WAYNE STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL WEEKLY GAME NOTES

2012-13 RECORDS:
#19-Wayne State 14-3 overall, 13-1 GLIAC
Northwood 8-11 overall, 7-8 GLIAC
Saginaw Valley 8-10, 6-9 GLIAC

SERIES:
Wayne State leads Northwood 37-25
Wayne State leads SVSU 33-32

LAST MEETING:
WSU won 74-71 over Northwood on Jan. 10, 2013
WSU won 90-56 over SVSU on Jan. 12, 2013

WEEK 11 STORYLINES

Wayne State won for the ninth time in the last 10 outings claiming an 87-81 triumph over Lake Superior in its lone game last week.

The Warriors begin the stretch drive this week playing at Northwood and Saginaw Valley.  WSU will have eight conference games over the final four weeks of the regular season with only three contests at home.

ALL-TIME SERIES

The Warriors hold a 37-25 lead in the Northwood series that began in 1975.  WSU has won the last two  meetings after the Timberwolves had won five of six.  David Greer is 10-8 against Northwood including 3-4 in Midland.

Wayne State has won the last three meetings vs. the Cardinals and five of the last seven to take a one game lead in the all-time series which dates back to 1976.  The Warriors are 13-18 all-time at SVSU with Greer recording a 4-4 against the Cardinals at O'Neill Arena.

LAST WEEK

Wayne State, ranked 25th by the NABC (1/29), downed visiting Lake Superior 87-81 last Saturday.

The game was tied twice in the early going but the Warriors never trailed.  After a jumper by Laker Derek Kinney knotted the game at six, Wayne State went on an 8-0 run as Cole Prophet and Ian Larkin each connected from beyond the arc and Gerald Williams-Taylor added a lay-up.

After a Lake Superior three-pointer, Bryan Coleman answered with three triples in a span of 2:42 in addition to made field goals by Larkin and Coleman to give the hosts a 29-19 lead at the mid-point of the first half.

WSU shot 62 percent (16-of-26) from the floor in the first 20 minutes and had just two turnovers, while LSSU connected on 52 percent (14-of-27).  Both teams made six triples with the Warriors out-scoring the Lakers 15-9 at the free throw line in the first half.  Coleman led all scorers at the break with 16 points.

Laker Alex Williams hit a three-pointer cutting the WSU lead to three (75-72).  Larkin answered with a fade-away jumper in the paint, but Billing drained a triple after side-stepping a defender making it 77-75.

Prophet hit a jumper from just inside the arc with 3:27 left before Metz hit a pair of foul shots in a double bonus.  Each team failed to score on its next possession, before Prophet made two from the charity stripe.

Metz again made two free throws, before the Warriors missed a jumper and Billing threw the ball out of bounds during an offensive set.

Larkin sealed the win with a baseline jumper with 58.2 seconds left.  Chene Phillips recorded his game-best third steal of the contest and made both foul shots in a one-and-one situation with 18.4 seconds remaining pushing the Warrior margin to six (85-79).

SCOUTING NORTHWOOD

The Timberwolves have won two in a row since going through a 4-6 stretch from mid-December to late January.

Senior forward Wes Wilcox leads NU in scoring (13.3 points per game).

Sophomore center Will Bowles is second in scoring (13.1 ppg) and first in both rebounding (8.3 boards per game) and blocked shots (28).

Senior guard Andrew Vandierendonck leads the team in both triples (31) and steals (19), and is third in scoring (11.4 ppg), while classmate Cameron Joyce has a team-high 93 assists.

Northwood leads the GLIAC in league rebounding margin (+5.9 rpg).  NU averages more than 20 triple tries per game.

SCOUTING SAGINAW VALLEY

SVSU enters Thursday's game at Lake Superior having lost four of its last five contests.

Senior guard Chris Webb leads Saginaw Valley in scoring (16.7 ppg).

Senior guard Brett Beland is second in scoring (11.9 ppg) but first in triples (40).

Senior forward Rob Clark leads the squad in rebounding (6.9 rpg) while ranking second in steals 922) and third in scoring (6.1 ppg).

Freshman forward Kellen Smith has a team-high 82 assists, while also leading the squad in steals with 23.

Senior forward Jay Thames leads SVSU with nine blocked shots and is second in rebounding (4.0 rpg).

The Cardinals are third in the conference in league free throw percentage at 73.1 percent.

IN THE RANKINGS

Wayne State is ranked 12th nationally in the most recent Massey Ratings, which were released on Feb. 7.

Northwood is 128th and Saginaw Valley is 182nd.

Two of WSU's non-league foes - Bellarmine (10th), and Drury (11th) are also ranked in the top 15.

WSU is third in the Midwest Region just behind Bellarmine and Drury.  Southern Indiana is 19th, Michigan Tech is 30th and Grand Valley 31st.

ON THE WAYNE STATE BENCH

David Greer is in his 12th season as the WSU men's basketball head coach.  Greer has a 181-141 record with the Warriors and is the fifth-longest tenured head coach in WSU men's basketball history.

Greer moved past Newman Ertell (1929-48) for third place in career wins with the triumph over Grand Valley.

He trails the legendary Joel Mason (1948-66) by five wins (186-181) for second place all-time at WSU.

ON THE OPPOSING BENCH

Northwood's Jeff Rekeweg is in his third season as head men's basketball coach for the Timberwolves.  His record at NU stands at 36-38.

Randy Baruth is in his first year as head coach at Saginaw Valley.  This is his first collegiate head coaching job after working on the staffs at Northern State, North Dakota State, Colorado State and the University of Utah.