DETROIT -- Coming off a two-game road trip, the Wayne State University men's basketball team (5-7 overall, 1-3 GLIAC) returns home to host Parkside (5-7 overall, 2-2 GLIAC) on Thursday night and Purdue Northwest (3-9 overall, 0-4 GLIAC) on Saturday afternoon.

STORYLINES
Unable to come away with a victory at 14th-ranked Lake Superior State (75-71) or No. 4 Ferris State (91-81) last week, Wayne State returns home to the friendly confines of the Fieldhouse.  The Warriors will look to get back on the right track as they host Parkside on Thursday evening before entertaining Purdue Northwest on Saturday afternoon.

Parkside comes into Detroit on a season-long two-game winning streak.  The Rangers took down PNW last Saturday 76-73 in Hammond, Ind., but needed three overtimes to do so, and just defeated Roosevelt at home on Monday night by a score of 75-70.

It's been tough sledding as of late for Purdue Northwest as the Pride have dropped two contests in a row and five of their last six.  PNW has gone just 1-6 away from home this season with that lone triumph being a defeat of No. 12 California State-Dominguez Hills on Nov. 16, 96-86.

THE SERIES
Parkside holds a 17-9 edge in the all-time series against Wayne State.  The Rangers have taken four consecutive meetings against the Warriors as well as six of the previous eight.  Two of WSU's last three victories against UWP have come in Detroit, and Wayne State is 6-5 at home all-time vs. Parkside.

As for the all-time ledger against Purdue Northwest, it reads 9-5 in favor of Wayne State, but the home team has controlled the narrative.  The Warriors are 1-5 when playing on the Pride's court, but a perfect 8-0 when they get to host like this Saturday.  PNW has won of the two last three meetings overall.

SCOUTING THE RANGERS
Parkside comes in at 5-7 overall and 2-2 in GLIAC play under 22nd-year head coach Luke Reigel.  In those 21+ seasons at the helm, Reigel has amassed a combined record of 315-288 for a .522 winning percentage.  Individually, Reigel and his staff have counted on a three-headed monster so far this season - Jack Rose (15.8 PPG), Josiah Palmer (14.3 PPG) and Nick Brown (13.7 PPG).  Palmer has also proved to be the team's best rebounder (4.5/game) and assist man (4.1/game), latter of which is good for third in the league.  Brown (4.3 RPG) and Cameron Mallory (4.2 RPG) also crash the glass well for UWP.

SCOUTING THE PRIDE
The 2024-25 season marks campaign number seven for Purdue Northwest under the leadership of Boomer Roberts (60-111 overall, .351 winning percentage).  The Pride are third in the conference in points per game (79.8), but give up the most per contest of anyone in the league with an average of 80.3 surrendered.  Individually, like Parkside, three Purdue Northwest scorers are averaging double figures including Collin Albert (15.4 PPG), Jailen Nelson (14.4 PPG) and Detalian Brown (13.7 PPG).  Dalton Gayman brings down 8.8 rebounds per outing, tops in the GLIAC, and Nelson dishes out 3.1 assists per performance.

LAST TIME OUT - AT FERRIS STATE - JAN. 4
The first seven minutes and change saw a see-saw battle with a combined two ties and 10 lead changes.  At that point, the score read 18-17 in favor of Ferris State.  Wayne State shared the ball well in the opening stretch as six different scorers contributed and five of its six field goals featured an assist.

The bucket that gave the Bulldogs 18 points opened a 15-5 run for the home team and stretched the margin to nine, 31-22.  FSU then extended its advantage to as large as 11 at 37-26 with just over four-and-a-half minutes until the intermission, but WSU didn't back down.

The Warriors rattled off eight straight points to pull within three (37-34) as Kareem Aburashed drilled back-to-back triples, before Carmelo Harris converted a pair of free throws.

From that point until the final first half buzzer, the teams' head-to-head scoring was knotted up at 9-9 and the hosts held a three-point lead (46-43) heading into the locker rooms.

Just eight seconds out of the break, Tamario Adley converted a layup to cut the spread to one at 46-45.  Ferris State scored eight of the ensuing 10 points extending its lead to seven at 54-47.

Again, Wayne State was up to the challenge with seven consecutive points of its own to deadlock the score for a third and final instance at 54-54.  For the following five minutes, the Bulldogs kept the advantage, but never by more than four points as the Warriors continued to fight.

FSU's Jaxson Whitaker drained back-to-back three-pointers and his team was back ahead by double digits, 69-59.  Then, WSU's Rob Lee, Jr. made one of two at the charity stripe and his high school teammate Harris added five points of his own to make it a four-point affair, 69-65.

Once again though, Ferris State pushed its advantage back to 10 (75-65) and to as big as 12 (87-75, 89-77).  At one point, Wayne State's Aburashed hit the last of his career-high four three-pointers and Lee, Jr. dunked one home for a six-point game (80-74), but it was too little, too late. The Bulldogs went on to win by 10, 91-81.

Ferris State shot 47.5 percent (28-of-59) to Wayne State's 37.3 percent (25-of-67).  With a combined 45 personal fouls called, free throws were aplenty as the Bulldogs converted at an 81.3 percent (26-of-32) clip to the Warriors' 70.4 percent (19-of-27).  FSU won the rebounding battle by eight, 45-37, including 10 (37-27) on the defensive glass.  Points off turnovers and second-chance scoring were both decided by two points while Ferris State controlled bench scoring (36-18), points in the paint (30-22) and fast-break scoring (28-20).

Four players scored at least 10 points including Harris with 24 (season high), Lee, Jr. with 19, Aburashed with 12 (season high) and Jordan Briggs with 10.  For Harris, the junior notched at least 20 points in back-to-back outings for the first time this season and second time in his career.  He and Aburashed both brought down six rebounds and Lee, Jr. dished out five assists.  Defensively, Lee, Jr. and Aburashed each tallied a pair of steals.

FREE THROW PHENOMS
Wayne State junior Carmelo Harris continues to make free throws with a historic efficiency.  This season, Harris ranks second in the GLIAC and fifth nationally in free throw percentage with a clip of 93.2 percent (41-of-44).  Career wise, the Flint native is at 89.5 percent (153-of-171), 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 13th.  Not to be forgotten though is his high school teammate Rob Lee, Jr., who is fifth in the league for free throw percentage at 88.2 percent (30-of-34).

2024-25 BROADCAST CREWS
All remaining men's basketball regular-season contests (both home and away) will air live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Fans can also stream the action online at PatriotDetroit.com.  This is the 23rd consecutive season WSU basketball has been aired on 1400 AM.  Kevin Brechmacher is in his ninth 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/Tartars.  

In addition, every GLIAC contest will be televised on FloSports (flohoops.com) per the GLIAC agreement with FloSports.