The Peacock men's basketball team fell on the road at the University of Minnesota Duluth, 80-62, when the team struggled through a poor-shooting second half in Duluth, Minn. After trailing by just two points at halftime, UMD outscored their guests 43-27 in the second half. Upper Iowa drops to 9-8 overall and 6-5 in the Northern Sun, while the Bulldogs improve to 13-4 overall and 9-2 in the conference.
 
Jake Hilmer led the Peacocks with 22 points and six assists, while Lucas Duax netted 11 points and brought in six rebounds. Austin Hilmer scored eight points, while Nick Reid scored five points and snared 12 rebounds.
 
Josh Brown led the Bulldogs with 17 points and six rebounds, while Matt Thompson and Joshua Strong came off the bench to score 14 and 13 points, respectively.
 
After just two points, 37-35, separated the teams at halftime, Upper Iowa was only able to convert 31% of their field goal attempts in the second half making nine shots, three of which came from behind the three-point line. Minnesota Duluth took advantage of a huge discrepancy in points in the paint winning the battle under the basket 46-20. In stark contrast to UIU's shooting woes in the final 20 minutes, the Bulldogs knocked down nearly 52% of their shots going 16-31 in the second half with four made threes.
 
UMD outscored UIU 22-7 over the first eight minutes of the second half pushing their slim lead at the break to a 17-point advantage, 59-42, with 12 minutes to play. Upper Iowa made a run to cut the gap to nine points, 63-54, with a 12-4 run of their own, but UIU wouldn't get any closer. The Bulldogs pushed back out to a 74-54 lead when they held the Peacocks scoreless for four and a half minutes.
 
Upper Iowa will get back on the court on Saturday, Jan. 14 in St. Cloud, Minn. The Peacocks will take on the Huskies of St. Cloud State University at 5:30 p.m.