Upper Iowa basketball to face a familiar face and a formidable foe

Brooks McKowen once again will get a chance to thank his predecessor when Upper Iowa plays Friday night at Wayne State (Neb.).

McKowen is the second-year coach of the Upper Iowa men's basketball team. He got his opportunity to coach the Peacocks when Brian Dolan left Fayette to coach at Wayne State.

'I am very grateful for the way Coach Dolan left the program,” said McKowen, 30, whose team is 11-7 overall and 7-5 in the Northern Sun Conference after a 16-14 run a year ago. 'We still have a few guys that played two or three years for Coach Dolan and a few more he recruited. It just adds another element to the game.”

Dolan left after guiding Upper Iowa to a 20-12 mark and NCAA Division II tournament berth in 2013. Wayne state is 3-15 overall, 0-12 in the Northern Sun this season.

Upper Iowa will get a huge test Saturday night when it meets conference co-leader Augustana (17-1, 11-1) at Sioux Falls, S.D.

The Peacocks go into this weekend a bit lame at point guard. Sophomore Jace Hanna, who prepped at Cedar Rapids Prairie, badly sprained an ankle two weeks ago in practice and missed the last four games. Freshman Connor Parker from Dike-New Hartford twisted his ankle Saturday night in a 69-56 loss to the University of Mary.

McKowen said Hanna and Parker are probable this weekend, although neither has returned to practice.

'(Hanna) is a big piece to our team,” McKowen said. 'He's one of those kids that do all of the little things right. It's tough to lose a guy like that.”

McKowen said the Peacocks have gotten big lifts off the bench from sophomores Jordan Hay and Jimmy Roth.

The 6-foot-6 Hay, who prepped at North Cedar, has moved to a more traditional post position this season and is averaging 11.7 and 5.8 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game.

Hay was a dangerous long-range shooter in high school, but McKowen said that part of his game has suffered with the move inside.

'He's focused on finishing inside,” McKowen said. 'He goes off in practice sometimes, but not necessarily in games. If he gets that piece back in his game ...

'We have a lot of guys that can shoot the ball. But if you have a 5 man that can pick-and-pop, that really opens up the floor for everyone.”

Roth, a former Linn-Mar prep, is rounding back into game shape after suffering a badly sprained ankle in the Peacocks' second game of the season. He averages 8.1 points.

Former Sumner-Fredericksburg prep Bo Pagel, one of two seniors on the team, leads Upper Iowa in scoring with a 13.3 average.

Upper Iowa finished fourth in the conference's South Division last season. McKowen said he is hoping for a top-three finish this year. The top four places in each division host first-round conference tournament games.

'I feel like we've done a darn good job to this point,” he said. 'We just have to take care of business.”

First round games are Feb. 25. The final three rounds of the conference tournament will be held March 1-3 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

In the Paint

The Kirkwood men are ranked ninth in this week's NJCAA Division II poll. The Eagles play Saturday at No. 14 Southwestern. They host No. 4 DMACC next Wednesday (Jan. 28) at Johnson Hall ... The Kirkwood women are ranked fourth in the NJCAA D-II poll ... The Mount Mercy men moved up two spots to No. 16 in the NAIA Division II rankings ... The Luther women are ranked 24th in NCAA Division III. The Norse (14-1) are off to their best start since the 1995-96 season and took an 11-game win streak into last night's game at Simpson ... Former Cedar Rapids Kennedy prep Kyle Lamaak, a Mount Mercy junior, was named Midwest Collegiate Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week after scoring 18 and 26 points in a pair of wins for the Mustangs ... Former Clear Creek-Amana prep Nile Eckermann, a senior guard at Central, was named Iowa Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week after averaging 29 points in two games.