DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (3-2 overall) will take its three-game winning streak on the road this week.  The Warriors will travel to Ohio to face Tiffin (5-0 overall) on Saturday with the opening tip against the Dragons scheduled for 3 p.m. inside the Gillmor Student Center.

STORYLINES
Riding a three-game winning streak following the three-game homestand, Wayne State now embarks on a five-game road swing.  Above the .500 mark for the first time this season at 3-2, the Warriors will travel to Tiffin for the first time since the Dragons switched over to the G-MAC prior to the 2018-19 season.  Pending the Dragons' result at Walsh on Thursday night, they're yet to lose this season at 5-0.

THE SERIES
Wayne State leads the all-time series with Tiffin 19-3 and has taken five straight meetings between the two teams.  The Warriors went 14-3 against the Dragons when both squads played as members of the GLIAC and WSU owns a mark of 9-2 when traveling to TU.  All three of Wayne State's losses to Tiffin have come by exactly six points including 83-77 in 2012, 65-59 (OT) in 2015 and 61-55 in 2016.

SCOUTING THE DRAGONS
Tiffin is led by sixth-year head coach Tom Church, the 2022-23 G-MAC Coach of the Year.  The Dragons experienced a breakthrough campaign last season, posting a 15-14 final record and making the post-season for the first time in 21 years. TU finished with a school-record 12 league wins, finishing 12-8 in conference play and landing the fourth seed in the G-MAC Tournament.  Dating back to the end of the 2022-23 season, the Dragons have won 11 of their last 12 games.

Tiffin has started the same five players for all five of its games, all of which are seniors. Four of those five are averaging double figures in the scoring department including guard Morgan Taylor (15.4 PPG), forward Wesley Jordan (15.2 PPG), guard Carius Key (11.8 PPG) and forward Joshua Rivers (10.8 PPG).  Jordan is bringing down 6.8 rebounds per contest to lead the squad, while Taylor's 4.2 assists per outing tops the Dragons.  Taylor currently boasts the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the G-MAC at 3.5 with 21 dimes to just six giveaways.

LAST TIME OUT -  VS. LAWRENCE TECH
Wayne State held the lead for all but 17 seconds of the game's 40 minutes and the scoring started with a jumper by Colin Golson, Jr.  Lawrence Tech's Alejandro Gonzalez answered with a triple to give the Blue Devils' their only advantage of the game (3-2), before Ray Williams, Jr. hit a trey and Carmelo Harris scored the first two of his 33 points to put the Warriors up four, 7-3.

LTU cut the deficit to one on a pair of instances (7-6, 9-8) before WSU utilized a 16-6 run over the course of the next six minutes and change to go up 11, 25-14, at the 10:47 mark.  Four Warriors found the scoring column in that span including Harris (5), Golson, Jr. (5), Williams, Jr. (3) and Tamario Adley (3).  From there, Lawrence Tech pulled within five on two occasions (25-20, 31-26) before Wayne State responded with eight straight points for its biggest lead of the half at 13, 39-26.  That scoring included a triple by Adley, a jumper from Golson, Jr. and a three-pointer by Rob Lee, Jr.

The teams traded buckets after that until the end of the half before the home team carried a nine-point advantage, 44-35, into the locker room.

The day's largest margin was 15 and happened twice in the first four and a half minutes of the second stanza (52-37, 54-39).  Harris hit a three to get it there the first time, while the second instance was because of a Williams, Jr. lay-up.  The visitors didn't go away quietly though clawing all the way back to within four, 70-66, with just over six and a half minutes to play.  That meant that Lawrence Tech out-scored Wayne State 27-16 immediately following the second 15-point spread.

The scoring was much more even, 15-11 in favor of the Warriors, from there until the final buzzer.  Six of those 15 points by the hosts came at the free throw line where they were a perfect 6-of-6.

Harris' 33 points paced a trio of scorers in double figures for Wayne State along with Golson, Jr. (18, career high) and Williams, Jr. (17).  Those 33 points are the most ever by a Warrior inside the WSU Fieldhouse and the program's most in a home game since Javon Henderson put up 36 on Feb. 2, 2019, vs. Davenport.  Williams, Jr. dished out a personal-best five assists to go with his second double-double in as many efforts thanks to a game-high 11 rebounds.  Adley blocked a pair of shot attempts and Harris tallied two steals.

GLIAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Ray Williams, Jr. was named GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.  It's the first weekly honor given to the senior by the league in his career.  Last week, Wayne State went 2-0 and Williams averaged a double-double with 15.5 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in the process.  Starting with the 84-73 win over Lake Erie on Tuesday, the veteran earned the second double-double of his career and first since January of 2021, his freshman season.  Against the Storm, Williams notched 14 points (5-of-9 FG), 14 boards (career high) and two assists.  Then, the 6-4 swingman made it back-to-back double-doubles on Sunday in the Warriors' 85-77 victory over Lawrence Tech.  The Detroit native totaled 17 points (7-of-13 FG), 11 rebounds, five assists (personal best) and a block while facing the Blue Devils.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Wayne State's offense features six players averaging at least eight points per game.  They are Carmelo Harris (15.0 PPG), Colin Golson, Jr. (12.6 PPG), Ray Williams, Jr. (11.2 PPG), Tamario Adley (10.8 PPG), Matt Coffey (9.8 PPG) and Jordan Briggs (8.0 PPG).  Williams, Jr. is bringing down a team-high 8.8 rebounds per contest, while Harris is on top of the assist department with 2.8 per outing.  Adley is right behind him though thanks to a pair of assists per effort.  Adley (.676 field goal percentage) and Golson, Jr. (.628) rank fourth and eighth, respectively, in the GLIAC for efficiency.

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 is in 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.