FAYETTE, Iowa - UIU men's basketball (14-8, 9-6 GLVC) hosts its final two home games of the season this week. On Thursday at 7 p.m., the Peacocks host Missouri-St. Louis (14-10, 8-7 GLVC) and on Saturday at 3 p.m., they host Maryville (Mo.) (2-21, 0-15 GLVC) for Senior Day.
LIVE OPTIONS
Fans unable to attend the games in Fayette can stay connected with a pair of live options available at UIUPeacocks.com/Live, featuring access to live stats and a pay-per-view webcast through GLVCSN. Fans can also refer to the links attached to this story for all live options.
In addition to GLVCSN.com, viewers can catch the Peacocks on the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile app, as well as the GLVCSN app on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV.
TICKET INFORMATION
New this year, tickets for all Peacock home events can be purchased digitally at tickets.uiu.edu. Single game tickets are now available online and at the ticket booth on gameday. If you want to pay in person, both Harms-Eischeid Stadium and Dorman Memorial Gymnasium are now accepting all major credit cards, checks and cash.
DIGITAL GAMEDAY PROGRAMS
Fans can access the interactive and digital gameday program any time at UIUPeacocks.com/Programs. The digital programs are available to fans at our games and to those watching at home. QR Codes will be located around the gym to scan with your cell phone's camera, which will link you directly to that game's specific digital gameday program.
SENIOR DAY
The Peacocks will honor four seniors on Saturday in between the women's and men's games. Austin Hilmer, Trey Kriener, Trey Lewis and William Spielbauer.
LAST TIME OUT
Upper Iowa lost both of its contests last week. UIU fell to No. 24 Missouri S&T (16-4, 10-3 GLVC), 88-71, on Thursday and fell to Lincoln (Mo.) (10-13, 4-11 GLVC), 72-65 on Saturday.
The Peacocks controlled most of the first half against the Miners, but were outpaced in the final three minutes. S&T extended upon its 13-point halftime advantage and never looked back.
In the game against the Blue Tigers, UIU was ice cold in the first half, shooting 6-for-28 (28.6%) from the field compared to 14-for-31 (45.2%) for LU, giving them an 11-point lead at halftime. The Blue Tigers held onto the win despite the Peacocks managing to cut their lead to five late in the second half.
Hrncir had 23 points, going 9-for-9 at the charity stripe and 13 rebounds in the loss to Lincoln. Tate Petersen posted 13 points along with a career-high seven rebounds. Cael Reichter had a team-high two blocks.
The freshman also recorded 16 points, shooting 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and recording a career-high four assists in the loss to Missouri S&T. He added eight rebounds and a block as well. Hrncir reached 1,000 career points after scoring 16 points and hauling in 10 rebounds.
STATISTICS SUMMARY
Hrncir leads the team with 17.9 points per game (ppg), 9.2 rebounds per game (rpg), 3.9 assists per game (apg) and 1.6 steals per game (spg). Reichter shoots a team-high 57.5% from the field, Tate Petersen shoots a team-high 44.6% from three and Jack Miller shoots a team-high 86.4% from from the free-throw line.
Hrncir is tied for first in the GLVC in rpg, first in double-doubles (11), fourth in apg, seventh in ppg and seventh in spg. Nationally, the redshirt junior is ninth in double-doubles, 11th in free throw attempts, 23rd in total rebounds (202) and 25th in rebounds per game. Petersen is second in the conference in 3-point percentage, while Austin Hilmer is 10th in the conference in spg with 1.45.
As a unit, Upper Iowa averages 83.4 ppg, 36.9 rpg, 16.3 apg, 8.8 spg and 2.5 blocks per game (bpg). The team has a field goal percentage of 45.2%, a 3-point percentage of 32.6% and a free-throw percentage of 67.7%. In the GLVC, UIU is first in turnover margin (4.50), first in apg, first in spg, second in assist/turnover ratio, second in scoring and fourth in rpg. Among Division II, the Peacocks are 14th in turnover margin, 24th in assist/turnover ratio and 40th in assists per game.
