DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (6-6 overall, 3-3 GLIAC) is back in Detroit and ready to play at home inside the WSU Fieldhouse for the first time in 26 days.  The Warriors will host Parkside (8-5 overall, 3-3 GLIAC) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Roosevelt (1-12 overall, 0-6 GLIAC) on Saturday at 3 p.m.

STORYLINES
The Wayne State University men's basketball team (6-6 overall, 3-3 GLIAC) wrapped up a four-game road trip last week at Grand Valley State and Davenport.  The Warriors came up short against the Lakers 81-72, before bouncing back to defeat the Panthers 80-66.  

This week, WSU will host Parkside on Thursday night (7:30 p.m.) and try for a sixth time to win back-to-back contests.  Then on Saturday, Roosevelt will come to town for a 3 p.m. opening tip.

Parkside (8-5 overall, 3-3 GLIAC) has won two games in a row and five of its last six.  With that being said, the Rangers have played just three road games so far and gone 1-2.  Roosevelt has struggled to begin the season at 1-12 overall and 0-6 in league play.

SERIES HISTORY
Parkside leads the all-time series 18-10 and has won five of the last six against Wayne State.  The Warriors are 7-5 at home vs. the Rangers, including a 2-2 mark in the last four match-ups.

Wayne State and Roosevelt have met just twice in the all-time series.  The Lakers won both meetings last season, 67-63 in Detroit on Jan. 27, and 90-83 in Chicago on Feb. 17.

SCOUTING PARKSIDE
Under 23rd-year head coach Luke Reigel (332-301 overall record), Parkside is one of the best free throw shooting teams in the country.  Not only do the Rangers get to the charity stripe often, they convert at a high efficiency.  Nationally, UWP is 13th in free throws made per game (19.5), 22nd in free throws attempted per contest (25.8) and 39th in free throw percentage (75.8).  Parkside also takes care of the ball at a reasonable clip ranking 46th in Division II for fewest turnovers per game with 11.5.

Parkside boasts three of the top 13 scorers in the conference when it comes to points per game.  That trio includes senior Paxton Warden (18.1 PPG, fourth in the GLIAC), redshirt junior Luka Mateski (16.6, seventh) and graduate student Josiah Palmer (14.4, 13th).  Senior Fawaz Surakat brings down 7.3 rebounds per contest, good for a tie-for-third in the league, while Palmer's 3.6 assists per outing rank third.

SCOUTING ROOSEVELT
Roosevelt, coached by fourth-year man Dee Brown (54-47 overall record), is last in the GLIAC for scoring offense (64.6 PPG) and second-to-last for scoring defense (78.6 PPG).  

Individually, five Lakers are putting up double-digit points per game -- grad student Jalen Windham (17.1), junior Hamahrie Bowers (16.0), senior Dante Sawyer (12.7), senior Mikey West (10.9), and senior Kaleim Taylor (10.5).  Sawyer is the only one of those five to have played in all 13 games and is one of just two on the team (junior Davon Smith-Johnson) to have done so.  Smith-Johnson is the team's lone player with 13 starts and leads the squad in rebounding (69 boards), blocks (10) and steals (15).  Mikey West has a team-high 27 assists.

LAST GAME RECAP
There were six lead changes in the first 5:30 with the biggest lead during the opening segment being four points (7-3) by DU.  Aidan Moon drained a triple to turn a 10-9 Wayne State advantage into a 12-10 margin for the hosts in the final lead change of the opening half.  Davenport had a 12-1 run to lead 21-11 with just under 11 minutes remaining before intermission.

After two free throws by Carlos Paul III and a bucket by Devin Belle, the Panthers responded with five consecutive points by the GLIAC's leading scorer Ken Walker.  A jumper by Paul preceded a triple by Walker, which put DU ahead by 12 (29-17) with just over seven minutes left.
Once again, Walker answered a WSU bucket by Jotham Nweke with another long-range shot for his 11th point in the opening 14 minutes.  With Davenport leading 32-19, the Warriors tallied 13 of the final 21 points to trim their deficit to eight (40-32) at the break.

Jordan Briggs began the second half with a steal and a triple off a feed from Nweke to make it a five-point contest (40-35).

Davenport had a 3-2 scoring edge, before Nweke connected from long range to pull the Warriors within three at 43-40 with 15 minutes remaining.  

Over the next two minutes, the Panthers notched a 7-4 scoring advantage to lead by six (50-44), but Nweke's offensive rebound and lay-up followed by a defensive rebound and triple by Nweke cut the deficit to one (50-49) with 12:28 left.

After each team made two foul shots, Adam Ayrault scored off a feed from JaKobie Boose giving the Warriors their first lead since early in the game at 53-52.  At the other end, DU missed a pair of free throws and Ayrault drilled another trey from Boose.

On the ensuing series, Ayrault grabbed a defensive rebound which led to a triple from Briggs.  Just under a minute later, Paul scored on a lay-up and later split a pair from the charity stripe.  Boose connected on two foul shots to conclude the 13-0 spurt by Wayne State.  A Walker lay-up ended the run and trimmed the WSU advantage to 10 (64-54) with just over seven minutes remaining.

The Warriors led by 13 (69-56) on a shot from downtown by Ayrault, and never held an advantage of less than 10 the rest of the game.

Five WSU players scored in double figures led by Jordan Briggs with 18.  Jotham Nweke registered the first double-double of the season by a Warrior with 13 points and a game-best 14 rebounds.  JaKobie Boose contributed 14 points, with Carlos Paul III (13 points) and Cooper Craggs (12 points) also reached double digits.  Briggs dished out six assists, while Nweke and Briggs each had three steals.

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.