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Wayne State University Athletics

Fieldhouse Feature Graphic Part Two

Men's Basketball Karl Henkel, WSUAthletics.com Guest Contributor

Feature Story: First Year in the Fieldhouse (Part Two)

The following feature first appeared in the football game program on Oct. 1, 2022.
Part one of this feature appeared in the football game program on Sept. 24, 2022.

Learning From The Pros
The Motor City Cruise, an NBA G League team, and the affiliate of the Detroit Pistons, also calls WSU Fieldhouse home. In their inaugural season, the Cruise went 15-7 at WSU Fieldhouse, including a conference semifinal loss to the Delaware Blue Coats in April.
 
"The opportunity to have a professional team in our facility in addition to other G League opponents is really a unique experience," Lohr said.
 
The G League serves as the NBA's developmental league, preparing players, coaches, officials, trainers, and front-office staff for NBA positions while acting as the league's research and development laboratory.
 
Jackson says one pro of having Motor City Cruise players in the same arena is the opportunity to learn from those now competing at the next level of competition.
 
"We interact with them a lot and cross paths all the time," Jackson said. "It's amazing to watch guys at the next level, where we dream about playing, to see them play and perform at that level, in our city, at our college, you can't ask for anything better than that."
 
Cruise basketball games are another opportunity for those not acquainted with Wayne State to see what the university – and specifically, the athletic department – has to offer. But the Cruise will not be the only other team to step foot on the WSU Fieldhouse court.
 
The G League team will also work with Wayne State officials to host Pistons summer camps and clinics, possible Michigan High School Athletic Association and Amateur Athletic Union games, and other basketball tournaments in the new basketball arena. The outside games and tournaments would emulate what Wayne State has done with Tom Adams Field, which annually hosts the Detroit Sports Commission Prep Kickoff Classic for high school football.
Events like these provide community-building opportunities on Wayne State's campus and provide sources of revenue for the athletic department to make further facility and experience upgrades for student-athletes.
 
A Recruiting Godsend
A common theme when talking with former Wayne State student-athletes – and there are plenty, not just Smothers, who work in the WSU athletic department – is that they want to ensure the next generation of Warriors have an experience that is even better than theirs. Becca Fugate, a senior guard on the women's basketball team, says she is appreciative of the opportunity to play at both Matthaei, now nearly six decades old, and the WSU Fieldhouse.
 
But if she were getting recruited today and came to visit WSU Fieldhouse, her college decision would have been a slam dunk. 
 
"I may be a little biased, but I think we have the best facility in the GLIAC," said Fugate, who was named to last season's GLIAC All-Tournament Team. "If I were a high school student looking for a school to play for, Wayne State would be at the top of my list. Especially after coming to a game and experiencing what it would be like to play in front of all the friends, family, and other students who come to the games to cheer us on."
 
The atmosphere is what helped to sell Bryce Esman, a freshman forward/center on the men's basketball team, to choose Wayne State.
 
"Pulling up and seeing the basketball court out front and the style of the building, it blew me away," said Esman, recalling the first time he saw WSU Fieldhouse during a recruiting trip when the Warriors hosted Hillsdale. "Then when I walked inside, it took me a second and I thought, 'This is a Division II school with professional facilities.'
 
"It blew every other facility [I've seen] out of the water."
 
Smothers says the allure of WSU Fieldhouse has allowed him to start expanding his recruiting radius in the Midwest. He pointed to the addition of Kaimen Lennox, a junior guard from the Kansas City area who started his collegiate career playing at University of Missouri-Kansas City and Hutchinson Community College who is joining Wayne State for the upcoming season.
 
"We probably would not be able to do that without the facilities that we currently have," Smothers said. "Everything that Wayne State now has, we're proud to offer, from the weight room to the fieldhouse, campus and academics."
 
Smothers, a 2020 inductee into the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame and former Wayne State guard who played from 2007 to 2011, has the unique perspective of being recruited by former WSU coach David Greer back when the Warriors played at the Matthaei Center, helping to recruit new student-athletes when he spent three years as Greer's assistant in the early 2010s, and now being tasked with recruiting the next generation to play at the freshly minted WSU Fieldhouse.
 
Other amenities, which are now available for all of Wayne State's student-athletes to use, have upgraded the experience on off-days. Most notable, according to some of the basketball players, is the recovery room, which features both hot and cold tubs.
 
"It makes it easier to be a student-athlete," Esman said.

 
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Players Mentioned

Bryce Esman

#21 Bryce Esman

F/C
6' 8"
Freshman
Kaimen Lennox

#22 Kaimen Lennox

G
6' 2"
Junior
Becca Fugate

#4 Becca Fugate

G
5' 7"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Bryce Esman

#21 Bryce Esman

6' 8"
Freshman
F/C
Kaimen Lennox

#22 Kaimen Lennox

6' 2"
Junior
G
Becca Fugate

#4 Becca Fugate

5' 7"
Senior
G