Preview: Hot Huskies home at last

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Men's basketball is finally back in Houghton after leveling five straight wins on the road since February 15. The Huskies host Ferris State Friday and Saturday at 5 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively. Mitch Lake will provide play-by-play on Mix 93.5 radio and via livestream. 

LAST TIME OUT: Tuesday night, the Huskies defeated Northern Michigan 61-52 in Marquette. It was the conclusion of three games in five days, which began with a sweep of Lake Superior State 79-74 and 83-70. In each instance, the score remained close well into the second half, but MTU pulled away late. Owen White led the team with 18 points against the Wildcats and Dawson Bilski had 13 points and four rebounds. Trent Bell also contributed with 15 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. After a slow start, Tech shot 42-percent, along with 38.5-percent from the 3-point arc. Despite the narrow win, coach Luke called the performance, "a tough outing," and lamented his team's lack of rhythm on offense.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: The Huskies will likely see a motivated Bulldogs squad and the team picked to win the division in the annual pre-season coaches' poll. Despite a somewhat underwhelming 3-4 (4-6 overall) start, Ferris State should not be under-estimated. The Bulldogs have conference victories over Ashland, Wisconsin-Parkside, and Northern Michigan so far and Senior guard Walt Kelser ranks second in the GLIAC with 22.5 points per game He is shooting 46-percent from long-range through eight games.

The Bulldogs score 66.1 points per game with 34.5 rebounds and 15.6 assists. Ferris fell 80-69 to Lake Superior State Tuesday night in Big Rapids, Michigan. LSSU outscored FSU 42-36 in the second half. Kelser marked 23 points. Deng Reng and Grazulis finished with 11 points each. Last season, Ferris State went 27-6 overall, 16-4 in the GLIAC. They were upset in the conference quarterfinals 70-69 by Northern Michigan.

Ferris State ranks 40^th in NCAA Division II in assist to turnover ratio. They have 156 assists and 133 turnovers for a positive 1.17 margin.

Head Coach Andy Bronkema has been at the helm since 2013 and led the Bulldogs to four-straight GLIAC Tournament Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances from 2015-18. The team earned yet another NCAA Division II National Tournament berth last year.

BILSKI REACHES MILESTONE: Dawson Bilski needed just two points Tuesday night to reach the 1,000 point mark as a Husky. He wasted little time and made a layup just three minutes in to become the 30^th player in program history to achieve the feat. Bilski's story began at Powers North Central High School in Powers, Michigan, where he led his prep team to three state championships. He played all 29 games and started nine for the Huskies as a freshman with 4.4 points per game.

As a sophomore, Bilski broke out and poured in a career high 25 points against University of Wisconsin-Stout. After 27 appearances, he earned 2^nd team all-GLIAC and GLIAC player of the week. Last year, Bilski was integral to the team's success again and was named All-GLIAC first team with 31 starts. He ranked second on the squad with 14.6 points per game and finished second in the conference with a 48.1-percent 3-point shooting percentage.

Bilski played alongside the Huskies all-time leading scorer Kyle Monroe, who closed out his career in 2019-20 with 2,542 total points. 

NOTABLE RANKS: The Huskies cracked the NCAA Division II Midwest regional rankings two weeks ago at No. 6 and moved up to No. 5 in the latest poll with 24 votes. The teams ahead of MTU include Truman State (10-1), Missouri-St. Louis (9-2), Findlay (9-1), and Hillsdale (9-1). The last time the Huskies were ranked Nationally was December 2, 2014.

Owen White ranks No. 1 in the GLIAC with 22.6 points per game. White posted a season high 29 points in a win over Lake Superior on January 22 and has scored 20 points or more in three of his five outings so far. White's shooting percentage is also impressive at 56.2-percent. He sits firmly atop the 50-percent barrier in 3-pointers with 11 makes on 22 attempts.

Eric Carl leads the GLIAC in 3-point percentage. Carl has made 17 of 30 from long range (56.7-percent) over eight contests.

As the saying goes, defense wins championships and the Huskies appear well on their way for a chance to prove it. Surrendering just 63.3 points to opponents, Tech ranks 10^th in NCAA Division II for the category. Mercyhurst is the top defensive team in the country and they give up a stingy 53.2 points per contest. Mercyhurst already defeated Ferris State twice this season. 

MTU is 40^th in Division II for field goal percentage. The Huskies have gone 147-for-367 on all field goals, rounding out a percentage of 47.4.

CATEGORY LEADERS:

Points – Owen White, 22.6 ppg.

Rebounds – Trent Bell, 7.5 rpg.

Assists – Carter Johnston, 4.4 apg.

Blocks – Trent Bell, 1.1 bpg.

Steals – Dawson Bilski, 1.3 spg.

GLIAC AT A GLANCE: The Huskies (6-1) hold the best record in either division by a two-game margin. In the North, Tech leads Wisconsin-Parkside (4-3), Lake Superior State (3-4), Northern Michigan (3-4), Purdue Northwest (3-4), and Ferris State (3-4). Four teams are tied for the south division No. 1 spot at 4-3. 

North Division player of the week Redshirt-senior Tray Croft exploded for a career-high 30 points, leading the Rangers to a 76-63 road win over GVSU, one of the best teams in the GLIAC. Croft was on fire on Saturday, going 11-for-15 from the floor and 7-of-9 from beyond the arc, both of which were career highs in makes. He also averaged 5.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game for Parkside.

Jack Ammerman led Northwood to a pair of wins over Wayne State for player of the week, averaging 19.0 points per game. He shot 58.3 percent from the floor overall and 60.0 percent from 3-point range. He scored a season-high 25 points in Friday's 74-67 victory. In Saturday's 67-66 win, Ammerman scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. His final basket came with .8 seconds remaining on a buzzer-beating three-pointer from the corner to give NU the weekend sweep.