DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball program (8-8 Overall, 6-5 GLIAC) will host Davenport (9-9 Overall, 3-7 GLIAC) on Saturday as teams begin the second trip through the league.

STORYLINES
Wayne State will host Davenport on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. and will need to improve on its second-half play if the Warriors want to snap their three-game losing streak.  In each of the last two contests, both at home, WSU led at halftime only to allow 46 and 49 points, respectively in the second half en route to defeats.  Prior to the games against Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan, Wayne State had lost one game this season it was leading at intermission (7-1).

THE SERIES
Wayne State won the first-ever meeting against Davenport on Dec. 16th, 65-62, in Grand Rapids.  The Warriors held off a late Panthers rally to improve to 4-1 in the league at that time.  Latin Davis, Jr. led WSU with 20 points, going 4-of-4 from behind the arc.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Davenport has lost eight straight games and sits at 9-10 overall with a 3-8 league record.  When the teams met the first time this season both the Warriors and Panthers entered the game with 3-1 GLIAC marks.  DU lost to Michigan Tech in Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday in a makeup game that was scheduled for last week.  Head coach Burt Paddock is in his 10th season at the helm and looks to freshman forward Delano Smith to provide the offense as he is scoring a team-best 14.5 points per night, while freshman point guard Avery Hudson is averaging 11.3 points and 3.6 assists per contest.  Redshirt senior center John McCloud is the team's top rebounder at 5.5 boards per game.  As a team, the Panthers are scoring 77.1 points per night, which ranks third and they are allowing 70.6 points per contest, which is the fifth-best mark in the conference.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State hosted Northern Michigan last Saturday and a cold second half gave NMU an 83-74 victory and pushed WSU's losing streak to three.  WSU led at halftime, 35-34, but a 19-0 NMU run in the second half would be too much to overcome for WSU.  Ronald Booth led five Warriors scoring in double-digits, finishing with 18 points.  George Spencer notched 16 points and 12 rebounds to post his second straight double-double and third of the season.  Chuck Key tallied 15 points, while Marcus Moore had 12 and Latin Davis, Jr. chipped in 10 points.  Moore also dished out a game-high seven assists.

STARTING FIVE
Wayne State has introduced the same starting five in all 16 games this season.  The quintet have all scored in double-digits on four occasions - Kentucky Wesleyan, the league-opening win over Grand Valley State, the loss at Ferris State and last Saturday's defeat against Northern Michigan.  Four of the five accomplished the feat at Purdue Northwest and at Davenport with a reserve (Karim Murray) scoring double digits in the SVSU contest.  Five WSU starters have scored 961 of the 1,077 total points WSU has scored this season, or 89 percent.

KEY HOME STAND
So far, the four-game home stand has not been kind to the Warriors.  WSU will continue that stretch today against Davenport before hosting Ashland next week to conclude the home stand.  Five of the Green & Gold's final seven games are on the road.  Currently, WSU is fifth in the GLIAC standings at 6-5.  The top eight teams advance to the postseason.

DEFENSE WINNING GAMES
Wayne State is tied-for-third in the GLIAC in scoring defense, allowing 68.7 points per game.  The Warriors had allowed more than 73 points in a game just once this season, prior to both opponents surpassing the mark last week.  After limiting Ferris State to 33 points in the first 21:30 minutes, the Bulldogs exploded for 53 points over the final 18:30 minutes on Jan. 4th.

MAKING FREE THROWS COUNT
Ronald Booth went 10-of-10 at the foul line at Northwood equaling the school mark for most made free throws without a miss.  Ironically, five of the six marks were set away from the Matthaei:  James Davis 12/30/2003 at Grand Canyon; Bryan Smothers 2/5/2009 vs. Saginaw Valley; Bryan Wright 12/5/2009 at Northern Michigan; Ike Udanoh 11/26/2011 at Drury; and Clark Bishop 2/21/15 at Walsh.

NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA stat release, Wayne State ranks 21st in fewest turnovers (193), 36th in scoring defense (68.7 PPG) and 41st in defensing the three-pointer (.324).  WSU has played six teams that already have double-digit win totals (Bellarmine at 17-1, Ferris State at 20-1, Lake Superior State at 15-4, Ashland and Alderson Broaddus at 14-5, and Northern Michigan at 10-7).  Just three of WSU's losses are against teams currently under .500 (Lewis is at 9-11, NU is at 7-11 and MTU at 8-9).  To date, WSU has played the 87th toughest schedule (out of 312 schools) with an opponent's winning percentage of .537 (130-112).  That strength of schedule ranks third in the GLIAC.

900 CLUB
A trio of Warriors have surpassed the 900-point plateau this season, with senior Ronald Booth leading the way.  Booth is 17th in career scoring with 1,024 career points and become the 18th player in WSU history with 1,000 points last week.  He is the fourth under Coach Greer joining Bryan Smothers (1,175), Kendall LeSure (1,068) and Ian Larkin (1,022) to accomplish the feat.

Senior Chuck Key has 932 points, while classmate Marcus Moore has 869 career points.

HISTORICAL VICTORY
Earlier this season, the men's basketball program won its 800th game (76-73 over GVSU) as Wayne State University (1956-present).  In the 100 years of basketball, WSU has won 1,221 games (first 60 as Detroit Junior College [1918-23], 120 as College of the City of Detroit/CCD [1924-34], and 235 as Wayne University [1934-56]).

ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS
A couple of Warriors are in the top 60 in terms of active career leaders within Division II.  Marcus Moore ranks 35th in both assists (332) and steals (131), while Ronald Booth is 59th with his 15.3 points per game average.

MOST IMPROVED TEAMS
Wayne State was one of the most improved teams in the country last season, adding nine wins from its 2015-16 total and subtracting eight losses.  

COMCAST/XFINITY
Every home men's basketball game in 2018 will be aired live throughout the state of Michigan on Comcast/CN 900.  Sean Baligian (play-by-play), Rod Beard (analyst) and Joe Abramson (sideline) will call the action.

LIVE ON WDTK
Kevin Brechmacher will call every contest live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Fans can also stream the action online at PatriotDetroit.com.  WSU alum Kendall LeSure, who played at Wayne State from 2000-04, joins Brechmacher for home games.