DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (3-4 overall) is set for its final game of the calendar year. The Warriors will host the Royals of Redeemer University out of Ancaster, Ontario inside the WSU Fieldhouse on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. The Royals compete as a member of the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA).
STORYLINES
Wayne State is coming off an 86-83 in-region loss at home to Lewis on Dec. 13 and will be playing its final non-conference game of the 2025-26 regular season this Saturday as the Warriors will look to reach the .500 mark outside of league play (2-3 coming in).
While this game will not count for Redeemer University (Ancaster, Ont.), the Royals own a 2-7 overall mark coming in, but have an 0-4 record away from their home court.
SERIES HISTORY
Wayne State and Redeemer faced each other for the first time ever almost exactly to the day one year ago on Dec. 21, 2025, in Detroit. The home team came out on top by 41 points, 106-65. WSU was one game below the .500 mark going into that contest as well at 4-5 before picking up the decisive victory.
SCOUTING REDEEMER
The head coach of Redeemer in his third season is Steven Hopkins. In those two-plus seasons, Hopkins has paced the Royals to an overall record of 8-41.
Senior guard Parker Davis, Redeemer's top scorer, is also the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association's (OCAA) top scorer at 25.6 points per game. Junior guard Thomaz Barbosa is the other Royal averaging double-digit points with 11.2 per contest.
Not a deep threat, Davis is shooting just 16 percent (5-of-31) from behind the arc, but 42 percent (80-of-189) from the field overall and 81 percent (65-of-80) at the free throw line. The shooter averages 21 field goal attempts per outing and has eclipsed 30 points three times already this season.
On the glass, three Royals bring down at least four rebounds per effort including senior guard Gabriel Della Foresta (4.7), Barbosa (4.4) and senior forward Benjamin Dyck (4.4). Junior guard Cole Arnold has been the leading assist man with a squad-leading average of 3.3 per outing.
THE JORDAN BRIGGS SHOW
Jordan Briggs' junior campaign is off to a hot start as he ranks among the GLIAC's top 10 in multiple offensive categories. Just over a month into the season, Briggs is second in the league (42nd nationally) in scoring (19.9 points per game), fourth in field goal percentage (51.7 percent), tied-for-fifth in three-pointers made per game (2.4), and seventh in free throw percentage (82.1 percent). The point guard comes into the Redeemer contest having notched 20 or more points in four straight outings.
LAST GAME RECAP
The first half was a tight one that saw a combined five ties and seven lead changes without a real flow to the game.
Both teams led by as many as five points, including 35-30 and 37-32 for Wayne State, while Lewis enjoyed advantages of 25-20 and 28-23.
The Warriors carried a lead into halftime for the fourth time in seven contests (3-0 previously), 39-36 this time around.
Out of the break,
Jotham Nweke cashed a triple that gave Wayne State its biggest lead of the day at six, 42-36.
Lewis then began to assert itself over the course of the next nine-plus minutes, outscoring the hosts by eight, 21-13, for its first advantage of the second half, 57-55, at the 10:31 mark. In that stretch alone, the Warriors were 0-of-5 from behind the arc and 3-of-7 at the charity stripe with three turnovers.
The Flyers kept the pressure applied with 15 of the ensuing 24 points and had taken their biggest lead of the contest at eight, 72-64, with just under seven minutes to play.
Right then, Nweke hit another deuce, reached a season-high 20 points and ignited a 13-5 outburst in favor of WSU. That spurt elapsed just over three minutes of game time, knotted the score at 77-77 with 3:56 to go and featured five Green and Gold scorers.
The four others than Nweke were
Jordan Briggs with four,
Carlos Paul III with three,
Cooper Craggs with two, and
Jalen Jenkins with a pair.
Following a lay-up from LU's Cale Cosme, Briggs sank a trio of freebies to give his squad the 80-79 advantage, the good guys' final lead of the game.
In the next two minutes and two seconds of game time, Lewis notched seven points to Wayne State's three, resulting in the score reading 86-83.
After a timeout by each team, the Flyers' Arius Alijosius missed a pair of free throws and Briggs got the ball back, but his triple try at the buzzer came up short.
Four Warriors scored in double figures including Briggs (22), Nweke (20), Paul III (13) and Craggs (12). Craggs brought down a game-high seven rebounds, which tied his career best, all of which were on the defensive glass. Lastly on offense, Jenkins dished out five assists, his new high for the season. Defensively, four different players registered a steal ,while Nweke tallied Wayne State's lone block.
WARRIOR SPORTS NETWORK
Every men's basketball contest will air on the Warrior Sports Network with veteran play-by-play broadcaster Kevin Brechmacher calling the action for the 10th consecutive season. He will be joined on the home broadcasts by former WSU basketball student-athletes Andy Dold, Chuck Key and Marcus Moore on a rotating basis. Veteran Detroit broadcaster Tony Ortiz will handle the sideline reporting duties for a majority of the home games on the Warrior Sports Network as well.
