KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Truman State takes on Upper Iowa in the first round of the 2025 GLVC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Friday.

The No. 6 Bulldogs and No. 3 Peacocks square off at 2:15 March 7 in Lindenwood University's Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo., in Quarterfinal 4. The winner of Friday's quarterfinal will play at either 12 p.m. or 2:15 p.m. Saturday, March 8, with the championship game scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday, March 9.

All GLVC Championship Tournament contests will be streamed live on GLVCSN.com, the GLVCSN apps on Android and iOS, and GLVCSN OTT apps on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV. Costs are $12 per contest or $35 for the entire tournament.

Truman State secured the No. 6 seed on the final day of the regular season following a home 83-70 loss to William Jewell (Mo.) to finish the campaign 17-11 overall, 11-9 GLVC. The No. 3 seed for Upper Iowa came as the Peacocks won three straight down the stretch including a 103-99 win in Fayette, Iowa, over Lewis (Ill.) to wrap 2024-25 with a 20-8 overall, 14-6 GLVC record.

Upper Iowa defeated the Bulldogs January 16 in Pershing Arena, 73-70, in the lone meeting between the two during the regular season. The Peacocks led by as much as 13 with 7:16 remaining in the second half behind 33 points from GLVC Player of the Year Nick Reid. The 'Dogs were led by juniors Xavier Hall and Isaiah Reams led the charge back, reducing the lead to two, 72-70, on a three by sophomore Matt Haefner, but a Reid free throw iced the comeback and knocked Truman State down to 2-5 in the league.

Winners in the next seven of eight, the Bulldogs took wins off tournament qualifiers Lewis (Ill.) and Lincoln (Mo.) in the same homestand as the loss to Upper Iowa with wins at Quincy (Ill.), at William Jewell (Mo.), and in Pershing Arena against Drury (Mo.) and Southwest Baptist (Mo.). The Peacocks only lost three times the rest of the way and took a 100-85 win off conference regular season champ and No. 1 seed Missouri S&T in Fayette, Iowa, on Feb. 8.

All time, Truman State leads Upper Iowa 8-6 on the hardwood with the most-recent win for the Purple and White coming Dec. 2, 2023, in the first GLVC competition between the two. The series opened with a 55-28 Truman State victory in Fayette on Dec. 14, 1940, but was idle from 1941 to a 77-55 Bulldog win in Pershing on Dec. 4, 2004. Truman State trails Upper Iowa in the GLVC, 2-1.

Guards Xavier Hall and Kobi Williams were each garnered All-Conference honors for the second consecutive year in the awards announced by the GLVC Wednesday, March 5. Hall was named not only to the First Team having led the GLVC in assists with 5.7 per game but ranked Top 25 in scoring all season – currently 22nd at 13.8 points per game –as well as 18th in field goal percentage (.486), 9th in free throw percentage (.852), and 14th in steals per game (1.3). Nationally, his 5.7 assists average ranks 13th in NCAA Division II having recorded 160 total assists on the campaign for 12th in the nation.

Williams - the GLVC Freshman of the Year and all-Freshman team honoree following the 2023-24 season – was named Second Team ranked 15th GLVC with 14.7 points per game leading the Bulldogs with 411 points scored during his sophomore season. Among league leaders, Williams ranks 19th in rebounds (5.3 per game), 14th field goal percentage (.496), 10th in free throw percentage (.846), 16th in 3-point field goals per game (1.9), 23rd in assists per game (2.3), and 24th in blocked shots per game (0.5).

Along with 23.9 points per game from Reid, the Peacocks get 16.5 from redshirt junior guard Noah King and 11.8 points per game from redshirt sophomore Kyle Hrncir. Reid – GLVC Player of the Year and three-time GLVC Player of the Week – was named to the All-Conference First Team with both King and Hrncir named All-Conference Second Team. Hrncir won one GLVC Player of the Week award.

The Bulldogs have appeared in the GLVC Championship Tournament in 10 of 11 seasons in the league. The 2019-20 season saw the 'Dogs win both the regular season and tournament championships and kick off three consecutive seasons of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament including an appearance in the 2020-21 Elite Eight.