STORYLINES
Wayne State will attempt to find the win column for the first time this season on Saturday against Lewis.  The Warriors will host the Flyers in the third of five non-conference games slated for the 2018-19 campaign.

THE SERIES
WSU trails 5-7 against Lewis in the all-time series.  The teams have met every year dating back to 2009.  The Flyers have won four of the last five meetings and WSU's last victory in the series came on Nov. 26, 2016, when Wayne State won 74-70 in overtime inside the Matthaei.  The Green & Gold are 4-1 at home in the series.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS
Lewis will play its third GLIAC opponent in four games to open the season.  The Flyers topped Michigan Tech (74-53), before falling to Northern Michigan (77-59) in Marquette, Mich.  Lewis handled Benedictine, 86-79 on Tuesday night.  Head coach Scott Trost is in his 13th season and has led the Flyers to at least the GLVC quarterfinals in each of the past 12 seasons and helped Lewis to four NCAA Tournament appearances.  Fifth-year guard Kendale McCullum has led the team in scoring and rebounding through three games, averaging 17.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest after transferring from Parkside.  He is also the team's top distributor at 5.7 assists per night.  Senior forward Delaney Blaylock is scoring 14.3 points per game and has connected on 5-of-14 three-point attempts.  Lewis was picked to finish third in the GLVC behind Bellarmine and Drury.

LAST TIME OUT
The Warriors fell to 0-2 with a 77-67 loss to Lake Erie at home on Nov. 11th.  Wayne State trailed by 10 at halftime and was able to trim the deficit to six on three occasions during the second half, but was unable to come any closer as the Storm held on for a 10-point victory.  Darian Owens-White led the WSU offense with 15 points, while both Antonio Marshall and Karim Murray tallied 14 points, and Xavier Cochran finished with 10.  Murray also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.

HEAD COACH LONGEVITY
Head coach David Greer is in his 18th season as the top man on the Warriors' bench.  He equals the school record for years as head men's basketball coach in 2018-19, joining Newman Ertell (1929-48) and Joel Mason (1948-66) at 18 years on the WSU bench. 

COLLEGIATE AND WSU DEBUTS
After five seniors graduated from the 2017-18 roster, Wayne State would roll out a new look roster this season.  Two transfers have made their WSU debuts as Xavier Cochran (Albany) and Jacob Joubert (Detroit Mercy) both appeared in the season opener at Ohio Dominican.  Freshman Antonio Marshall also made his collegiate debut at ODU.

SEASON OUTLOOK
WSU will need to find a way to replace three 1,000-point scorers as Chuck Key, Marcus Moore and Ronald Booth all graduated.  In addition, George Spencer, who averaged over 11 points per game as a senior, also graduated.  The Warriors won 15 games during the 2017-18 campaign, including a 10-5 mark at home.  However, a home quarterfinal loss ended the postseason run earlier than expected.  Senior guard Latin Davis, Jr. and junior guard Karim Murray will be looked to for offensive production.

In addition, sophomore point guard Darian Owens-White returns after playing in 25 games a season ago.  Senior center Tristan Wilson has his sights set on a healthy season after missing much of the last two years due to injury.

PRESEASON POLL
Wayne State University was selected to tie-for-fourth in the GLIAC South Division in the annual GLIAC Preseason Coaches Poll.  The Warriors received 27 points, which was the same as Saginaw Valley State.

Ashland is the preseason favorite to win the South Division, earning 60 points and 10 first-place votes, while Grand Valley State is picked to finish second with 51 points and two first-place votes.  Davenport was tabbed for third with 36 points.  Reigning national champion Ferris State is predicted to win the GLIAC North Division with 59 points and nine first-place votes.  Northern Michigan was the runner-up in the North Division poll with 47 points and three first-place votes.

HISTORICAL VICTORY
Last season, the men's basketball program won its 800th game (76-73 over GVSU on Nov. 30th) as Wayne State University (1956-present).  In the 102 years of basketball, WSU has won 1,228 games (first 60 as Detroit Junior College [1918-23], 120 as College of the City of Detroit/CCD [1924-34], and 235 as Wayne University [1934-56]).

SWEATER VEST COLOR
Head coach David Greer makes an important decision every gameday on what color his sweater vest is going to be.  We will track this throughout the season.  So far, the Warriors are 0-1 when he wears the dark grey, 0-1 in the tan and 0-1 in the light grey.  This includes the exhibition against Detroit Mercy.

COMCAST/XFINITY
Every home men's basketball game in 2019 will be aired live throughout the state of Michigan on Comcast/CN 900.  Sean Baligian (play-by-play), Rod Beard (analyst) and Joe Abramson (sideline) will call the action.

LIVE ON WDTK
Kevin Brechmacher will call every contest live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Former Warrior standouts Ian Larkin and Mike Lewis will serve as analysts during home broadcasts during the 2018-19 season.  Fans can also stream the action online at PatriotDetroit.com.