DETROIT -- Riding the wave of a two-game winning streak, the Wayne State University men's basketball team will return home to the Fieldhouse and face a pair of ranked opponents.  Ferris State (tied-for-22nd) will be in town on Thursday night before 16th-ranked Lake Superior State follows suit on Saturday for the Warriors' Senior Day.

STORYLINES
Wayne State (14-12, 10-8) won twice last week to post back-to-back GLIAC victories for the second time in 2024-25 after a stretch of three straight in January.  WSU won 67-66 at Grand Valley State on Feb. 20 and 81-70 at Davenport on Feb. 22.  With a home record of 8-4, the Warriors will look to reach 10 victories in Detroit for the second straight campaign and second instance in the last seven seasons.

After winning 18 of its first 20 games, Ferris State (23-6, 13-5) has gone just 5-4 in its last nine with three of those four defeats coming on the road.  The Bulldogs are 8-5 away from home as opposed to 15-1 on their home court.

Lake Superior State (23-5, 14-4) has yet to lose back-to-back contests this season.  The Lakers come in having won two in a row and four of their previous five.  LSSU had a perfect 14-0 mark at home in the regular season compared to a 9-5 ledger on the road.  The Lakers visit Saginaw Valley State on Thursday.

THE SERIES
Ferris State is on the right end of the all-time ledger against Wayne State, 58-41.  The Bulldogs have had the Warriors number as of late including eight straight and 10 of the last 11.  WSU has a 24-22 all-time mark at home vs. FSU.

Wayne State leads the all-time series with Lake Superior State by 10, 48-38.  However, the Lakers have won 11 of the last 14 showdowns, including five of the last six with the only WSU win being in last year's GLIAC Tournament (87-78 in Sault Ste. Marie).  The Warriors are 28-14 all -time at home vs. LSSU.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Ferris State is among the top 10 in the country in multiple categories including blocks per game (fourth - 5.5), bench points per game (seventh - 37.7), defensive rebounds per game (eighth - 29.2), and field goal percentage defense (ninth - 39.7).  Individually, the Bulldogs defensive prowess is paced by Nathan Claerbaut, who ranks fifth nationally in total blocks (70) and eighth in blocks per game (2.4).  Also on defense, Jimmy Scholler is FSU's ringleader in steals with 39 (third in GLIAC).  On the offensive side of the ball, Ferris State boasts a trio of scorers averaging double figures in Ethan Erickson (16.4, sixth in GLIAC), Tyler Hamilton (10.6) and Reece Hazelton (10.0).  Claerbaut brings down 6.6 rebounds per contest (eighth in GLIAC), while Scholler's 3.9 assists per outing are second in the conference.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
Lake Superior State takes care of the ball, puts teams away early and loves to shoot the three.  The Lakers rank eighth in all of Division II for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.59-to-1), 12th in scoring margin (+12.9), 12th in triples made per outing (10.1), 23rd in fewest turnovers per game (10.4), and 23rd in three-pointers attempted per game (27.1).  While the offense is taking care of business, the defense has plenty to write home about ranking 20th in the country for scoring defense (66.4 PPG).  Individually, LSSU's offense is as balanced as any in the country with five players averaging double-figure points.  Those five are Tyson Edmondson (15.8, seventh in GLIAC), Kingsley Perkins (12.9), Hunter Soper (11.4), Adam Harakow (11.0), and Devin Womack (10.6).  Womack is on top of the assist department (3.3, fifth in GLIAC), while tops on the glass is Soper (7.2, third in GLIAC).  Defensively, Lake Superior State turns to Soper's 50 steals and 30 blocks, both of which are first on the squad.

LAST TIME OUT - AT DAVENPORT - FEB. 22
After the game was tied 2-2, senior Ray Williams, Jr., who was playing in his school record 121st game as a Warrior, had a dunk and junior Carmelo Harris followed with a tip-in for a 6-2 lead.  DU responded with seven consecutive points for a 9-6 advantage.  The contest was tied twice more at 9-9 and 12-12 before Aidan Moon and Joey Cabana connected on back-to-back triples for the hosts.  Then Jovan Tucker drained a trey for a 21-12 Panther lead which prompted a timeout by WSU coach Bryan Smothers.

Two foul shots by sophomore Rob Lee, Jr. and a lay-up by junior Kelvin Tamakloe preceded a Davenport bucket.  Junior Carlos Paul III made a jumper and sophomore Jordan Briggs splashed a triple to cut the WSU deficit to two (23-21) with 5:22 remaining before intermission.

DU led by four (27-23) before Harris connected from long-range to make it a one-point contest (27-26) with 2:57 left.  After four straight points by Davenport, graduate student Jon Brantley drained a shot from beyond the arc trimming the margin to two (31-29).  Over the final 65 seconds prior to halftime, each team scored four points giving the Panthers a 35-33 lead after 20 minutes.

Moon drained another triple to start the second half scoring, but two free throws by Harris and a conventional three-point play by Lee, Jr. knotted the scored at 38-38 with 17:40 left.  A Tamakloe lay-up was followed by a DU basket to tie the game at 40-40.  Lee, Jr. connected from beyond the arc giving the Warriors a 43-40 lead.  A Harris jumper pushed the WSU lead to five (45-40).

A Paul lay-up and two foul shots by junior Tamario Adley gave the visitors a 49-42 advantage.  Over the next three-plus minutes, Wayne State had a 13-5 scoring advantage to grab a 62-47 led with 11:09 remaining.  Harris, Briggs and Brantley all connected from downtown during the spurt with Lee, Jr. and Paul III each making baskets.

The closest Davenport would get the rest of the way was nine points (79-70) on a triple by Jovan Tucker with 21 seconds left.

Carmelo Harris tallied a game-high 19 points with Jordan Briggs adding 15 points off the bench.  Briggs was 9-of-10 at the charity stripe and 2-of-2 from three-point range, along with a game-best five assists.  Rob Lee, Jr. chipped in with 12 points, while Kelvin Tamakloe nearly had a double-double with 10 points and a team-best nine rebounds.

TRENDING UPWARD
Wayne State's 14 regular-season wins are the most since the 2017-18 team had 15.  The Warriors 10 GLIAC victories are the most since the 2020-21 squad went 12-5 and won the league's regular-season championship.  Thanks to Thursday's 67-66 triumph at Grand Valley State, WSU improved to 9-1 this season when playing on that day of the week, including an 8-1 mark in conference contests.

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 43rd nationally in free throw percentage at 87.0 percent (67-of-77).  Career wise, the Flint native is shooting 87.7 percent (179-of-204), which is first in program history (minimum 70 made) and 15th 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 48th.  Not to be forgotten though is his high school teammate Rob Lee, Jr., who is fifth in the league for free throw percentage at 80 percent (84-of-105).

"THE MAESTRO"
After starting at Davenport this past Saturday, redshirt senior Ray Williams, Jr. is now the program's all-time leader in games played (121) and started (112).  Thanks to 38 minutes on the court against Michigan Tech on Feb. 5, Williams became the school's all-time leader in that category as well, a total that now stands at 3,626 minutes played.  Entering this week, Williams is sixth in total rebounds (730, 19th among active players in D2), 23rd in three-pointers made (81), 27th in steals (87), 28th in field goals made (364), tied-for-32nd in points scored (930), tied for-40th in blocked shots (28), and 47th 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).