Men's Basketball 2/14/2024 12:42:00 PM Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Men's Hoops Set for Showdowns Against Two of GLIAC's Best Teams

The Warriors will battle Lake Superior State and Ferris State on the road.

STORYLINES
Wayne State has won two GLIAC games in a row for the first time this season after defeating Grand Valley State 73-66 on January 8th and Davenport 84-70 on January 10th. The Warriors will now try to take that momentum on the road with trips to Lake Superior State and Ferris State this week.

Lake Superior State has won four games in a row, a streak that began at Wayne State on Jan. 27, and seven of its last eight. Nine of the Lakers' 16 overall wins have come at home (9-1) where they are out-scoring their opponent by an average of nearly 18 points per game (82.4-64.6).

Ferris State has dropped three of its last four contests since winning 10 of 11 in a stretch from Dec. 9 to Jan. 25 that ended in Detroit. With a home record of 10-2, the Bulldogs have two losses on their court before the end of the regular season for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign.

THE SERIES
Wayne State leads the all-time series with Lake Superior State by 11, 47-36, but has dropped nine of the last 11 meetings between the two teams. The Warriors are three games under the .500 mark in Sault Ste. Marie, 19-22, and haven't won there since January of 2021 (0-3 since).

Ferris State is ahead 55-41 all-time against Wayne State including 31-15 in Big Rapids. The Bulldogs have been on the right side in 15 of the previous 17 showdowns, including the last five.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
Lake Superior State and 17th-year head coach Steve Hettinga boast the top scoring defense in the GLIAC surrendering just 66.5 points per game. That number is good for 20th in the country, where the Lakers are also fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.408), 11th in effective field goal percentage (.574) and 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.51). Individually, LSSU is paced by a quartet of scorers averaging double figures. Those four are Kingsley Perkins (14.0), Tyson Edmondson (13.2), Xander Okerlund (11.5) and Devin Womack (11.4). Perkins is third in the league in rebounds per game (6.9) and Womack has been averaging 3.2 assists per contest, which is ninth in the conference.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Ferris State is led by 11th-year head coach Andy Bronkema. Individually, four Bulldogs tally at least 10 points per game including Ben Davidson (13.3), Ethan Erickson (13.2), Dolapo Olayinka (12.3) and DeSean Munson (10.9). Olayinka is the team's top rebounder (5.3 RPG), while Amari Lee is dishing out 4.1 assists per contest (third in the GLIAC). As a team, FSU is among the top 10 in the country in multiple categories including assist-to-turnover ratio (2nd - 1.87), assists per game (2nd - 21.1), field goal percentage (8th - .507), scoring margin (8th - 14.7), bench points per game (9th - 38.9), and fast-break points (10th - 17.1).

LAST TIME OUT - VS. DAVENPORT
Davenport's lone lead of the day came at 4-2 just under three minutes into the game. Wayne State responded by scoring 23 of the next 27 points in a run that lasted nearly eight minutes to go up by 17, 25-8. During that span, seven different Warriors found the scoring column, the most of which came from Jordan Briggs with six. Right after that, the Panthers' Marcedus Leech, Jr. converted a lay-up to make it a 15-point affair before Carmelo Harris came right back with a triple on the other end to stretch the margin to 18, 28-10. From there until the final buzzer, the closest the visitors could get was 12 heading into halftime, 43-31.

In the first eight minutes of the second half, Davenport shrank the deficit down to eight on four different occasions including 43-35, 45-37, 47-39 and 56-48. Following the fourth instance, Ray Williams, Jr. hit a jumper to make it a double-digit game again, 58-48. The Panthers didn't go away quietly though, pulling within six (67-61) with just under six minutes to go. The home team didn't let its visitors draw any closer out-scoring DU by eight (17-9) the rest of the way for the 14-point triumph.

Wayne State crushed Davenport in the rebounding battle to the tune of 43-24 including 11-3 on the offensive glass which led to 10 second-chance points. Those 43 boards are the second most by the Warriors this season and highest total in a win while the 11 offensive boards is the third-best mark at home. WSU out-shot DU 50.9 percent (29-of-57) to 43.3 percent (26-of-60) from the field.

Rob Lee, Jr. scored a game high and personal best in points for the second game in a row, this time with 21 on 7-of-8 shooting. Making the second start of his career, Lee was a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc and 4-of-7 at the free throw line while finishing with three rebounds and a pair of assists. Lee was one of four Warriors to score in double figures along with Harris with 19, Colin Golson, Jr. with 12 and Tamario Adley with 10. Williams (10 rebounds) came two points shy of a double-double and Adley dished out four assists. Defensively, Matt Coffey tallied the team's lone block, while both Adley and Williams had a pair of steals.

GLIAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Colin Golson, Jr. was named GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday. The honor came after Golson, Jr. averaged a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds per game while shooting 50 percent (7-of-14) from the field and 88.9 percent (8-of-9) at the free throw line. Starting with the 73-66 win over Grand Valley State on Thursday night, the redshirt junior finished with his third career double-double (all this season) thanks to 10 points and 13 boards (personal best). Two days later in the 84-70 defeat of Davenport, the Detroit native was responsible for 12 points and seven rebounds.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Wayne State's leading scorer is Carmelo Harris at 12.9 points per contest thanks to 14 games of at least 12 points including eight straight from Nov. 18 to Dec. 17. Harris is one of five Warriors notching at least 8.7 points per outing, along with Ray Williams, Jr. (9.8 PPG), Colin Golson, Jr. (9.2), Matt Coffey (8.9) and Tamario Adley (8.7). Williams, Jr. is bringing down a team-high 5.8 rebounds per contest, while Golson, Jr. (5.5) also averages at least five per game. Assist wise, Adley is on top of the squad with 3.1 per performance (tied-for-10th in the GLIAC). Offensive efficiency wise, Coffey is second in the league for field goal percentage (.622) and Harris ranks first in free throw percentage (.918).

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 is 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.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Tamario Adley: G; 6' 2"; Sophomore

#2 Jordan Briggs: G; 5' 11"; Freshman

#44 Matt Coffey: C; 6' 8"; Sophomore

#1 Colin Golson, Jr.: F; 6' 5"; Redshirt Junior

#11 Carmelo Harris: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#24 Rob Lee, Jr.: G; 6' 3"; Freshman

#23 Ray Williams, Jr.: G/F; 6' 4"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#5 Tamario Adley
: 6' 2"; Sophomore
: G

#2 Jordan Briggs
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: G

#44 Matt Coffey
: 6' 8"; Sophomore
: C

#1 Colin Golson, Jr.
: 6' 5"; Redshirt Junior
: F

#11 Carmelo Harris
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#24 Rob Lee, Jr.
: 6' 3"; Freshman
: G

#23 Ray Williams, Jr.
: 6' 4"; Senior
: G/F