Preview: Men’s Basketball closes at Wisconsin-Parkside

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The regular season wraps up this week for Michigan Tech men's basketball, but not before they travel to Kenosha to face Wisconsin-Parkside (9-7) Friday, February 26 and Saturday, February 27. Tipoff is at 4 p.m. EST both days. After a split with Grand Valley State, the Huskies are in a battle for first place in the GLIAC North Division with Wisconsin-Parkside, who remains just one game behind. This season, all 12 teams qualify for the conference tournament, but the top four seeds earn a bye on March 2, the first day of the post-season.

CARL CREATES: Junior guard Eric Carl has started every game and leads the team in 3-pointers per game (2.9). In his last three games, Carl amassed 46 points and shot better than 50-percent each outing. He has 11 games of 10 points or more, including a season high 24 points on February 5 against Saginaw Valley State.

WHITE WINS PLAYER OF THE WEEK AGAIN: Michigan Tech junior guard Owen White claimed GLIAC North Division Player of the Week honors for the second time this year. 

In three games over the past seven days, White combined for 72 total points and 21 rebounds and the Huskies went 2-1. Tuesday night, White scored 22 points in a win over Northern Michigan and shot 9-for-14 (64-percent) from the field with four 3-pointers on seven attempts. Friday night, White posted 20 points with seven rebounds over his team high 33 minutes on the court. White was especially impressive in Saturday's road victory over Grand Valley State. 

He tallied a career high 30 points (11-for-23), including a pair of threes and went 6-for-7 from the free throw line. White also narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. He has nine games of 20 or more points this winter and double-figures in all 14 games played.

Owen leads the Huskies and ranks second in the GLIAC with 21.3 points per game. The Rhinelander, Wisconsin native earned GLIAC North Division Player of the Week for the first time on January 19, 2021. 

JOHNSTON LEADS THE CONFERENCE: Carter Johnston picked up his second career 10 assist game against Northern Michigan last Tuesday. He leads the GLIAC with 90 assists (5.6 assists per game), already better than double his total of 35 a year ago. 

SCOUTING THE RANGERS: The Huskies will be tested against a solid Wisconsin-Parkside (9-7) team coming off a road split with Lake Superior State. The Rangers most impressive victory of the season came in 68-64 fashion against Wayne State (11-4) on February 12. Wisconsin-Parkside scores 70.1 points per game and allows opponents to score 67.0 points.

Redshirt senior guard Tray Croft leads the Rangers with 15.3 points per contest and 5.1 rebounds. Croft is back with a vengeance after missing all but five games last season due to injury after transferring to the team from Upper Iowa. Top bench option Vinson Sigmon Jr. leads the league in 3-point percentage at 51.1-percent.

Luke Reigel is in his 17^th season as head coach and 20^th overall with the University. He has assisted the Rangers to six NCAA tournament appearances and five division titles, including one in the GLIAC. Last year, Wisconsin-Parkside finished 6-14 in the GLIAC, 10-18 overall and ended the year on an 11-game losing skid. The Huskies split the season series with the Rangers and each team won inside their home gym.

STAT LEADERS:

Points: Owen White, 21.3 PPG (No. 2 GLIAC)

Rebounds: Trent Bell, 7.3 RPG (No. 10 GLIAC)

Assists: Carter Johnston, 5.6 APG (No. 1 GLIAC)

Blocks: Trent Bell, 0.9 BPG (No. 6 GLIAC)

Steals: Trent Bell, 1.2 SPG (No. 10 GLIAC)

OTHER NEWS AND NOTES:

• The NCAA Division II men's basketball selection show is scheduled for Sunday, March 7 at 10:30 p.m. via NCAA.com web stream
• Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament seeding format can be found HERE.
• Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament Fan Policy and Format can be found HERE.