Men's Basketball | 1/25/2017 3:10:00 PM

DETROIT --  After finishing the 2016 calendar year 8-1 and first-place in the GLIAC, the Wayne State University men's basketball team (9-6, 6-5 GLIAC) will look to return to form and end a five-game losing streak at home against Northwood (4-16, 2-9 GLIAC) and Lake Superior State (10-5, 7-4 GLIAC).  WSU will play four of its next five games at home.

STORYLINES
Wayne State will look to end a five-game losing streak on Thursday against Northwood before finishing the week against Lake Superior State on Saturday.  The Warriors are 5-2 this season inside the Matthaei, with the two losses coming on Jan. 12th against Michigan Tech and Jan. 14th vs. Northern Michigan.

THE SERIES
The Warriors lead the all-time series vs. Northwood with a 39-28 mark.  The teams began playing in 1975 and spilt the first eight meetings.  Wayne State won eight straight meetings in the early 90s.  The Timberwolves have won three of the last five games, including the most recent game (94-80) in Midland, Mich., on Dec. 3, 2015.

WSU leads the all-time series 43-28 against Lake Superior State.  The teams began playing in 1969 and the Lakers won five of the first seven meetings.  LSSU is 5-1 during the last six matchups with the Warriors winning in Detroit on Feb. 27, 2014.  Wayne State is 25-10 at home in the series and Coach Greer is 11-10 in his time with the Green & Gold.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Northwood is in the bottom spot of the GLIAC North Division at 4-16 overall and 2-9 in league play.  NU has dropped six straight and has its sights set on its first victory since a Dec. 30th win at Lewis.  Head coach Jeff Rekeweg is in his seventh season leading the team.   Junior Matt Crowl is scoring a team-high 12.7 points per game, while junior Nick Spitzley is averaging 11.1 points per contest.  Crowl is also the team's best rebounder at 6.3 boards per game.  As a team, Northwood is scoring 70.2 points per game and allowing 78.8 points.

Lake Superior State is the best offensive team in the GLIAC in terms of points per game (90.8) and enters this week's schedule with a 10-5 overall record, including a 7-4 mark in league contests.  The Lakers have split their last four games under 10th-year head coach Steve Hettinga.  Junior guard Akaemji Williams is scoring 22.2 points per night, which ranks second in the league and he leads the conference with an impressive 8.6 assists per game.  Sophomore forward Blake Marquardt is also a threat on offense, averaging 13.0 points per contest.  The weakness of the LSSU team appears to be on defense, where the Lakers are allowing the second-most points per game in the league at 81.1.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State lost its fifth straight game, 102-81, at first-place Ferris State.  The Bulldogs led 12-6 and forced head coach David Greer to take an early timeout at the 15:26 mark.  Jalen Adams knocked down a triple to cut the home lead to 12-9 with 14 minutes left to play.  Nick Mutebi converted one of two free throws to trim deficit to five, 20-15, at the 9:48 mark.  However, a 10-0 run by Ferris State put the Bulldogs up 30-15 at the 7:36 mark. The run reached 22-4 as FSU extended its lead to 42-19 with under five minutes to play in the half.  The momentum stayed with Ferris State until halftime as the Bulldogs led 50-29.  Wayne State trailed 66-44 at the 13:45 mark of the second half.  Ferris State continued to shoot the ball very well and led 83-54 with 9:21 remaining.  At the six-minute mark, FSU led 95-68.  WSU's reserves saw their shots begin to fall and pulled within 18 at the 2:11 mark, 98-80.  However, the Bulldogs were able to notch another 100-point game and win 102-81.  Marcus Moore led the Green & Gold with 22 points, while Ronald Booth scored 15.  Michael Lewis finished with double-digit rebounds for the third time in the last four games with a game-high 10 boards.

CAN WE GO BACK TO 2016?
It has been a tale of two seasons so far for the Warriors.  WSU ended the 2016 schedule with a nine-game winning streak and was in first place in the GLIAC.  However, as the calendar flipped to 2017, the schedule strengthened and Wayne State is still looking for its footing in the new year.

COACHING MILESTONE
With the win on Dec. 3rd over Hillsdale, David Greer became the winningest coach in the 99 years of Wayne State men's basketball.  He passed his predecessor Ron Hammye's mark of 212 victories, which he collected in his 13 seasons (1988-01). 

WINNING STREAKS
The longest winning-streak in program history is 17 games done on two occasions in 1955-56 and 1994. Other streaks of note include 14, 12, and the nine-game winning streak for this year's team is one of four in program history and the longest since the 1998-99 season.

NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA stats release, WSU ranks eighth in fewest turnovers (180), 21st in scoring defense (66.9), 36th in fewest fouls (292), 44th in turnovers per game (12.0) and 48th in turnover margin (+2.7).  

NORTH VS. SOUTH
This week will be the third week of GLIAC divisional play.  After the 15 GLIAC programs completed its out-of-division play, the GLIAC North Division had a 32-24 (.625) record against the GLIAC South Division.  Six of the eight North members have a winning conference record, while Findlay was the only South team with a winning mark in league games at the start of divisional play.

ELITE DEFENSE?
Wayne State is allowing 66.9 points per game this season, which is the second best mark in the league and 26th best in program history.  Opponents are shooting .412 against WSU this season, which is the best defensive performance since the 2001-02 team limited opponents to a .408 shooting percentage, which is the best in school history. 

WHO WILL LEAD THE WARRIORS?
Four Warriors are averaging more than 10 points a night.  Ronald Booth leads WSU in scoring at 14.7 points, while Marcus Moore is averaging 12.9 points per contest.  Chuck Key is scoring 12.7 points per night and Michael Lewis has joined the club after a recent surge and is averaging 10.3 points per game.

MARGIN OF ERROR
In four of the last five games the margin of defeat  has been six, five, four  and seven points and Wayne State has led at halftime in three of those four games.  

REBOUNDING ADVANTAGE
WSU has won the rebounding advantage in nine of the 15 games this season, including the last four.  The largest being a 45-32 rebounding advantage vs. Ferris State on Saturday.

COMCAST/XFINITY
Every home men's basketball game beginning in 2017 will be aired live throughout the state of Michigan on Comcast CN 900.  The crew of Sean Baligian, Rod Beard, Joe Abramson and Tony Ortiz will call the action. 

LIVE ON WDTK
Kevin Brechmacher will call every contest live on the radio on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Fans can also stream the action online newstalk1400.us.  Joining Kevin for home games will be WSU alum Kendall LeSure, who played at Wayne State from 2000-04 and scored 1,068 points during his career.