AROUND THE GLVC
As it stands right now, Illinois Springfield (15-7, 11-3 GLVC) leads the GLVC points rating system with a 4.00. Rockhurst (Mo.) (17-5, 11-3 GLVC) is second at 3.96 and William Jewell (Mo.) (14-8, 10-4 GLVC) is third at 3.89. Upper Iowa sits at seventh with 3.23. McKendree (Ill.) (18-4, 11-3 GLVC) is at 3.84, Missouri S&T is at 3.769, UIndy (12-11, 10-5 GLVC) is at 3.767 and Missouri-St. Louis also made the field of eight at 3.07. The conference tournament is on March 5-8 in St. Louis.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches poll gave No. 23 McKendree 54 votes and No. 24 Missouri S&T 50 votes, keeping them at the same spots as last week. Rockhurst is a spot out of the top 25, receiving 23 votes. The highest-ranked team in the Midwest Region is No. 13 Michigan Tech (20-4), which got 205 votes.
Jaylen Wesley of Rockhurst earned GLVC Player of the Week after posting 32 points, six rebounds and six steals in the win over William Jewell. This was his fourth time this season winning the award.
Rockhurst's Drenin Dinkins (22.7 ppg) and Jaylen Wesley (21.4 ppg) are the top two scorers in the conference. Emmanuel Byrd of Truman State (Mo.) (9-13, 6-8 GLVC) is tied with Hrncir for a GLVC-high 9.2 rpg. Jordan Rice of Illinois Springfield averages the most assists in the conference with 5.1.
Rockhurst leads the GLVC in points per game with 89.5. Lincoln leads the conference in both rebounds per game with 38.6 and blocks per game with 3.91. Rockhurst shoots a GLVC-best 49% from the field, and Illinois-Springfield shoots a GLVC-best 39.2% from three.
ABOUT THE TRITONS - Thursday at 7 p.m.
Missouri-St. Louis won both of its contests last week. The Tritons beat UIndy, 62-58, on Thursday and Lewis (Ill.) (4-18, 2-12 GLVC), 63-53, on Saturday.
UIU won the last matchup against USML, 79-67. Miller led the Peacocks in scoring that game with 16 points. He was followed by Hrncir and Trey Lewis with 12. Makeer Makeer had Tritons' best 16 points, while Jake Hamilton and Vincent Davis III were tied for second with 14.
Taye Moore leads Missouri-St. Louis in ppg with 14.6. Vincent Davis III has a team-high 5.9 rpg. Miles Boland dishes a team-best 4.7 apg. The Chicago native is third in the GLVC in apg and fourth in assist/turnover ratio.
The Tritons record 72.25 ppg, 33.7 rpg, 15 apg, 8.6 spg and 2.8 bpg. UMSL scores the eighth most ppg in the conference and allows the second fewest ppg (67.1). The squad shoots 46.6% from the field, 36.7% from three and 72.8% from the charity stripe.
Bob Sundvold is in his 13th year as the head coach. He has an overall record of 230-127.
ABOUT THE SAINTS - Saturday at 3 p.m.
Maryville was beaten twice last week. The Saints lost, 85-71, to Illinois Springfield on Thursday and, 98-67, to Indianapolis on Saturday.
Upper Iowa beat Maryville, 95-73, earlier this season. Hrncir and Lewis each had 15 points, while Miller had 11 points. Kobe Clark, Henry Sanchez and Raynard Horry all scored 12 points for the Saints.
Evan Palmquist is the leading scorer for MU with 16.3 ppg. Clark has a team-best 8.6 rpg, which is also the third-best in the GLVC. The graduate student also records a team-high 3.6 apg.
Maryville posts 63.8 ppg, 34.6 rpg, 11.2 apg, 6.4 spg and 11 bpg. The Saints are 39.5% on their shot attempts, 30.9% on 3-point attempts and 69.7% on free throw attempts. The team scores the 14th most amount of ppg and allows the most points per game (88.4).
Lance Egnatz is in his first year as the head coach. He served as an assistant coach last season and a part of this season before being promoted to head coach on Jan. 12.
UP NEXT
UIU has three road games left on the schedule before crossing the regular season finish line. The team plays McKendree on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m., Illinois Springfield on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. and Lewis on Saturday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m.
