Men's Basketball | 12/14/2016 1:21:00 PM

DETROIT -- After dropping its season opener, the Wayne State University men's basketball program (7-1, 4-0 GLIAC) have won seven straight games and will close the calendar year against Ohio Dominican (6-3, 2-2 GLIAC) on Thursday night with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

STORYLINES
WSU is the lone GLIAC program without a league loss after going 2-0 on the road last week, including a win at Ashland, which had not happened since Dec. 3, 2011.  The current seven-game winning streak for the Green & Gold is its longest since the 2012-13 team also won seven straight.

THE SERIES
WSU leads 7-3 in the all-time series against ODU.  The Warriors won the first six contests beginning in 2010 before the Panthers won three straight from Jan. 17, 2015, to Jan. 16, 2016.  Wayne State won the most recent contest, 55-51, in Detroit on Feb. 6, 2016.  WSU is 4-1 at home in the series.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Panthers are 6-3 overall and 2-2 in conference games after splitting against Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech last week.  Head coach Dan Evans is in his third year after spending the previous six seasons as an assistant coach at Hillsdale.  Three players are averaging at least 10 point per night, paced by freshman forward Hasari Varence's 13.2 points per game.  Varence is also the team's top rebounder, collecting 7.7 boards per contest.  Junior guard Shemar Waugh leads the roster with 4.6 assists per contest.  As a team, ODU is scoring 75.3 points per night and allowing 70.7 points per matchup.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State claimed its seventh straight victory last Saturday afternoon with a 61-56 triumph at Ashland.  Wayne State scored the first four points on a lay-up by Marcus Moore and a jumper by Chuck Key.  WSU again led by four (10-6) following a lay-up by Clark Bishop, but the Eagles answered with an 8-0 run to grab a 14-10 advantage.  AU had an eight-point margin (28-20) after a fast-break lay-up by Nick Bapst with 3:10 remaining before halftime.  The Warriors ended the first half on an 8-2 run to cut their deficit to two (30-28) at intermission.  At the beginning of the second half, there were two ties in the first minute, before a triple by AU's Boo Osborne put the hosts in front 35-32.  A 9-2 run by Wayne State over the next 2:26 gave the Warriors a four point lead (41-37).  Bishop had two buckets during the spurt, while Key added a jumper and Ronald Booth hit a three-pointer.  Wayne State's lead remained between six and nine points for the next seven minutes, until Eagle Drew Noble sank a pair of foul shots with 4:49 left to make it a five-point contest (56-51).  A jumper by George Spencer pushed the advantage to seven (58-51) with 3:44 left.   The Warriors led by six (59-53) with 1:19 remaining after Booth split a pair from the charity stripe.  Osborne drained a long-range shot with 21 seconds left but Key answered with a dunk in the final 11 seconds to complete the scoring.

COACHING MILESTONE
With the win on Dec. 3rd over Hillsdale, David Greer became the winningest coach in the 99 years of Wayne State men's basketball.  He passed his predecessor Ron Hammye's mark of 212 victories, which he collected in his 13 seasons (1988-01).

FAST STARTS
After beginning the 2014-15 season 0-4 and the 2015-16 campaign 0-5, the Warriors are off to a fast start at 7-1 (also won at Detroit Mercy in an exhibition matchup). Wayne State began the 2013-14 season 5-1, 2012-13 season 5-1, 2011-12 season 8-1, and the 2010-11 season 9-1.

WINNING STREAKS
The longest current winning streaks in Division II is Angelo State's 11-game streak. San Francisco State has a 10-game winning streak, while four programs are winners of nine consecutive contests.  With a win on Thursday, WSU would join 10 other teams as winners of eight straight contests.

WHO TO WATCH
Junior Chuck Key continues to be one of the best scoring forwards in the league after scoring 34 points (17 PPG) in the two road wins last week.  For the season, he is averaging 13.0 points and six boards per game, while shooting nearly 58 percent (48-of-83) from the floor.

THREE-HEADED ATTACK
Three Warriors have had at least 20 point-games this season as Ronald Booth (Three Times), Marcus Moore  (vs. Lake Erie) and Chuck Key (vs. Hillsdale) have all accomplished this feat.

STATEMENT WIN
The win at Ashland on Saturday was the first road win against the Eagles since Dec. 3, 2011.  WSU had lost four straight inside Kates Gymnasium.

OVERTIME STRUGGLES
The 74-70 overtime win against Lewis on Nov. 26th was the first overtime victory since a 69-64 triumph at Grand Valley State on Feb. 1, 2014, after losing four consecutive OT games.  WSU did not play an overtime game last season and is 4-7 during the past four seasons in such games.

DIVISION SWITCH
Wayne State began league play earlier this month and returned to the North Division amongst the majority of its in-state rivals.  WSU and Hillsdale trade spots in each division every two years.  Last season, four of the eight GLIAC Tournament teams came from the North.

DEFENDING THE MATTHAEI
Under Coach Greer, the Warriors have been very tough to beat at home.  WSU is 132-66 (.667) inside the Matthaei over the last 16 seasons including a 4-0 mark this season.

CAN THEY KEEP IT UP?
The solid shooting by the Green & Gold has obviously powered its 7-1 start but WSU is on a historic pace in terms of the program's record book.  Currently, Wayne State is shooting at a .493 clip, which would be the highest since the 1993-94 team shot nearly 52 percent.

NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA stats release, WSU ranks 11th in scoring defense (63.3), 30th in winning percentage (.875), 39th in field goal percentage (.493), 45th in opponent field goal percentage (.409) and 50th in turnovers forced per game (16.75).  Ronald Booth ranks 47th nationally in steals per game (2.25) and 53rd in minutes per game (35:22). 

COMCAST/XFINITY
Every home men's basketball game beginning in 2017 will be aired live throughout the state of Michigan on Comcast CN 900.  Sean Baligian, Rod Beard and Joe Abramson will call the action. 

LIVE ON WDTK
Kevin Brechmacher will call every contest live on the radio on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Fans can also stream the action online newstalk1400.us.  Joining Kevin for home games will be WSU alum Kendall LeSure, who played at Wayne State from 2000-04 and scored 1,068 points during his career.