THIS WEEKEND IN PEACOCK HOOPS… Upper Iowa is on their longest road trip of the season this weekend; the Peacocks will play a pair of NSIC cross-division games in Bismarck and Minot, N.D. UIU takes on the University of Mary on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Minot State University on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Peacocks (10-8, 7-5 NSIC) split a pair of road games last weekend with a win at St. Cloud State University, 72-57, after a loss at the University of Minnesota Duluth, 80-62. UMary (8-8, 4-8 NSIC) has lost three straight including a pair at Augustana University, 77-70, and Wayne State College, 72-52, last Friday and Saturday. Minot State (9-7, 6-6 NSIC), on the other hand, had a great weekend on the road at Augustana and Wayne State sweeping the two games by scores of 80-79 over the Wildcats and 73-65 over the Vikings. This weekend's games mark the first time this conference season that the men's teams will play the first game of the double headers each gameday.
 
LIVE OPTIONS… The games will have live options available for fans who can't make it to North Dakota this weekend. 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 favorite streaming device.
  
INSIDE THE NUMBERS FOR UIU… For the season, Upper Iowa is scoring 78.6 points per game and allowing 77.8 to their opponents. UIU is shooting 44.3% from the floor, 33.5% from three and 76.3% (34^th NCAA/4^th NSIC) from the free throw line, where they have converted 31 more makes than their opponents. Possession is the key for Upper Iowa this season as they have forced 233 turnovers, but only given the ball up 197 times or 10.9 per game, which ranks 15^th in all of NCAA Division II for fewest turnovers and is the sixth-best mark in the conference. When looking at the difference between wins and losses this season, the Peacocks are 10-1 when they hold their opponents under 50% shooting, but 0-7 when their defense falters and teams shoot above 50% from the field.

TOP 100 WATCH LIST... Small College Basketball and the National Awards Committee announced the Bevo Francis Top 100 Watch List for the 2022-23 season and UIU's Jake Hilmer has made the cut. The Top 100 Watch List consists of some of the top players from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, USCAA and NCCAA. Hilmer is currently averaging 21.1 points (18^th NCAA DII/2^nd NSIC), 5.4 assists (20^th NCAA DII/2^nd NSIC), 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 44.6% from the field, 36.1% from three and 84.5% (6^th NSIC) from the free throw line. His 1,523 career points are the ninth-most in Upper Iowa men's basketball history. The Clarence "Bevo" Francis Award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball.
 
PEACOCK LEADERS… Hilmer has had good company leading the Peacocks this season. Fellow guard Lucas Duax is averaging 17.4 points (10^th NSIC), 5.2 rebounds, 2.4 steals (5^th NCAA DII/1^st NSIC) and 2.4 assists per game and is shooting 54.5% (6^th NSIC) from the floor, 30.3% from beyond the arc and 76.9% (13^th NSIC) on his free throws. Nick Reid is posting per-game averages of 13.1 points, 9.2 rebounds (28^th NCAA DII/1st NSIC), and 1.1 assists while shooting 36.8% from the field, 33.7% from deep and 86.8% (47^th NCAA DII/4th NSIC) from the free throw line. Dylan Jones holds down the paint for UIU with 8.1 points and 4.6 rebounds on the block while knocking down 58.2% of his field goal attempts. All four scoring leaders have had games with 19 points or more this season sharing the scoring load as defenses try to slow Upper Iowa down.
 
THE NSIC SOUTH DIVISION GAUNTLET… To this point in the season, Upper Iowa's NSIC slate has been made up of one trip through the NSIC South, a second match up with Winona State University and two weekends of cross-divisional play. After twelve games, the NSIC South standings show five teams all within one game of the top spot in the division. Sioux Falls, who lost at Upper Iowa 92-71, sits atop the standings at 8-4, while the Peacocks, along with Minnesota State University, Mankato, Wayne State College, and Southwest Minnesota State University, are all tied for second place with a 7-5 conference mark. Winona State is in sixth with a 5-7 record, while Augustana is seventh at 4-8. Concordia University, St. Paul is 2-10 so far in their NSIC slate. With only 10 games left in the conference season, the race for the division crown and the six available spots in the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament may very well come down to the final games of the regular season in late February.
 
SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS… After scoring wins over the University of Minnesota Crookston, 80-76, and Southwest Minnesota State, 62-57, the Marauders have dropped three straight games to the Sioux Falls, Augustana and Wayne State. UMary is averaging 72.1 points and 37 rebounds per game while shooting 43.5% from the field and 37.2% from deep. The Marauders are led by Kam Warrens, who is averaging 13.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per contest while knocking down 47.4% of his shots and 41.9% of his three-point attempts. The UMary scoring leader dropped 26 points on Augustana last Friday night fueled by four three-pointers. In addition to Warrens, the remainder of the starting five for UMary averages between 8.4 and 11.8 points and 2.9 and 5.4 rebounds per game.
 
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS…  Minot State is coming off an impressive road weekend at Wayne State and Augustana winning both games by scores of 80-79 and 73-65, respectively. The two wins snapped a three-game slide that included losses to Bemidji State University, Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State. All three losses came by single digits including a three-point difference with Sioux Falls and a two-point margin with SMSU. The Beavers are registering 75.8 points and 34.3 rebounds per game while shooting 45.4% from the floor, 36.7% from behind the three-point line and 74.1% from the charity stripe. Khari Broadway leads an offense that has six major contributors that average between 7.8 and 13.9 points per game. Broadway's average of nearly 14 points comes mainly inside the arc and at the free throw line, while Cam'ron Dunfee's 12.1 points and Jaxon Gunville's 10.9 points per game are fueled by their three-point shooting which has netted 73 makes between them.

COMING HOME…  Upper Iowa returns to Dorman Gym in Fayette next weekend, Jan. 27-28, for the basketball program's Alumni Weekend. The Peacocks will host the No. 22 Dragons of Minnesota State University Moorhead on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Wolves of Northern State University on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.