FAYETTE, Iowa - The Peacocks men's basketball team begins its season by hosting Sioux Falls (S.D.) on Monday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m.
Head Coach Casey Kasperbauer enters his second season after leading the team to a record of 17-11 in 2025-26. This was the best overall record by a first-year Peacock men's basketball head coach since 1955-56.
MEET THE PEACOCKS: RETURNERS
Upper Iowa returns 13 players from last year's team. This includes four of their top scorers: Kyle Hrncir (16.9 points per game), Jack Miller (11.3 points per game), Tate Petersen (10.8 points per game) and Cael Reichter (8.4 points per game).
Hrncir led the team and the team last year, averaging rebounds per game. He also averaged a UIU-high four assists per game (apg) and a UIU-high 1.7 steals per game (spg). Hrncir was the GLVC Scholar Athlete of the Year for men's basketball and earned an All-GLVC First Team selection.
"Kyle was our only All-Conference player last season," Kasperbauer said. "We will move him around a bit more on offense and plan to utilize him on and off the ball."
Miller shot 50.2% from the field along with a team-best 87.5% from the free-throw line. Petersen led the team with 45.2% shooting mark from beyond the arc. He also shot 45.6% from the field.
"We're leaning on Tate and Jack as they're reliable shooters for us," Kasperbauer said. "On top of being a great shooter, Jack is a great two-way player who is capable of defending other teams' top players. Tate is our voice and does a great job keeping the group organized on both ends of the floor."
Reichter led the team shooting 62% from the field last season. He was also second on the team with 5.8 rebounds per game (rpg).
"Cael has made a gigantic leap from last season, so he'll play a lot and move around more," Kasperbauer said. "He played the five a lot last year, and we'll have the ability to move him between the four and the five throughout the season."
Anton Fontin averaged 3.4 ppg and 1.8 rpg. Eric Kenesie averaged 4.3 ppg, 1.5 apg, 1.3 rpg and nearly one spg.
"Anton will have a bigger role for us this season," Kasperbauer said. "Eric is similar to Jack in that he is a great two-way player, impacting the game on the defensive end of the floor even if he isn't scoring it on the offensive end."
MEET THE PEACOCKS: NEWCOMERS
UIU adds six new players, three freshmen and three transfers. The freshmen are Jack McGuire, Hunter Horn and Eli Dee. The transfers are Jonah Funk, Braden McGlothlin and Ben Bockman.
McGuire was a three-time All-State selection in high school. He totaled 1,224 points and 515 rebounds in his career.
"Jack is very coachable and has a bright future," Kasperbauer said. "His athleticism is off the charts, and he is learning our defensive system more and more each day."
McGlothlin played at Wisconsin-Parkside from 2025-26, Illinois Springfield from 2024-25 and UIndy from 2023-24, making Upper Iowa his fourth school. Last season at Parkside, he appeared in 27 games with six starts, averaging 3.9 ppg, 2.7 rpg and 2.3 apg.
"Braden's only played at the Division II level, so he knows what it takes to win, and what it takes for a team to win games in February, March and April," Kasperbauer said. "He changes the game with his one-on-one defense, but if we need him to score and change the game that way, he can."
Bockman competed at Kirkwood CC for two seasons. In 2025-26, he started 21 games, averaging 11.5 ppg, while shooting 45.9% from three. The junior also averaged 2.2 apg.
"Bockman is our off-the-ball guard at 6-foot-5," Kasperbauer said. "He will open the three for us, as he made four threes in the exhibition against Northern Iowa."
Funk is a 6-foot-11 forward with a 7-foot-1 wingspan who transferred to UIU from South Dakota. He played at Metamora Township High School in Illinois, where he averaged 14.9 points per game, 10.9 rebounds per game and 3.2 blocks per game.
"Jonah's athleticism will allow him to compete with any big in our league," Kasperbauer said. "He's picking up our system at an elite rate and is a guy that will only get better throughout the year."
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
After Monday's contest against Sioux Falls, Upper Iowa will host the Upper Iowa Crossover on Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14. The teams featured in the crossover are Illinois Springfield, UW-Parkside and Roosevelt (Ill.). UIU plays Parkside on that Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Roosevelt on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
"It'll be nice to not be on the bus all the time to begin the season," Kasperbauer said. "The great thing is that I felt like we challenged ourselves a lot more with this year's schedule. We have some quality opponents making the trip to Fayette."
The Peacocks then head to Winona State (Minn.) on Wednesday, Nov. 18 before returning to Dorman to take on Purdue Northwest (Ind.) on Saturday, Nov. 21 and Crown College (Minn.) on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
"The matchups against Sioux Falls and Winona State will be tough as the NSIC is one of the toughest conferences in Division II," Kasperbauer said. "Purdue Northwest had us down by 20 at one point last season, so that's a matchup that will be difficult as well."
UIU travels to Quincy (Ill.) on Monday, Nov. 30 to begin GLVC play. The team then returns home to host Truman State (Mo.) on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
"Quincy and Truman are both brand new teams, as they lost their key players," Kasperbauer said. "Both of those teams will be well coached and prepared when we play them to start conference action."
ABOUT THE COUGARS
Sioux Falls finished 10th in the NSIC standings with a 15-15 overall record and an 11-11 mark in conference play. The Cougars earned the No. 8 seed in the 2026 NSIC Tournament, defeating No. 9 seed Wayne State (Neb.) in the opening round before falling to top-seeded St. Cloud State (Minn.) in the quarterfinals.
USF returns its second leading scorer from last season, Taylen Ashley, who averaged 16 ppg. He also led the team and was 10th in the conference with 3.2 apg. Jacoby Meheram shot a team-high 58% from the field, while Kyle Ingwerson shot a team-high 38.8% from beyond the arc.
Sioux Falls scored an NSIC-best 85.5 ppg, shooting 45.9% from the floor and 33% from three. USF also averaged 39.6 rpg and 15.4 apg. The team averaged 11.9 turnovers per game.
Head Coach Chris Johnson is in his 19th year at the helm. He has an overall record of 314-241.
