WAYNE STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY GAME NOTES

2011-12 RECORDS:
Wayne State (17-8, 14-5 GLIAC)
Northwood (18-8, 13-6 GLIAC)

SERIES:
Wayne State leads 35-25

LAST MEETING:
Northwood 70, at Wayne State 63 (2/11/2012)

RADIO:
WDTK 1400 AM (wdtkam.com)

VIDEO:
wsuathletics.com/showcase/#liveevents

LIVE STATS:
livestats.prestosports.com/waynestate/

GAME 26 STORYLINES

Wayne State won eight of its final nine regular-season contests to finish in a second-place tie with Findlay, two games behind Hillsdale.

The “second” season begins on Wednesday with a GLIAC quarterfinal home playoff game against Northwood.

The four quarterfinal winners advance to the conference championship this Saturday and Sunday at the highest remaining seed.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Despite losing five of the last six meetings, Wayne State has a 35-25 edge in the all-time series.

WSU has a 20-10 mark in games at the Matthaei.  The Warriors are 6-3 at home vs. the Timberwolves dating back to 1999.

LAKE SUPERIOR RECAP

WSU clinched a home playoff game with a 76-54 triumph Thursday evening at Lake Superior State University.

Junior forward Ian Larkin scored WSU's first eight points on two triples and field goal as the Warriors raced out to an 8-2 lead in the first 3:40 of the contest.

The WSU defense limited the host Lakers to one made field goal in the first 6:50 as the Warriors opened a 15-2 advantage.

Ten Lake Superior points in under four minutes cut the WSU lead to 12 (24-12), after the visitors had a 22-8 lead with 10:45 left in the first half.

Wayne State went on an 11-4 run to open a 35-16 lead four minutes before intermission.

The Warriors shot 62 percent (13-of-21) in the opening 20 minutes, while the Lakers shot 40 percent (12-of-30).  Both Larkin and junior guard Cole Prophet had 10 points at halftime.

Lake Superior was able to get within 10 points (42-32 and 47-37) in the first 5:15 of the second half, but a 12-4 Warrior run opened an 18-point lead at 59-41 just past the mid-point of the second half.

Wayne State shot 52 percent (14-of-27) in the final 20 minutes to finish at 56 percent (27-of-48) for the game.

Larkin tallied a game-high 23 points, while senior center Ike Udanoh contributed 13 points and a game-best 11 rebounds.  Prophet scored 13 points and dished out six assists.

Derek Billing led LSSU with 16 points, but the Lakers shot just 33 percent (9-of-27) in the second half and only made one field goal in the final 7:50 of the game.

WAYNE STATE IN THE GLIAC TOURNAMENT

Wayne State will be making its fourth consecutive GLIAC tournament appearance and ninth in head coach David Greer's 11 seasons at the helm of the Warriors. 

WSU has won both home playoff games under Greer (79-62 last year vs. Hillsdale, and 75-70 over Gannon on March 1, 2005). 

This is Wayne State's 14th GLIAC tournament appearance, tied for third-most with Hillsdale behind Michigan Tech (16) and Grand Valley (15).  GVSU leads with six tournament titles, while Findlay has five.  WSU is third winning its fourth last year.

ON THE BENCH

David Greer, just the ninth head coach in 94 years of WSU basketball, is in his 11th season at WSU with a 166-137 record.

He is the fifth-longest tenured coach at WSU. The 22 victories by the Warriors in 2010-11 were the most since the 1998-99 NCAA qualifying squad compiled a 25-5 record.

Wayne State's 14 GLIAC wins last year, and again this season, are the most since the same 1998-99 team took first place with a 16-3 mark.

Jeff Rekeweg has compiled a 28-26 mark in his second season at Northwood.  In his 16th season as a collegiate head coach, Rekeweg has a 293-224 record which included 14 years at St. Francis, an NAIA school in Fort Wayne.

SCOUTING NORTHWOOD

The Timberwolves had their eight-game winning streak snapped last Saturday with a 77-67 setback at Michigan Tech.

Senior forward Bobby Lewis is the only Northwood player averaging in double figures (16.0 points per game), but six additional players are averaging at least six points per contest.

Junior center Robertas Grabauskas is leading the team in field goal percentage (53.7, 72-of-134), while Lewis leads the squad in triples (41) and steals (21).

Sophomore forward Wes Wilcox has 163 rebounds, with Lewis second with 153 boards.

Junior guard Cameron Joyce leads Northwood with 148 assists, with senior center Bobby Gibson recording a team-best 24 blocked shots.

WAYNE STATE NOTES

Senior guard Dale Brundidge will become the 19th player in school history with 100 games played on Wednesday.

Udanoh is approaching 1,000 collegiate points having scored 35 at Long Island and 954 at WSU.

Larkin is shooting 56 percent from the field (121-of-216) this season, which is 11th all-time of those with at least 120 made.  He also has the highest three-point percentage (53.6) of those with 30 made in a year.  Larkin is 10th in blocks in a year with 40 and 12th in free throw percentage (82.5%, 47-of-57).

Prophet needs one assist to become the 17th player in school history with a 100-assist season.  Current University of Buffalo assistant coach Kevin Heck (1988-91) and WSU Hall of Fame inductee Art Johnson (1989-92) each accomplished this feat three times.