DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (7-7 overall, 3-3 GLIAC) is back on the road this week to face Northern Michigan (11-3 overall, 5-1 GLIAC) on Thursday night before seeing Michigan Tech (10-4 overall, 5-1 GLIAC) on Saturday afternoon.

STORYLINES
Wayne State won back-to-back GLIAC games last week for the first time this season, defeating both Parkside (65-61) and Purdue Northwest (70-67) inside the WSU Fieldhouse.  The Warriors have won five of their last seven games overall despite playing last weekend without starting guard Tamario Adley.  WSU's two wins last week were the first in games decided by six points or less this season.

Wayne State travels to the Upper Peninsula this week for a pair of contests against teams with 5-1 GLIAC records in Northern Michigan (Thursday at 7:30 p.m.) and Michigan Tech (Saturday at 2 p.m.).

Northern Michigan has won eight of its last nine games with the lone loss being at home to rival Michigan Tech on Jan. 9 by 23 points, 88-65.  That defeat is NMU's lone setback in its new facility as the Wildcats are 5-1 at Vandament Arena.

Michigan Tech has been on the right side of the scoreboard in eight of its previous nine contests, including two victories last week.  The Huskies have an unblemished home mark of 5-0, the best start to a campaign on their court since the 2014-15 season (5-0).

THE SERIES
Wayne State and Northern Michigan have played each other 84 times in a series deadlocked at 42 wins apiece.  WSU has a 13-24 mark in games played in Marquette, including setbacks in the last four games at NMU.  Overall, the last four match-ups have decided by a total of 17 points (4, 6, 5, 2).  The Warriors won the most-recent meeting 84-80 on Feb. 24 in Detroit.
Wayne State has a 57-40 advantage in the all-time series.  The Warriors have lost six straight and eight of the last nine on the Huskies court with the last victory coming on Feb. 9, 2017.  WSU is 18-26 all-time in Houghton.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Sixth-year head coach Matt Majkrzak (153-89 overall record) has his team off to another great start.  Northern Michigan defends effectively and takes care of the ball well on the other end.  Nationally, the Wildcats rank 18th in scoring defense (65.6) and 24th in fewest turnovers per game (10.6).  Individually, Dylan Kuehl is tops on the team in points per outing (15.6, ninth in the GLIAC) while shooting at 54.2 percent from the field, second in the league.  He is one of two players averaging in double figures for NMU along with Julien Smith's 12.2 PPG, while Sam Privet is right there with 9.9 PPG.  Kuehl brings down an average of 6.4 rebounds (seventh in the GLIAC) and Brian Parzych accounts for 2.4 assists per performance.

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
Michigan Tech boasts the top scorer and 11th-best in all of Division II when it comes to points per game.  Marcus Tomashek is scoring 23 points per performance this season with a career average of 18.4 through 72 games played (1,328 career points).  In 2024-25, he is one of three Huskies averaging in double figures along with Ty Fernholz (12.8) and Pete Calcaterra (10.7).  Calcaterra is leading the team in rebounding average (5.5), while Tomashek dishes out three assists per outing.  Led by fourth-year head coach Josh Buettner (52-48 overall record), Michigan Tech is nearly as efficient offensively as any squad in the nation.  The Huskies rank seventh in the country in three-point field goal percentage (40.0) and ninth in overall field goal percentage (50.7), not to mention 39th in scoring defense (67.5).

LAST TIME OUT - VS. PURDUE NORTHWEST - JAN. 11
Despite playing without two its starters (Kareem Aburashed and Tamario Adley), the Warriors raced out to a 19-9 lead in the first eight-plus minutes by shooting over 50 percent (8-of-15 / 53.3 percent), including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.  Guards Jordan Briggs and Carmelo Harris each made a triple and a two-point field goal during the early spurt for WSU.

PNW responded with a 9-0 run, before a put-back bucket by Ray Williams, Jr., who was making his 100th career start.  

Purdue Northwest scored the next three baskets to even the game at 24-24.  The contest was tied twice more at 26-26, and 28-28, but Kelvin Tamakloe made a lay-up giving the hosts a 30-28 advantage at halftime.

Williams, Jr. began the second half scoring with a four-point play putting the Warriors in front by six (34-28).  Five consecutive points by the Pride cut the lead to one (34-33), before Rob Lee, Jr. made a jumper.  PNW answered with four consecutive points for a 37-36 lead with 17:02 left.  It was Purdue Northwest's first lead since 2-0 on the game's opening possession.

Tamakloe scored again off a feed from Lee, Jr. to regain the lead, before Lee connected on another jumper and free throw to extend the lead to four (41-37).  Williams, Jr. grabbed a defensive rebound and was rewarded with a lay-up off a dish from Briggs, then Briggs fed Tamakloe for another hoop prompting a timeout by the Pride as Wayne State had taken a 45-37 lead.

After a pair of Purdue Northwest foul shots, Paul III made a jumper from inside the paint, and Harris followed with a triple increasing the margin to 11 (50-39).  A lay-up by Paul III pushed the lead to 13 (52-39).

A Briggs free throw with 9:58 remaining gave WSU its largest lead of the game (14, 57-43).  Following a turnaround jumper by Lee Jr., which made it 59-46, PNW went on a 9-3 run to pull within seven (62-55) with 6:30 remaining.

A step-back jumper by Briggs extended the lead to nine (64-55), but the Pride rattled off an 11-3 run over the next five-plus minutes to make it a one-point game (67-66) with 55.5 seconds left.

Lee Jr. made a pair of shots from the charity stripe with 26.5 seconds left but PNW's Jailen Nelson grabbed his own missed shot and was fouled.  Nelson made the first but Williams, Jr. grabbed the rebound on the miss and was fouled with 10.7 seconds left.

Williams, Jr. made the first shot giving the hosts a three-point advantage at 70-67.  Purdue Northwest's Collin Albert went to the foul line shooting one-and-one with 4.5 seconds left and missed the first with Tamakloe grabbing the rebound.

FREE THROW PHENOMS
Wayne State junior Carmelo Harris continues to make free throws with a historic efficiency.  This season, Harris ranks first in the GLIAC and second nationally in free throw percentage at 94.0 percent (47-of-50).  Career wise, the Flint native is shooting 89.8 percent (159-of-177), which is first in program history (minimum 70 made) and third among all active Division II players.  When factoring in all current NCAA basketball players from Divisions I, II and III, Harris' career clip is good for 11th.  Not to be forgotten though is his high school teammate Rob Lee, Jr., who is fourth in the league for free throw percentage at 86.7 percent (39-of-45).

"THE MAESTRO"
Redshirt senior Ray Williams, Jr. continues to ascend the program's career record book top 50 in several categories.  Entering this week, Williams is second in minutes played (3,251), tied-for-third in games started (100), tied-for-sixth in games played (109), seventh in total rebounds (644), 24th in three-pointers made (76), tied for-34th in field goals made (342), 35th in steals (75), 40th in points scored (870), and tied for-46th in blocked shots (25).  The Detroit native is one of four players in program history to start at least 100 games along with Raheem Muhammad (111, 1982-86), Tony Goins (102, 1995-99) and Marcus Moore (100, 2014-18).  Williams needs to see time in just 12 more games to become Wayne State's all-time leader in games played.  Scott Armstrong is currently first with 120 games played (1990-94).