Upper Iowa men's basketball advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Division II Tournament before coming up shy against Lake Superior State in an 88-80 decision. The squad finished with a 22-10 record and 15-5 mark in the conference, placing second in the GLVC for the regular season. They advanced to the second round of the NCAA DII postseason tournament for the second time in program history. 
 
D2CCA Midwest Region Player of the Year, Jake Hilmer, dished out six assists and led all scorers with 24 points, followed by Noah King and Nick Reid who added 19. Reid notched his second double-double of the NCAA tournament as he hauled in 14 rebounds, five of them off the offensive glass. 
 
The contest against the Lakers was a game of runs early on. The Peacocks started down 5-0, but went on a 12-0 run to lead 12-5, fueled by back-to-back steals from Hilmer and Kyle Hrncir allowing for extra scoring opportunities. 
 
UIU maintained their advantage early on as a behind the back pass from Hilmer to Caleb Delzell gave them the 15-8 lead. 
 
The Lakers took the lead after a 10-0 run, ahead 20-19. They stretched out their advantage to 30-23 with seven minutes remaining in the first half.
 
The Peacocks cut it to two right before the halftime buzzer on a three-quarter court shot from King that was nothing but net, trailing 40-38. 
 
The second half was back and forth in scoring until the Lakers jumped out to their largest lead of the contest at 59-50 with 12:40 remaining in the second stint.
 
Down the stretch, Upper Iowa strung together a 7-2 run after a Kyle Hrncir charge and brought the game within three points, 70-67. 
 
Lake Superior State led 83-76 with 0:44 second left to play and pulled out of the grasp of the Peacocks to end the game.