DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team will be home for the final times this season as it will host Michigan Tech on Thursday night and Northern Michigan on Saturday afternoon.

STORYLINES
Wayne State is coming back to Detroit for its final two home games of the 2023-24 regular season.  The Warriors will host Michigan Tech on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., before seeing league-leading Northern Michigan on Saturday at 3 p.m. for Senior Day.  WSU will look to avenge a pair of losses at MTU and NMU back in early December.

Seven of Michigan Tech's nine overall wins have come at home as opposed to a 2-8 mark away from Houghton.  With that being said, the Huskies have been victorious in three straight (longest winning streak of the season) since dropping six of seven contests prior to that.

Northern Michigan has had a stranglehold on first place in the GLIAC standings and already clinched a home court quarterfinal game for the league tournament.  As of late though, the Wildcats have come back down to earth a bit with two conference losses in their last four outings after winning 10 GLIAC games in a row prior to that.

THE SERIES
Wayne State is ahead by 16 (56-40) in the all-time series vs. Michigan Tech, and WSU holds an edge of 35-12 at home.  However, the Huskies have won nine of the last 11 meetings between the two teams, but both of those Warrior victories came in Detroit (67-54 in 2019, and 72-65 OT in 2023).

Northern Michigan has a one-win edge in the all-time series (42-41) and has been on the right side in six consecutive meetings.  At home, Wayne State owns a record of 27-17 against the Wildcats.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Led by third-year head coach Josh Buettner (40-41 overall, 27-25 GLIAC), Michigan Tech boasts the top scorer in the GLIAC in Marcus Tomashek.  The three-time GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week this season is averaging 22.1 points per game, a number that's good for a tie-for-eighth in all of Division II.  Tomashek is one of two Huskies averaging double figures in the scoring department along with Dan Gherezgher's 14.1 per contest.  MTU is also paced by Pete Calcaterra (6.6 RPG - fourth in the GLIAC), while Tomashek dishes out a squad leading 2.2 assists per outing.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Coached by fifth-year leader Matt Majkrzak (83-52 overall, 54-34 GLIAC), the 2023 GLIAC Coach of the Year, Northern Michigan is paced by five scorers averaging at least 9.5 points per game.  Those five are Max Weisbrod (16.9 - fifth in the GLIAC), Dylan Kuehl (16.6 - sixth in the GLIAC), Carson Smith (12.2), Brian Parzych (9.9) and Sam Schultz (9.5).  Schultz is bringing down 9.7 rebounds per game,  which leads the league and ranks 13th in all of Division II.  The 6-7 big man has accounted for eight double-doubles, which is good for 28th in the country.  Assist wise, Weisbrod leads NMU with 4.3 per contest, third in the conference.

LAST TIME OUT - AT FERRIS STATE
Ferris State led by as many as seven points three times through the first 13-plus minutes of the game.  Wayne State then countered with 10 of the next 12 points to take its first advantage of the game, 31-30.  That run was both started and capped by Jordan Briggs thanks to a fast-break lay-up and a three-pointer.

Following four points by the Bulldogs, Matt Coffey converted back-to-back two-pointers to give the Warriors their advantage back at 35-34.

Then, Briggs hit a pair at the charity stripe and FSU tipped one back in to keep the WSU margin at one, 37-36, heading into the locker room.

Wayne State's largest lead of the afternoon was seven and thrice happened in the opening four minutes of the second stanza (43-36, 45-38 and 47-40).

However, Ferris State responded with an 18-4 run of its own that lasted just over eight minutes and put the hosts ahead by seven, 58-51, with 8:09 to play.

From there until the final buzzer, the closest the Warriors could get was six (58-52, 75-69) while the Bulldogs' advantage grew to as large as 15 (69-54) before the final deficit of eight points.

Ferris State shot 42 percent (25-of-59) from the floor compared to Wayne State's 44 percent (23-of-52).  FSU was a solid 89 percent (23-of-26) at the free throw line, while WSU was 17-of-25 (68 percent).  Both teams struggled from behind the arc including 30 percent (6-of-20) for the Warriors and 21 percent (4-of-19) by the Bulldogs.  FSU finished with 17 assists to just seven turnovers, while WSU notched 12 of each.  Ferris State's bench outscored Wayne State's 39-21, while the visitors had the upper hand in paint scoring, 34-26.

Rob Lee, Jr. made it 10-straight games in double figures with a team-high 16 points to go with three rebounds and three assists.  Also scoring in double figures for Wayne State were Ray Williams, Jr. with 11 and Tamario Adley with 10.  Williams came two rebounds within a double-double and Briggs dished out four assists.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Wayne State's leading scorer is Carmelo Harris at 13.3 points per contest thanks to 15 games of at least 12 points including eight straight from Nov. 18 to Dec. 17.  Harris is one of six Warriors notching at least 8.4 points per outing, along with Ray Williams, Jr. (9.9 PPG), Colin Golson, Jr. (9.0), Tamario Adley (8.9 PPG), Matt Coffey (8.5) and Rob Lee, Jr. (8.4).  Williams, Jr. is bringing down a team-high 6.0 rebounds per contest, while Golson, Jr. (5.3) also averages at least five boards per game.  Assist wise, Adley is on top of the squad with 3.1 per performance (tied-for-11th in the GLIAC).  Offensive efficiency wise, Coffey is third in the league for field goal percentage (.619), Lee, Jr. is third in three-point percentage (.480) and Harris ranks first in free throw percentage (.896).

DOUBLE OVERTIME AFFAIRS
Prior to the Feb. 15 double overtime setback at Lake Superior, WSU's previous two-overtime game was Nov. 8, 2019, at home vs. Ohio Dominican.  The Panthers won that game 87-86.

ALL FIVE STARTERS IN DOUBLE FIGURES
All five WSU starters scored in double figures in the Feb. 15 double overtime loss at LSSU.  It was the second time this season, all five Warrior starters were in double figures.  The first was Nov. 21st in an 84-73 WSU victory.

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.