DETROIT -- Following a two-game road trip, the Wayne State University men's basketball team (8-8 overall, 4-4 GLIAC) is back home to host Saginaw Valley State (6-10 overall, 2-6 GLIAC) on Thursday night before welcoming brand new league member Roosevelt (5-11 overall, 2-6 GLIAC) the following Monday evening.

STORYLINES
Wayne State returns home after splitting its two-game road trip last week.  The Warriors cruised past Northern Michigan (82-67) on Thursday before coming up short (74-68) at Michigan Tech on Saturday.  WSU will play inside the Fieldhouse where its won four straight and 10 of the last 12 dating back to last season.  Saginaw Valley State comes to Detroit on Thursday before GLIAC newcomer Roosevelt makes its first appearance in the Fieldhouse on Monday.

Saginaw Valley State has dropped three contests in a row and five of its previous six.  Five of the Cardinals six wins have come on their home court as they are just 1-7 when hitting the road this season.

Roosevelt has experienced an up-and-down start to its Division II residency.  The Lakers have been on the right side of the scoreboard for two games in a row just once.  Coming into this week, RU has lost four of its last five contests.

THE SERIES
Saginaw Valley State leads the all-time series with Wayne State by seven, 47-40, but WSU has a four-win edge at home, 23-19.  The Cardinals have taken 10 of the last 14 meetings, but three of those four Warrior victories came in Detroit, where Thursday's showdown will take place.  The one instance in which Wayne State won on the road in that 14-game stretch was last season and it sent the Warriors to the GLIAC Tournament.

Wayne State and brand new GLIAC member Roosevelt will be meeting for the first time ever on Monday, Jan. 27th.

SCOUTING THE CARDINALS
The 2024-25 campaign marks year No. 13 for head coach Randy Baruth at Saginaw Valley State.  This season, he's relied on a pair of familiar names in senior guard Freddie McIntosh (14.8 PPG) and redshirt-senior guard Toodles Seal (14.4 PPG), arguably the GLIAC's most potent back court.  The team's most reliable rebounder has been junior forward Elijah Mattingly (6.4 per game), while McIntosh paces the squad in assists (2.6 per game) and steals (21).  The Cardinals love to hoist it from deep as they are 23rd in the country in three-pointers attempted per game (27.9) and 55th in triples made per contest (9.1).

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
New kid on the block Roosevelt is coached by former Illinois standout Dee Brown, who is in his third season at the helm.  In 2023-24, the Lakers finished 25-5 overall and 18-2 in the CCAC to claim the program's only regular-season championship and secure the its second-ever bid to the NAIA Tournament.  Brown was named the CCAC Coach of the Year as well as the co-College Coach of the Year by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.  Fast forward to this season and Brown boasts one of the GLIAC's top scorers in Forte Prater (18.3 PPG, second in the league).  Prater is one of three Lakers averaging double figures along with Enari Thomas (16.6 PPG, fourth in the league) and Ramean Hinton (12.2 PPG).  Hinton brings down 7.6 rebounds per game, while Prater is fourth in the league for assists with 3.7 per contest and leads RU in steals (21) and triples (24).

LAST TIME OUT - AT MICHIGAN TECH - JAN. 18
Offensively, the start was slow for both teams as the first field goal make didn't happen until nearly three minutes of game time had elapsed.  Carlos Paul III put Wayne State ahead 2-1 with a lay-up at the 17:14 mark.

Following back-and-forth play that featured four ties and two lead changes, the Warriors rattled off seven straight points to lead by seven, 16-9.  Four of those seven points came from Tamario Adley, who was playing his first game in two weeks.  Adam Ayrault chipped in a pair and Jordan Briggs added a free throw.

The Huskies cut the margin to one (16-15) with six consecutive points of their own, but the visitors extended their advantage back to five on three separate occasions -- 20-15, 22-17 and 24-19.  The last of that trio came with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining until the intermission.

From there until the end of the half, the hosts outscored the away team by four (7-3), but Wayne State clung to a one-point advantage (27-26) heading into the locker rooms.

Neither team shot the ball well as the Warriors went 9-of-29 (31 percent) from the field to the Huskies 10-of-27 (37 percent).  Wayne State converted just one of its seven three-point attempts, while Michigan Tech cashed on 3-of-10.  WSU made up some ground at the free throw where it was 8-of-11 compared to MTU's 3-of-6.  The visitors tallied just one assist to three turnovers as opposed to seven and 11, respectively, for the home team.

The contest saw two more deadlocks and four additional lead changes just over two-and-a-half minutes into the second half.

At that point, the scoreboard read 31-31 before Wayne State regained the lead and would hold it until another tie at the 10:26 juncture, 47-47.  Within that nearly seven-minute span on being on top, the Warriors' advantage grew to a game-high seven points, 47-40.

The lead changed hands twice more, the second instance in favor of Michigan Tech, where it would stay for good.

WSU was able to stay within shouting distance at six points behind (60-54, 62-56, 64-58), but MTU's Marcus Tomashek, the league's leading scorer carried his team to the finish.  Tomashek gave Michigan Tech a nine-point lead for the first time all day at 67-58 with a three-pointer and again at 69-60 on a jumper.

From the time it was 64-58 in favor of the home team until the final buzzer, Tomashek notched all 10 of the Huskies points to the Warriors 10 and the six-point margin held.  The potent junior racked up 22 of his game-high 32 points after halftime.

SENSATIONAL SOPHOMORE
Rob Lee, Jr. was named GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday.  Lee, Jr. averaged 29.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in Wayne State's two games last week, while shooting 54.5 percent from the floor.  Starting with his 40-point performance on Thursday at Northern Michigan, Lee, Jr. became the fourth player in program history and first since 2006 to score 40 points in a single game.  The sophomore shot 12-of-18 from the field, 6-of-8 behind the arc and 10-of-10 at the free throw line.  Lee, Jr. joined Michigan Tech's Marcus Tomashek as the league's only players to score 40 this season, a mark that is tied-for-10th in all of Division II. The second-year Warrior followed that outing with another team high 19 points on Saturday at Michigan Tech.

"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 (3,322), tied-for-second in games started (102), tied-for-fourth in games played (111), seventh in total rebounds (661, 19th among active players in D2), tied-for-23rd in three-pointers made (79), tied for-32nd in field goals made (346), 33rd in steals (80), 37th in points scored (883), tied for-46th in blocked shots (25), and 49th in rebounds per game (6.0).  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 10 more games to become Wayne State's all-time leader in games played.  Scott Armstrong is currently first with 120 games played (1990-94).