Men's Basketball 12/31/2018 2:00:00 PM Cameron Weidenthaler, Assistant Media Relations Director

Men's Basketball Returns to Action vs. NMU and MTU

Both games can be seen live on Comcast CN900.

DETROIT -- Wayne State returns to the court after a 25-day break as the GLIAC schedule resumes with Northern Michigan on Thursday night (7:30 p.m.) and Michigan Tech on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.).

THE SERIES
WSU leads 40-36 in the all-time series versus Northern Michigan. The teams began playing in 1935 and first met as GLIAC counterparts in 1976. The Wildcats lead the conference series 25-24, but the Warriors are 26-15 in home game. WSU won eight in a row from Dec. 18, 2008, until Jan. 25, 2014. Wayne State has won 12 of the last 15 matchups.

Wayne State leads 54-35 in the all-time series against Michigan Tech. The Huskies have won each of the last four contests, including two GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal matchups that ended the Warriors' season. WSU is 33-11 inside the Matthaei and 35-24 in GLIAC games. MTU has won three straight games in Motown.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Northern Michigan sits atop the GLIAC North Division at 8-3 overall and 3-1 in conference games. Head coach Bill Sall is in his sixth season with the program. NMU is powered by the duo of senior guard Naba Echols and senior forward Isiah Johnson. Johnson leads the GLIAC in scoring at 23.7 points per night, while Echols is second at 19.3 points per game. Junior center Myles Howard is pulling down a team-high 6.4 rebounds per contests and Echols is dishing out 4.5 helpers per game.

Michigan Tech begins 2019 at 7-4 overall and 2-2 in the league. Head coach Kevin Luke is in his 25th season leading the Huskies. He is without standout Kyle Monroe this season due to injury, but senior guard Bryan Heath is scoring 14.5 points per contest, while sophomore Dawson Bilski is averaging 12.9 points per game. Sophomore forward Trent Bell and freshman forward Jake Witt are tied for the team lead in rebounds at 6.1 boards per night. Sophomore guard Isaac Appleby is the team's primary distributor at 4.6 assists per game.

LAST TIME OUT
Grand Valley State bested Wayne State 95-62 on Dec. 8th. The Lakers led 44-25 at halftime and the Warriors were unable to mount a comeback as GVSU improved to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the GLIAC. Latin Davis, Jr. totaled a career-best 23 points, while Darian Owens-White tallied 16 points and Xavier Cochran finished with 12.

TOUGH SCHEDULE
Wayne State has played five (#1-Bellarmine, #2-Lewis, #7-Davenport, #8-Ohio Dominican and #9-Grand Valley State) of the top 10 teams in the Midwest region. Thursday night's game vs. NMU will mark the sixth time WSU has met a top 10 regional opponent. WSU's schedule ranks 31st nationally in terms of past opposition.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
Wayne State ranks 35th in Division II with just 113 turnovers (14.1 per game). Darian Owens-White ranks 37th nationally with his .467 three-point field goal percentage.

RIM PROTECTOR
Senior center Tristan Wilson has become one of the best shot blockers in program history. Wilson ranks 10th with 70 career blocks and his 1.2 blocks per contest is seventh best in the Wayne State record books. This season, he ranks fourth in the GLIAC in blocks per game (1.6). His 13 total blocked shots is fifth best in the league.

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 0-2 when he wears the dark grey, 0-3 in the tan, 0-1 in the light grey, 0-2 with the black sweater and 1-0 with his green vest. This includes the exhibition against Detroit Mercy.

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 rolled out a new look roster this season. Two transfers - Xavier Cochran (Albany) and Jacob Joubert (Detroit Mercy) - made their WSU debuts with Cochran playing in all eight contests and Joubert seeing action in seven games. Freshman Antonio Marshall also made his collegiate debut at ODU, and has appeared in all eight games. Freshman LJ DeWolf played his first career minutes vs. Lake Superior State.

HISTORICAL VICTORY
The men's basketball program won its 800th game (76-73 over GVSU on Nov. 30, 2017) as Wayne State University (1956-present). In the 102 years of basketball, WSU has won 1,229 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]).

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.

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Players Mentioned

#23 Ian Larkin: F; 6' 5"; Redshirt Sophomore

#4 Xavier Cochran: G; 6' 5"; Redshirt Junior

#32 Latin Davis, Jr.: G; 6' 0"; Senior

#3 Jacob Joubert: G; 6' 3"; Redshirt Sophomore

#1 Antonio Marshall: G; 6' 2"; Freshman

#14 Darian Owens-White: G; 6' 0"; Sophomore

#21 Tristan Wilson: C; 6' 9"; Senior

#30 LJ DeWolf: G; 5' 10"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#23 Ian Larkin
: 6' 5"; Redshirt Sophomore
: F

#4 Xavier Cochran
: 6' 5"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#32 Latin Davis, Jr.
: 6' 0"; Senior
: G

#3 Jacob Joubert
: 6' 3"; Redshirt Sophomore
: G

#1 Antonio Marshall
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: G

#14 Darian Owens-White
: 6' 0"; Sophomore
: G

#21 Tristan Wilson
: 6' 9"; Senior
: C

#30 LJ DeWolf
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: G