DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team will look to jump back in the win column this week when it plays host to Grand Valley State on Thursday night and Davenport on Saturday afternoon.

STORYLINES
Wayne State comes home for a pair of games inside the Fieldhouse against the likes of Grand Valley State on Thursday night and Davenport on Saturday afternoon.  The Warriors are looking to snap a four-game skid including two straight in Detroit.

Grand Valley State has been in the win column for its last two contests, but holds a record of just 1-7 away from home.  The Lakers dropped their first seven road games of the season before winning 82-65 at crosstown rival Davenport last Saturday.

Davenport has faced similar struggles when traveling including a mark of 1-7 away from Grand Rapids (1-5 road, 0-2 neutral).  The Panthers just wrapped up a five-game home stand (3-2 record) and are set to play their next four contests on the opponent's floor.

THE SERIES
Grand Valley State holds an 18-win edge in the all-time series, 55-37, including six victories in the last eight meetings with Wayne State.  The Warriors will look to defeat the Lakers in Detroit for the first time since February of 2019 (0-3 since by a combined 20 points).

Davenport and Wayne State have faced off just 13 times in the all-time series with the Panthers holding a slight edge of 7-6.  The Warriors are above the .500 mark at home against DU though, 4-3.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
Second-year head coach Cornell Mann carries four scorers putting up at least 10 points per outing.  Those four players are Ethan Alderink (11.9 PPG), Marius Grazulis (11.5 PPG), William Dunn (11.0) and Britain Harris (10.4 PPG).  Grazulis is second in the GLIAC in rebounds per game (8.6) while Trevor Smith is tied-for-fifth in assists per contest (3.7).  Much like his first season, Mann likes to spread out playing time as eight different Lakers play at least 19 minutes per game, only one of which is seeing an average of more than 25 minutes on the court (Trevon Gunter - 25.2).

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Davenport is led by 16-year veteran head coach Burt Paddock.   Marcedus Leech, Jr., the GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year, is tied-for-third in the league in scoring with 17.3 points per game and fifth in free throw percentage at 82.4 percent (61-of-74).  He's one of two DU players averaging double figures for scoring along with Saginaw Valley State transfer guard Myles Belyeu (10.7 PPG).  Belyeu leads DU in both rebounds and assists with 5.8 and 3.2 per contest, respectively.

LAST TIME OUT - AT PURDUE NORTHWEST
Neither team scored for nearly two minutes until a jumper from sophomore guard Tamario Adley opened the scoring.  After a lay-up by PNW's Brendan Temple tied the score at 2-2, WSU tallied eight of the next 10 points to jump ahead 10-4 with 14:57 remaining.  A Matt Coffey bucket made the lead 12-7 with 12:42 left, before Purdue Northwest notched five points on a lay-up from Obi Ezekwesili and an old-fashioned three-point play by Temple to knot the score at 12-12 just before the midway point of the stanza.

The remainder of the period was close, with three more tied scores (16-16, 20-20, and 25-25) prior to the final horn for the first 20 minutes.  WSU re-gained a five-point edge between the 3:58 and 3:21 marks following a triple by freshman guard Rob Lee, Jr. and two foul shots from Coffey, but the Pride responded with seven points in 1:43 to surge ahead 27-25 with 89 seconds to play.

From there to the end of the first half, a three-pointer by Adley with 55 seconds remaining were the only points on the scoreboard.  That triple gave the Green and Gold a one-point lead (28-27) at intermission.

The lead exchanged hands three times in the span of 34 seconds to begin the new half.  A lay-up by Jules Bikoy was answered by the same made shot from Adley.  Kalil Whitehead's jump shot put Purdue Northwest in front 31-30 and in the lead for the rest of the contest.  The Whitehead made basket served as the first two points of a 17-0 run by the Pride between 19:01 and 14:27, which saw PNW claim a commanding 16-point edge (46-30).

A jumper from freshman guard Jordan Briggs with 13:11 left ended Wayne State's scoreless drought of over six minutes.  The Warriors managed five more points in quick succession on a jumper from Lee, Jr. and a three-pointer by freshman forward Hutch Ward which closed the deficit to 11 (48-37) with 11:43 to play.  However, that would be as close as the visitors would come to erasing the hosts' lead.

PNW out-paced WSU 21-15 over the last 10 minutes of the second half to emerge with the 20-point triumph.  Of the Green and Gold's 15 points in the final stretch, Lee, Jr. scored five and sophomore guard Carmelo Harris four via a quartet of free throws.

The Pride's 54 percent shooting (18-of-33) in the second half helped them finish at 46 percent (29-of-63) from the floor during the contest.  The Warriors made 17-of-52 (33 percent) for the game after making just six of their 24 attempts from the field - a key reason for the second half story.  PNW converted on 7 of its 26 three-pointers (27 percent), while WSU nailed just three on 22 tries (13 percent) from beyond the arc.  Wayne State went to the foul line 17 times and sank 15 free throws (88 percent).  Purdue Northwest had only seven attempts from the charity stripe and made all of them.  The Pride out-rebounded the Warriors 39-30 and also had more assists (13-4), steals (7-5) and bench points (31-21).

Lee, Jr. was the lone Warrior in double figures with 10 points, but five other Warriors tallied at least six points.  Adley grabbed a team-best six rebounds, while Briggs paced the squad with a pair of steals.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Wayne State's leading scorer is Carmelo Harris at 12.7 points per contest thanks to 12 games of at least 12 points.  Harris is one of five Warriors putting up at least 8.7 points per outing, along with Ray Williams, Jr. (9.9 PPG), Matt Coffey (9.1), Colin Golson, Jr. (9.0) and Tamario Adley (8.7).  Williams, Jr. is bringing down a team-high 5.6 rebounds per contest, while Golson, Jr. (5.1) also averages at least five per game.  Assist wise, Adley is on top of the squad with 3.2 per performance (ninth in the GLIAC).  Offensive efficiency wise, Coffey is second in the league for field goal percentage (.626) 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.