STORYLINES
Wayne State comes back home to host Lewis this Saturday (Nov. 18) and Lake Erie the following Tuesday (Nov. 21) after dropping a pair of games to begin the 2023-24 season.  The Warriors fell 71-65 to Hillsdale in the season opener at home on Nov. 10, before traveling to Malone for a 74-66 setback two days later.

Lewis opened its campaign in Columbus, Ohio, defeating host Ohio Dominican 80-75 before being ousted by Tiffin less than 24 hours later, 71-66.  Lake Erie enters this week at 1-2 after coming up short against GLIAC members Lake Superior State (63-67) and Ferris State (76-80), before defeating Clarion (75-59).  The Storm will play Utah Tech on Nov. 18.

THE SERIES
Lewis leads the all-time series with Wayne State 9-7, but the Warriors have been on the right end in five of the seven meetings in Detroit.  WSU was victorious in four of the first seven contests in the series, but LU has taken six of the last nine.

WSU has won 12 of 14 all-time meetings with Lake Erie, a former member of the GLIAC, including identical marks of 6-1 both on the road and at home.  Wayne State went 10-1 against Lake Erie in conference meetings from 2010 to 2016.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Lewis is coached by 17-year veteran Scott Trost, the school's all-time winningest coach.  Trost has coached the Flyers to five 20+ win seasons and six NCAA Tournament berths, while averaging 18 wins a year.  During his tenure, the program has appeared in four GLVC Championship games, including back-to-back games in 2016 and 2017, as well as winning the GLVC title in both 2016 and 2021.  Trost also saw head coaching stints at Elmhurst (1992-96) and Illinois Wesleyan (2001-06) before taking over in Romeoville.

Lewis was picked to finish 10th out of 14 teams in the GLVC Preseason Poll, but return its top two scorers from a season ago in Beau Frericks and Jamere Hill.  Frericks, a Second Team All-GLVC honoree from 2022-23 averaged 15.3 points per game on 47 percent shooting and 42 percent from behind the arc.  Hill averaged 11.8 points per game last season, while shooting 46 percent from the floor.

SCOUTING THE STORM
Lake Erie is led by eighth-year head coach, 15th season overall, Kyle Conley.  Conley joined the Storm's coaching staff in 2009 as an assistant before being elevated to associate head coach in 2013.  Since 2010, the Storm have improved their league win total in eight of the past 11 seasons.

This preseason, Lake Erie was slotted fifth for the G-MAC Preseason Poll after going 14-14 overall and 11-9 in league games a season ago.  That effort put them in the conference tournament for the first time since the 2019-20 season.  Through two games, the Storm have been paced by Jonny Manning's 57 points (19.0 PPG) and 28 rebounds (9.3 RPG).

LAST TIME OUT -  AT MALONE
The first 20 minutes saw five of the game's six ties and nine of its 11 lead changes.  Neither team led by more than three points until a Ray Williams, Jr. jumper put Wayne State ahead by five 21-16 at the 11:08 mark.  Following a Malone free throw, Colin Golson, Jr. gave the Warriors their biggest lead of the game at 23-17 thanks to a jumper in the paint.

The Pioneers answered with nine straight points to regain a three-point advantage, 26-23.  From there until halftime, once again, neither squad was able to enlarge the margin more than three and the home team went into the locker room up three, 38-35.

Out of the break, following the contest's 10th deadlock (43-43) and Wayne State's final advantage (47-46), the hosts utilized a 14-4 run to lead by nine, 60-51.  From there until the final buzzer, the closest Wayne State could get was five (60-55, 62-57) and Malone increased the margin to as large as 13 (72-59).
Wayne State dished out just four assists to 10 turnovers, while Malone racked up 13 dimes to 11 giveaways.  From behind the arc, the Warriors converted two of their eight attempts and the Pioneers shot 9-of-24 from three-point land.  On the flip side of that, WSU outscored MU 50-34 on points in the paint.

Matt Coffey scored a career/game-high 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting to go with eight rebounds in 26 minutes.  Coffey was one of three Warriors to score in double-figures along with Tamario Adley's 15 and Williams, Jr.'s 11.  Carmelo Harris tallied a pair of assists and was one of two players for WSU with a block, the other being Adley.  Harris and Williams, Jr. each finished with two steals.

GLIAC PRESEASON COACHES POLL
Wayne State was voted ninth in a preseason vote by the league's head coaches as announced by the conference office.  The top five teams, in order, included Ferris State (77 points, five first-place votes), Northern Michigan (75 points, four first-place votes), Grand Valley State (61 points), Parkside (50 points, one first-place vote) and Michigan Tech (45 points).  The bottom half of the poll featured Saginaw Valley State in sixth (41 points), Davenport (35 points), Lake Superior State (35 points), Wayne State (20 points) and Purdue Northwest (11 points).  Following the regular season, the top eight teams in the conference standings will qualify for the GLIAC Tournament, which begins on March 6.  For the quarterfinal round, the higher seed will host, before the highest remaining seed hosts both the semifinals (March 9) and finals (March 10).  The Warriors will look to qualify for the GLIAC Tournament for the first time since their 2020-21 campaign.

LIVE ON WDTK
All men's basketball contests (both home and away) will air live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Fans can also listen to the audio online at PatriotDetroit.com.  This will be the 22nd consecutive season WSU basketball has been aired on 1400 AM.

Kevin Brechmacher returns for his eighth season calling the WSU men's games on WDTK.  He will be joined on the broadcast of home games by either Chuck Key (2014-18), Marcus Moore (2014-18) or Andy Dold (1998-2002), all former Warriors.

In addition, every men's basketball GLIAC contest will be televised on FloSports (flohoops.com) per the GLIAC agreement with FloSports.  In addition, all home non-conference games for the men will also be on FloHoops.