KIRKSVILLE, Mo. - Truman State Men's basketball begins GLVC play in the 2023-24 season against new member Upper Iowa on Saturday, December 2nd at 3 p.m. in Pershing Arena. The Peacocks are 3-3 so far and Truman is 2-4. The Bulldogs and Peacocks will play each other a week later at 3 p.m. on Saturday, December 9th, in Fayette, Iowa.

Following the two games against Upper Iowa, Truman State will fly to Las Vegas for games against Pittsburg State and Central Missouri on December 18 and 19.

The Bulldogs had a hard time in their last two games, falling to Concordia, St. Paul and Southwest Minnesota State in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The first game against Concordia, St. Paul ended with a score of 96-54, and the second one was closer with the Bulldogs falling 79-69 to Southwest Minnesota.

Against Concordia, freshman Blaise Porter led Truman in scoring with 12 on 3-8 shooting. Porter was 2-6 from three and 4-4 on free throws. He also added five rebounds, an assist, and a block.

In the 10-point loss to Southwest Minnesota, four Truman players recorded double-digit points.

Brennan Lovette led the Bulldogs with 17 points, but Kobi Williams was right behind him with 16. Both Lovette and Williams grabbed five boards, and Williams also had four assists.

Trey Shearer scored 12 on 4-7 shooting from three while having two rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

Xavier Hall was the final double-digit scorer with 10 on 3-7 shooting. Hall was 2-3 on 3-pointers and had a team-high six assists.

Freshman Kobi Williams leads Truman in points per game with 11.5 through six games. He has scored 10+ games in three of the six games, and his season-high is 23 points against Avila. Willaims is tied with Tobias Reizner in rebounds per game (4.0), and third in assists (2.2).

Brennan Lovette is second in scoring with 9.5 but leads the team in field goal percentage at 66.7% on 20-30 shoooting.

Landon Eiland is tied with Xavier Hall for the team lead in field goals made with 21. Eiland has taken one more shot than Hall, with Eiland at 54 and Hall at 53.

Trey Shearer and Casen Lawerence are the only two Bulldogs with double-digit 3-pointers. Shearer has 16 on 30 attempts and Casen Lawrence has 15 on 29. Shearer and Lawrence are also over 50% from three.

Xavier Hall leads the team in assists with 4.7 per game, nearly doubling Trey Shearer's 2.5 assists. Hall also had Truman's best scoring game so far when he dropped 25 against Emporia State on 11/15. He also had the most makes (10) and most attempts (18) in the same game.

Casen Lawrence and Trey Shearer have both made five threes in a game, and Tobias Reizner had a season-best eight boards against Avila.

The Upper Iowa Peacocks are 3-3 with wins against Michigan Tech (93-87), Northern State (84-78), and common opponent Southwest Minnesota State (85-83). Their three losses were to Northern Michigan (85-75), No. 15 Northwest Missouri State (91-82), and other common opponent Concordia, St. Paul (103-92).

Their offense has been tops in the GLVC so far, averaging 85.2 points per game, while their defense is at the bottom of the league, allowing 87.8 points.

Jake Hilmer has been fantastic for the Peacocks, leading the conference and second in the nation in points per game with 27.5. The graduate student from Walker, Iowa has two 30+ point games, with one nearly reaching 40 when he dropped 39 against Michigan Tech on 11/12. Hilmer won the first GLVC Player of the Week award of the season, and was named the D2CIDA National Player of the Week at the same time. 

Noah King is second in scoring for Upper Iowa, averaging 17.8 points and Nick Reid is the third double-digit scorer with 13.3 points per game. Reid also leads the team in rebounding, grabbing 7.0 boards and Hilmer is tops in assists with 4.2.

The Bulldogs and Peacocks have met 11 times, with Truman leading the series 7-4. Their last meeting was last season, where Truman came out with a 91-78 win at home.

Truman and Upper Iowa played two games in 1940 and 1941 and did not play again until 2004, where the two teams have played eight times since.

With a win against Upper Iowa, Truman State head coach Jeff Horner would reach tied Don Faurot in all-time wins with 192. Faurot is currently fourth all-time, behind Jack Schrader, Willard Sims, and Boyd King. Horner currently has a record of 91-56 and with a win, would tie Faurot despite coaching 18 fewer games.