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game, while defending the top offensive threat for the opposing team. Dylan Jones and Cade Moritz are combining in the post for 12.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.0 assists in 35.9 minutes per game. Connor Duax is registering 6.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game; while Max Duax is getting 4.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1 steal per game while creating havoc in opposing back courts. All nine of the Peacock regulars have notched a game with more than 10 points this season and several have had a scoring night above 20. 
 
NICE TRIP THROUGH THE NORTH… Upper Iowa posted a 7-1 record against the North Division with the only blemish coming on the road at Northern State University (90-81). The Peacocks averaged 83.4 points in their cross-division games and shot 47.1% from the floor, 37.8% from three and 76.0% at the free throw line. Hilmer led UIU in the eight games with 19.5 points, 4.6 assists, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game, while Smoldt added 16.9 points, 3.1 assists, 3.0 rebounds and a steal per game. Lucas Duax and Reid picked up the scoring slack in the absence of Williams, scoring 11.9 and 10.3 points per game, respectively. Their rebounding efforts stood out though as Reid pulled down 8.3 boards per game and Duax added 4.8.
 
HOME COOKING… The Peacocks are currently 10-0 this season at home on Prochaska Court averaging 89.3 points per game, while holding their opponents to a 75.1 point per game average. In true road games this season, Upper Iowa is 6-3 with overtime losses at No. 17 Minnesota State University, Mankato and Winona State and a nine-point loss at Northern State. In those nine road games, UIU is averaging 80.0 points per game, a big difference from their 10-game home court scoring average. However, their defense is only allowing 77.2 points per game meaning their effort on defense is holding up no matter where the game is played. This weekend, UIU will have to continue to play efficient and tough defense while finding a way to create more scoring opportunities away from Dorman Memorial Gymnasium when the take on the Wildcats and No. 11 Vikings.
 
LAST TIME OUT WITH THE VIKINGS… The then-No. 24 Peacocks put together a tremendous defensive effort in their 84-65 win at home over then-No. 23 Augustana. Upper Iowa held their guests to a field goal percentage of 35.8%, while knocking down an efficient 56.9% of their offensive attempts. Jareese Williams (23) and Joe Smoldt (21) combined for 44 of the Upper Iowa's 84 points converting 17 of their 26 shots. The Peacocks knocked down nine of their first 15 shots from long range before going cold and finishing the game with a 39.1% (9-23) from beyond the arc. Inside the three-point line, Upper Iowa's shooters were deadly making 24 of their 35 attempts. Dylan Jones pulled down a team-high seven rebounds to go with 10 points. Adam Dykman led the Vikings with 17 points and 6 rebounds, while Jameson Bryan scored 13 and Dylan LeBrun netted 11. Upper Iowa's defense forced Augustana into needing 67 field goal attempts to score their 65 points.
 
SCOUTING THE No. 11 VIKINGS… Augustana carries a seven-game win streak into the weekend that dates back to the team's loss at Upper Iowa in mid-December. During the streak, Augustana has just been Augustana, with Tyler Riemersma averaging a team-best 17.3 points, Adam Dykman at 16.6 points and Isaac Fink at 14.3 points per game. For the year, Riemersma is the team leader at 17.8 points per outing while Fink is second on the team at 15.6 points per game. Dykman is averaging a career-best 13 points per game while Dylan LeBrun is just over the double-digit threshold at 10.6 points per game. Last weekend, the Vikings escaped with a narrow, four-point victory at Bemidji State University before dominating their Saturday contest with the University of Minnesota Crookston.
  
LAST TIME OUT WITH THE WILDCATS… The then-No. 24 Peacocks pushed their win streak to six straight with an 88-76 victory over Wayne State in the teams' final contest of the 2021 calendar year. Upper Iowa found themselves down ten points in the first half, but the home team rallied to take a lead in the first half and then controlled the pace in the second half scoring 49 points in the final twenty minutes to secure the 12-point win. Jareese Williams led the Peacocks with 24 points, fueled by four three-pointers and 8-8 shooting at the free throw line, and pulled down seven rebounds. Joe Smoldt added 18 with four trifectas, three rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Jake Hilmer recorded 16 points, seven assists and a pair of steals. Lucas Duax came off the bench to add 10 points, three rebounds and a pair of steals. Justin Eagins led the Wildcats with 23 points and five rebounds, while Jordan Janssen netted 17 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Upper Iowa shot over 50% from the field knocking down 28-54 (51.9%). UIU won the rebounding battle 34-30 as well.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS… Wayne State heads into Friday's game with an 11-8 overall record and an 8-5 mark in the Northern Sun. The Wildcats went 4-2 in their games against the NSIC North with two games (MSU Moorhead and Minot State) cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols at those schools. The two losses came over the last two weekends to the No. 9 University of Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota Crookston. WSC is led by guard Justin Eagins, who is averaging 16.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Eagins is shooting 46.7% from the field and 39.8% from three. Second-leading scorer Jordan Janssen did not play last weekend, but is averaging 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game while shooting 54.3% from the floor. Nate Mohr (11.2 ppg) and Alec Millender (9.5) are also offensive threats for the Wildcats.
 
UP NEXT… The Peacocks will return home for a pair of NSIC games next Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11-12, when they host Southwest Minnesota State University and the University of Sioux Falls.