STORYLINES
The Warriors will play their first home games of the season on Friday and Saturday when Davenport visits the Matthaei.  Friday's contest is scheduled to tip-off at 6:00 p.m. with Saturday's series finale slated for a 2:00 p.m. start.  Wayne State is looking to reverse its home court luck this season after going 2-8 last season in Detroit, while posting a 5-9 tally on the road.

THE SERIES
Wayne State trails 2-4 in the all-time series against Davenport.  The Panthers have won four straight after the Warriors won the first two meetings in 2017 and 2018.  WSU is 1-2 at home in the series after DU won last year's contest in Detroit by a 73-65 score.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Davenport (19-12, 11-9 GLIAC in 2019-20) returns its top three scorers from a year ago, as well as 2018-19 First-Team All-GLIAC performer Avery Hudson (14.0 career PPG).  Those top three scorers from a season ago are Chris Rollins (13.7 PPG, First-Team All-GLIAC, GLIAC All-Defensive Team), Evan Hines (13.2 PPG) and the team's top rebounder, Tafari Beckford (11.2 PPG and 6.7 RPG).  Head coach Burt Paddock is in his 13th season leading the DU program.

The Panthers dropped a pair of games at home to Northwood (75-51 and 66-56) to begin the season.  Redshirt senior center Scott Ulaneo (Seattle and Hawaii Pacific transfer) is averaging 14 points per game and six rebounds per contest, while Rollins is at 10.5 points per night.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State led the entire time to begin the season in a 87-76 win at Lake Superior State last Friday.  The Warriors won at Cooper Gymnasium for the first time since February 23, 2012 (six consecutive setbacks).  In his first game action since February 28, 2019, Owens-White totaled a team-high 23 points, along with five rebounds.  The 23 points were two shy of his career-high (scored 25 against Grand Valley State on February 1, 2019).  Brailen Neely contributed 14 points as did Ray Williams, Jr.  Antonio Marshall added 12 points giving WSU four players in double figures.  Avery Lewis and Marshall tied for team-high honors with nine rebounds a piece.

The Lakers responded on Saturday and won 75-64 despite a 36-33 WSU halftime advantage.  WSU ended the first half on a 23-6 run, but LSSU would outscore the Warriors 42-28 in the second stanza to seal the victory.  Avery Lewis tallied a team-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from both the field and the foul line.  Antonio Marshall contributed 14 points, while Darian Owens-White (12 points) and Jackie Harris (10 points) each scored in double figures.

WSU BACKCOURT
The guard duo of Brailen Neely and Darian Owens-White should be fun to watch this season.  Neely was a First Team All-GLIAC honoree last season and Owens-White was a Second Team selection in 2018-19 before missing the 2019-20 season due to an injury.

Neely averaged 19 points, 7.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game last season and Owens-White poured in 16.7 points per night along with 2.9 assists per contest, while shooting nearly 47 percent from behind the arc in 2018-19.

A KEY COG
As noted above, Brailen Neely was a key part of the WSU offensive attack last season.  He either scored or assisted on 53 percent of the made field goals in 2019-20 by the Warriors.

ROSTER DEPTH
The Green & Gold roster will be the largest in a long time and will look to assist Neely and Owens-White in bettering the seven wins from a season ago.

Owens-White finishing the Laker series with 35 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Neely added 17 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists.

The lineup will be bolstered by redshirt sophomore Avery Lewis, who missed all of 2019-20 due to GLIAC transfer rules, plus the addition of transfer Jackie Harris from Oakland University.

Lewis totaled 26 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in the two games at Lake Superior State, while Harris contributed 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Two-year letterwinners Antonio Marshall and LJ DeWolf are also back in the fold, along with a trio of players who earned their first WSU letter a season ago.  Sophomores Nate Talbot and Kylin Grant saw significant playing time last year.  Junior Kris Garrett and junior college transfer Cortez Jackson add further depth to the roster.

Two true freshmen in Mike Robinson and Ray Williams, Jr., will also look to push for playing time.  Williams played 59 minutes in the opening weekend totaling 19 points and nine rebounds, while Robinson made his collegiate debut in the second game at LSSU.

BENCH SCORING
It was a welcome sight to see WSU's bench carrying the weight in the season-opening win with 28 points, which is 10 more than the Warriors received last year from non-starters.

The Green & Gold followed that with 17 points off the bench during Saturday's contest.

UNIQUE SCHEDULE
The 2021 Wayne State University men's basketball schedule will feature 18 GLIAC contests.

The GLIAC was divided into two divisions with each school playing the other five divisional opponents twice (two at home for a weekend; two on the road for a weekend; along with a home-and-home series with its travel partner).  Each institution will play four of the six opponents in the other division (two at home for a weekend; two on the road for a weekend) for 18 games.

GREER BACK FOR 20th SEASON
Head coach David Greer is in his 20th season as the top man on the Warriors' bench.  He surpassed the school record for years as head men's basketball coach last season. The previous mark was held by Newman Ertell (1929-48) and Joel Mason (1948-66) at 18 years on the WSU bench.

HOME OPENERS
The Warriors are 12-7 in home openers under Coach Greer.  WSU won the first 10 but have gone 2-7 since.

WARRIOR ALL-ACCESS
Every home basketball game this season will be streamed live for free with play-by-play provided by Kevin Brechmacher.

LIVE ON WDTK
Kevin Brechmacher will call every contest live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Fans can also stream the action online at PatriotDetroit.com.