STORYLINES
Wayne State plays at Michigan Tech (Thursday at 7:30 p.m.) and Northern Michigan (Saturday at 1 11 a.m.) to begin a stretch of playing six away games in the final eight regular-season contests.  The Warriors will make it back-to-back Upper Peninsula road trips the following week visiting Ferris State (February 9) and Lake Superior State (February 11).

WSU has lost its last three outings, while scoring just over 54 points per game during the winless streak.  Wayne State is currently in seventh place in the GLIAC standings with the top eight squads advancing to the conference tournament quarterfinals which begin on March 1.

THE SERIES
WSU leads 56-38 edge in the all-time series with Michigan Tech that began in 1927 with a 41-15 triumph by CCD (College of the City of Detroit).  The Huskies had won three straight in the series and seven of eight, until the Warriors 72-65 overtime triumph on January 7.

Wayne State has a slim 41-40 lead in the all-time series against Northern Michigan despite the Wildcats winning the last four meetings.  WSU has a 13-22 mark in games played in Marquette.  The Warriors last victory at the Berry Events Center was a 71-70 win on February 24, 2018, behind 22 points from Chuck Key.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Michigan Tech ended a four-game losing skein this past Saturday with a 76-71 triumph at Lake Superior State.  The Huskies are just 4-4 at home this season.

A trio of Huskies are averaging in double figures led by freshman guards Dan Gherezgher (11.8 PPG) and Marcus Tomashek (11.1 PPG), along with sophomore guard Adam Hobson (10.8 PPG).  Freshman guard Josh Terrian has dished out a team-high 40 assists.  Tomashek has made a squad-best 42 triples, while sophomore forward Brad Simonsen has drained 31 shots from beyond the arc.  Sophomore guard Pete Calcaterra leads in rebounding (5.0 RPG) and steals (23).

Josh Buettner in his second season leading MTU after spending the 13 years prior on Kevin Luke's staff.

Northern Michigan has lost three of its last four games heading into Thursday's home contest with Saginaw Valley State.  The Wildcats are 8-1 at home this year.

NMU is led by the leading scorer in the GLIAC Max Bjorklund, who is averaging over 20 points per contest.  Sophomore guard Brian Parzych (14.8 PPG) and sophomore forward Dylan Kuehl (13.6 PPG) also average in double figures.  Parzych has not played since December 14, missing the last nine contests.  Kuehl (6.2 RPG) and Bjorklund (4.6 RPG) are the top two rebounders, while Carson Smith has a team-high 24 steals with Kuehl blocking a team-best 27 shots.

Matt Majkrzak is in his fourth season at NMU.

LAST GAME RECAP
Saginaw Valley State scored the first 10 points of the game as WSU went scoreless for over 5:40 to start the contest.  A jumper by Antonio Marshall ended the drought.  Nate Talbot had an offensive rebound and put-back 30 seconds later, before a turnaround jumper by Justice Gordon concluded a 6-0 spurt by the Warriors.

SVSU responded with a 12-2 run for a 14-point margin (22-8) with just over eight minutes remaining before intermission.  Wayne State scored 10 of the final 18 points prior to halftime.  Gordon connected twice from long range, while Ray Williams, Jr. also drained a triple.

A steal and fast-break lay-up by Kaimen Lennox just under three minutes into the second half cut the WSU deficit to nine (37-28), but Saginaw Valley State answered with five consecutive points for a 42-28 lead.  Four straight points by Marshall in a span of 20 seconds made it a 10-point game at 42-32 with just under 13 minutes remaining, but the Warriors would not get closer than 11 the rest of the way.

Lennox had a team-high 15 points and three assists, while Gordon scored a career-high 11 points (he had nine career points prior to the contest).  Williams, Jr. grabbed a team-best six boards.

WARRIOR UPDATE
Wayne State continues to be lead by a trio of scorers averaging at least 10 points per game including Antonio Marshall (15.2 PPG, 17.6 PPG in GLIAC play), Avery Lewis (13.5 PPG, 13.9 PPG in GLIAC play) and Carmelo Harris (13.5 PPG).

Lewis is the team's top rebounder with 6.8 boards per contest, which leads the conference.

Defensively, the Warriors leader for both blocks and steals is Marshall with 11 blocks and 27 steals, respectively.

Efficiency wise, Lewis is the leader in field goal percentage (49.7 percent), Marshall for three-point field goal percentage (38.7) and Harris for free throw percentage (85.0).

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Wayne State is 10th nationally in fewest turnovers per game (11.6), and 56th in turnover margin with a GLIAC-leading +2.1 (WSU at 11.6, opponents at 13.8 turnovers per game).  Antonio Marshall is 57th in three-point percentage (38.7 / 43-of-111). 

INTRODUCING COACH SMOTHERS
Wayne State officially began a new era in the men's basketball program in November as 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Bryan Smothers became just the second former WSU student-athlete to lead the program (joining Newman Ertell who lettered from 1921-25, then became head coach in 1929 for the College of the City of Detroit).  

Smothers is the 11th head coach (including interim) since Detroit Junior College began playing basketball in January of 1918.

The 2022-23 campaign is the 105th season of Wayne State basketball (no games were played in 1943-44 due to World War II).

LIVE ON WDTK
Kevin Brechmacher will call every Wayne State contest live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Fans can also stream the action online at PatriotDetroit.com.

WARRIOR ALL-ACCESS
Every regular-season home game will be streamed via Warrior All-Access at WSUAthletics.com.