STORYLINES
The top-seeded men's basketball team will open up the postseason in the GLIAC Quarterfinals against Saginaw Valley State on Thursday at noon eastern in Hammond, Ind.  The Warriors are playing the GLIAC Tournament for the first time since the 2017-18 season and will be vying for their fifth tournament title and first since 2011.  With a win Wayne State would play in the conference semifinals for the first time since 2011-12.  The Green & Gold last played in the title game during the 2010-11 campaign.

THE SERIES
Wayne State trails 38-42 in the all-time series against Saginaw Valley State, including a 2-1 mark in neutral site games.  Head coach David Greer is 16-16 in his 20 seasons at WSU vs. SVSU.  The Cardinals had won five in a row and nine of the last 11 meetings before the Warriors swept this season's two meetings on Feb. 19th and Feb. 20th.  

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS 
SVSU is 4-11 overall after a 77-72 upset win over Parkside on Tuesday.  Head coach Randy Baruth is in his ninth season leading the program.  Senior guard Delano Smith leads the team in scoring at 16.6 points per game and rebounding at 6.3 boards per night.  Junior guard Myles Belyeu is scoring 16.3 points per contest, while senior guard Darnell Hoskins, Jr. is adding 10.5 points per game. In the road win over the Rangers, Smith tallied 32 points, while Belyeu has 24 points.  As a team, SVSU is putting up 64.9 points per game and allowing 64.9 points per night.  The Cardinals are shooting 41.0 percent from the floor, 29.9 percent from three-point range and 67.5 percent at the free throw line.

FSU RECAP
Ferris State won the first meeting on Feb. 26th, 84-71, in the first home loss of the season for the Warriors.  Darian Owens-White led WSU with 19 points, while Brailen Neely finished with 18 points and nine assists.  Antonio Marshall was Wayne State's top rebounder with nine boards.  WSU responded to win 70-68 on Feb 27th to secure the GLIAC regular-season title.  A career-high 24 from Avery Lewis paced the Warriors, while Neely had 18 points.

GLIAC CHAMPS!
The Green & Gold won its eighth GLIAC championships and its first outright GLIAC regular-season title since the 1998-99 season.  Following that 1998-99 season, WSU topped Saginaw Valley State, Gannon and Michigan Tech to win the tournament title.

20-POINT SCORERS
Three Warriors finished with 20 or more points vs. Saginaw Valley State on Feb. 20th led by Darian Owens-White with 26.  Avery Lewis finished with a career-best 23 points and seven rebounds.  Brailen Neely went 7-of-8 from the floor on his way to 21 points.  

It was the first time since Jan. 10, 2005, that WSU State had three 20-point scorers.  In a 107-63 win over Marygrove, Herb Goliday and Morris Hall had 26 points each, and Tariq Mills had 20 points and 15 rebounds.

CLEANING THE GLASS
The Warriors have excelled rebounding the basketball so far this season.  WSU leads the league in both total rebounds per game (36.8) and ranks third in rebounding margin per game (+3.2).  In addition, Wayne State has won the rebounding battle in 11 of the 17 games.  

On Saturday vs. SVSU, the Warriors out-rebounded the Cardinals 43-24 (+19).  That is the largest rebounding margin of the season.

SUCCESS AT THE LINE
The Warriors went 25-of-26 (.962) against Davenport on January 16th from the charity stripe.  That percentage is the second-best single-game performance at the free throw line with at least 15 made over the last 20 seasons.  WSU finished 20-of-22 (.909) at the line on February 6th vs. Purdue Northwest.

In addition, Darian Owens-White previously made 60 straight free throws, which was a program record, before he missed his first attempt vs. Ferris State on Feb. 27th.  He is shooting .949 at the free throw line, which is the best mark in the conference and would be a program record.  The next best mark for a season is by Bryan Smothers in 2009-10 at .904 (85-of-94).

REGIONAL RANKINGS
Due to the unique and unbalanced schedules around the country, the NCAA regional rankings will work differently this season.  Wayne State was among eight teams listed as "under consideration" on February 21st vying for six NCAA Tournament bids in the Midwest Region.  The others squads alphabetically were Grand Valley State, Michigan Tech, Parkside, UMSL, Southern Indiana, Southwest Baptist and Truman State. 

RAY'S SPARK
Freshman Ray Williams, Jr. has started the last eight games, the first starts of his collegiate career.  Over that time Wayne State is 8-2 and Williams is averaging 7.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

SPREADING IT AROUND
In the win over Davenport on January 16th, all five starters scored in double figures.  It was the first time that had happened since December 7, 2019.  The Warriors accomplished the feat again on February 6th against the Pride.

GLIAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Junior Darian Owens-White was named GLIAC South Division Player of the Week on January 19th and February 8th.  

Senior Brailen Neely collected the award on Monday (February 22nd) after he helped Wayne State go 3-0 with a win at Ashland plus a sweep of Saginaw Valley State.  He totaled 57 points (19.0 PPG), 18 assists (6.0 APG) and 17 rebounds (5.7 RPG) in the three victories. Neely shot 59 percent from the floor on 20-of-34, 46 percent from behind the arc (5-of-11) and did not miss a free throw in 12 attempts.  He had a pair of 20-point performances, including 23 points in the Friday win over SVSU.  On Saturday, Neely went 7-for-8 from the floor to finish with 21 points.  

MATTHAEI MOMENTUM
Wayne State was 8-1 this season inside the Matthaei, which is +6 in the amount of home court wins from last season.  Below are home records for the last six campaigns, prior to this year:

2019-20:  2-9
2018-19:  6-7
2017-18:  10-5
2016-17:  9-3
2015-16:  4-9
2014-15:  4-8

BENCH SCORING
It was a welcome sight to see WSU's bench carrying the weight in the season-opening win with 28 points, which is 10 more than the Warriors received in any game last year from non-starters.  

The Green & Gold followed that with 17 points off the bench during the January 16th contest vs. the Panthers.

The bench contributed 18 points in the January 22nd three-point setback at Northwood.

On average, the Warriors are getting 10.2 points per game from their bench this season compared to 5.5 points per contest during the 2019-20 season.

NCAA STAT RANKINGS
The Warriors rank in the top 50 in several statistical categories.  WSU is 18th in free throw percentage (.778), 27th in scoring defense (68.3), 38th in opponent's three-point field goal percentage (.320), 41st in fewest turnovers per game (11.8), 42nd in opponent's field goal percentage (.425), 45th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.19), 46th in defensive rebounds per game (27.18), 47th in winning percentage (.706) and 50th in free throws made (253).

Darian Owens-White ranks eighth nationally in free throw percentage (.949), 19th in total field goal attempts (266), 27th in minutes per game (36:36) and 41st in free throws made (74).  Brailen Neely ranks 14th in minutes per game (37:23), 16th in steals (39), 17th in steals per game (2.29), 23rd in assists per game (5.4), 24th in assists (91) and 38th in total assists (70).

WARRIOR ALL-ACCESS
Every home game can be viewed live on Warrior All-Access for free this season.  Simply log on to WSUAthletics.com and click the video camera icon at the bottom of the home page to see the streaming schedule or watch past games.  In addition, that video camera icon can be found on the schedule page next to each game.

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.