Men's Basketball | 2/8/2017 10:00:00 AM
DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (12-8, 9-7 GLIAC) will look to begin the final five-game stretch of the regular season on a high note on Thursday at Michigan Tech (13-10. 11-5 GLIAC) and Saturday at Northern Michigan (7-14, 5-11 GLIAC). Two wins would go a long way towards the Warriors securing their place in the GLIAC Tournament at the end of the month.
STORYLINES
Wayne State was able to hold on for a three-point win over Grand Valley State on Feb. 2 before falling to first-place Ferris State last Saturday. The Warriors are fighting for a GLIAC Tournament spot. WSU can secure a postseason berth by going 3-2, including a win over Saginaw Valley State in the regular-season finale on Feb. 23rd.
THE SERIES
WSU leads 53-31 in the all-time series against Michigan Tech in a series that began in 1927. Starting in 2009, the Warriors won five straight before the Huskies captured the next four meetings. Wayne State snapped that streak last season with a 77-64 victory in Detroit. WSU is 17-20 in Houghton, Mich., and Coach Greer is 11-11 in his 16 seasons vs. the Huskies. MTU won the season's first meeting, 63-58, in Detroit.
The Warriors also lead the all-time series vs. Northern Michigan with a 38-35 mark. The teams began playing in 1935 and WSU won the first eight meetings. Recently, Wayne State has won 10 of the last 12 contests. WSU is 11-20 at NMU in the series and head coach
David Greer is 13-8 vs. the Wildcats. NMU won the season's first meeting, 75-71, in Detroit.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Michigan Tech enters this week's action at 13-10 overall and 11-5 in league contests, which is good for second place in the GLIAC North Division. The Huskies have alternated wins and losses after winning five straight. Kevin Luke, the winningest coach in Michigan Tech basketball history, is in his 23rd season leading the Huskies. MTU is led by two of the more prolific scorers in the league as sophomore forward Kyle Monroe is scoring 20.3 points per game and freshman guard Tommy Lucca is averaging 17.7 points per night. Senior guard Jordan Chartier is shooting over 45 percent from three-point range, while averaging 14 points per contest. Sophomore guard Bryan Heath is contributing 12.7 points per game, while shooting nearly 90 percent from the free throw line.
Northern Michigan is 7-14 overall and 5-11 in conference games. Head coach Bill Sall is in his fourth season at NMU after spending 11 seasons as the head coach at Ferris State. The Wildcats snapped a four-game losing streak with a 79-62 win at Northwood last weekend. Four Wildcats are scoring in double figures led by sophomore guard Naba Echols at 16.3 points per night. Echols is also averaging 4.5 assists per game. Freshman forward Will Carius is the team's top rebounder with 6.3 boards per contest.
LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State fell 82-65 against first place Ferris State on Saturday afternoon as the Bulldogs won their 15th straight contest. The Warriors used a fast start to take a 12-2 lead following a put back from
Chuck Key at the 11:49 mark. Key continued to have a stellar opening half and drove to the rim for a layup to keep the Green & Gold close, 23-21, at the six-minute mark. However, FSU used an 11-0 run to take a 34-21 lead with 3:43 remaining. WSU cut the FSU lead to six before a well-executed inbounds play as time expired in the half gave the Bulldogs a 39-31 lead. Ferris State stretched the lead to 15, 53-38, five minutes into the second period. The Bulldogs continued to lead comfortably, 65-46, at the nine-minute mark. WSU pulled within 13 after two
Jalen Adams free throws and a
Ronald Booth layup with 5:28 to play. That would be as close as the Warriors would get the rest of the way as FSU cruised to an 82-65 win.
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 (Feb. 5th), WSU ranks 19th in fewest turnovers (238), 22nd in scoring defense (67.1), 43rd in turnover margin (+2.8) and 49th in turnovers per game (11.9).
ELITE DEFENSE?
Wayne State is allowing 67.1 points per game this season, which is the second best mark in the league and 26th best in program history. Opponents are shooting .425 against WSU this season, which is the best defensive performance since the 2005-06 team limited opponents to a .424 shooting percentage.
WHO WILL LEAD THE WARRIORS?
Three Warriors are averaging more than 10 points a night.
Ronald Booth leads WSU in scoring at 14.9 points per night, while
Chuck Key is averaging 14.4 points per contest and
Marcus Moore is contributing 12.7 points per game.
MARGIN OF ERROR
Five of WSU's eight losses have been by seven points or less and all occurred in January. The Warriors average margin of defeat is 10.25 points, while the average margin of victory has been 13.66 points.
REBOUNDING ADVANTAGE
WSU has steadily improved its rebounding efforts all season long. The Warriors have won the rebounding advantage in 10 of the 20 games this season, including five of the last eight. The largest being a 45-32 rebounding advantage vs. Ferris State on Jan. 21. Wayne State ranks fifth in the GLIAC with 37.5 rebounds per game and second in terms of offensive rebounds per game at 13.0. The Green & Gold rank fourth in rebounding margin at plus 3.2 per contest.
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.
