PREVIEW: Huskies remain on the road this week

HOUGHTON, Mich. - Traveling to Purdue Northwest Thursday and Wisconsin Parkside Saturday, Michigan Tech men's basketball continues on a five-game road trip this week. The Huskies have won three straight and remain in second place in the GLIAC North Division standings. Both of this week's games can be heard on Mix 93.5 WKMJ.

LAST TIME OUT

• Timely shooting and final minute guile helped Michigan Tech edge Northern Michigan 64-62 in men's basketball Monday night at Berry Events Center. The lead changed hands 12 times, but the Huskies prevailed to take a 2-0 regular season sweep over the Wildcats.
• The Huskies defeated Northern Michigan in similar fashion in Houghton on January 6 after a late comeback by the Wildcats fell one point short 77-76.
• Four players made it to double-figures for Michigan Tech, including Hobson with 13 points, five rebounds, one steal, and one block. Owen White also tallied 13 points and passed five assists. Carter Johnston and Eric Carl each totaled 12 points and Trent Bell finished with eight. Johnston led the team with seven rebounds.

GLIAC RANKS 

• Points - 72.6 (9th)
• Points Against - 64.9 (1st) [28th NCAA Division II]
• Rebounds - 33.9 (8th)
• Assists - 16.2 (3rd)
• Steals - 7.2 (3rd)
• Blocks - 3.1 (7th)
• Field Goal Percentage - 47.3 (3rd)
• 3-Point Percentage - 37.7 (2nd)

SCOUTING THE PRIDE

• Anthony Irvin (Chandler, Ariz./Corona Del Sol) scored a career-high 28 points to lead Purdue Northwest (5-15, 2-10, GLIAC), but it wasn't enough in Saturday's nine-point road loss to Grand Valley State (13-5, 7-4 GLIAC). The Lakers came out on top by a score of 89-80.
• Purdue Northwest scores 77.3 points per game and allows 83.9 points to their opponents.
• Junior guard Mikell Cooper posted 34 points against Davenport and leads the team in points (14.4 ppg). Six-foot-seven-inch combo guard Anthony Barnard scores at a rate of 13.9 points with a team-high 6.8 rebounds.
• Michigan Tech took the first game of the season series 83-55 over the Pride on January 8. Eric Carl led the Huskies with 22 points and went 6-for-7 from beyond the arc.
• Boomer Roberts is in his fourth year as head coach. Roberts guided PNW to its best finish in the GLIAC last season after leading the Pride to an increased win total in each of his first two campaigns.
• The Pride qualified for the GLIAC quarterfinals but fell to Michigan Tech in their home gym last season 74-63.

SCOUTING THE RANGERS

• Wisconsin Parkside (10-9, 7-5 GLIAC) is fresh off wins over No. 19 Grand Valley State and Davenport. Sitting in third place in the GLIAC North Division, the Rangers are two games behind Michigan Tech for the second spot. Parkside will see Northern Michigan Thursday night in Kenosha prior to hosting the Huskies.
• Wisconsin-Parkside averages 74.7 points per game and allows 72.4 points to their opponents. Redshirt senior Tray Croft (Annison, Alabama) leads the team and the conference at 19.9 points per game. Croft started just nine games in 2020-21 but led the team with 15.5 points per outing. Croft is notably a 92-percent free throw shooter and connects on 46-percent of all attempts. The Huskies will need to be aware of Croft's defense as well (34 steals in 19 games). 
• The Rangers rebound by committee but redshirt junior combo guard Brandon Hau (Mukwonago, Wisconsin) heads the category at 5.6 rpg. Redshirt freshman forward Jamir Simpson is right behind (5.4 rpg). 
• Luke Reigl has been on staff for 22 and 2021-22 is his 19th as head coach. Last season the Rangers finished fifth in the GLIAC with an even 9-9 record. Their last trip to the NCAA Region Tournament was in 2016-17 as a member of the GLVC.

WHITE WATCH

• All-American combo guard Owen White ran into early foul trouble Monday night, which contributed to only two points in the first half against Northern Michigan. He rebounded in the second for a total of 13 and passed a team-high five assists. White ranks seventh in the conference in points per game (16.9) shooting 48-percent overall and 36-percent from the 3-point arc.
• Last season, White earned GLIAC Player of the Year, All-GLIAC Defensive Team, and CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team.
• He scored a career-high 33 points against Ashland in the GLIAC Tournament Championship and surpassed 1,000 career points against Grand Valley State on March 5. He has six games of 20 or more points in 2021-22.

COACH BUETTNER AT THE HELM

• For 27 seasons, Kevin Luke led the Huskies as head coach. Luke announced his retirement in April after amassing 471 career victories. He is the school's all-time winningest coach. Longtime assistant coach Josh Buettner was named head coach one day later after serving 13 seasons as assistant coach and one as associate head coach. Buettner (a former Husky all-American player) hired Ben Stelzer as assistant coach. Stelzer is another former all-American for the Huskies (2011-15) and played basketball professionally in Spain before beginning his coaching career.

PRESEASON POLL

• Michigan Tech men's basketball was selected to finish first in the GLIAC North Division this season the league announced Tuesday in its preseason coaches poll.
• The Huskies begin the regular season as defending North Division Champions with four of five starters returning, including CoSIDA All-American combo guard Owen White.

North

1. Michigan Tech 56 (6)

2. Ferris State 55 (5)

3. Parkside 34

4. Lake Superior State 32

5. Northern Michigan 25

6. Purdue Northwest 23

South

1. Grand Valley State 49 (9)

2. Wayne State 42 (2)

3. Davenport 31

4. Saginaw Valley State 20

5. Northwood 18

HUSKIES AT A GLANCE

• With returning All-American combo guard Owen White and four starters back in the fold for 2021-22, Michigan Tech men's basketball hopes to again reach the NCAA Midwest Region tournament, where they fell 65-62 to Truman State in the Championship game last spring. The Huskies finished 15-8 overall, including 12-6 in the GLIAC North Division and took second place in the conference tournament.

LAST YEAR RANKS

• Last year, the Huskies ranked ninth in the conference in scoring (67.9 points), second in defense (63.7 points against), second in 3-point percentage (37.4-percent), and 10th in rebounding (31.3 rebounds). Tech began non-conference play with a pair of games in the Lewis Tournament November 12-13. After facing a trio of Northern Sun opponents (Minnesota Crookston, Minnesota Duluth, and St. Cloud State), the team started GLIAC action at Northwood on December 4. The Huskies have a pair of four-game win streaks this season.

NORTH DIVISION PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Tray Croft - Parkside

• Redshirt senior Tray Croft (Anniston, Ala.) led the Parkside men's basketball team to two road wins over teams with winning records, including a win over No. 19 Grand Valley State on Thursday. Croft averaged 28.0 points, 4.5 assists, 2.0 steals, 2.0 rebounds over the two wins, and scored 15 straight points to help Parkside pull away from GVSU in the final minutes.
• He was extremely efficient, going 19-of-29 from the floor, 7-of-13 from deep and a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. 

SOUTH DIVISION PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Delano Smith - Saginaw Valley State

• Senior guard Delano Smith (Novi, Mich.) led SVSU in scoring in games against Ferris State and Lake Superior State, first finishing with 20 points, seven rebounds, and three steals in the 82-71 loss to the Bulldogs on Thursday night. On Saturday against the Lakers, Smith scored 26 points on 11-of-20 shooting. He also added five rebounds and three assists, helping SVSU earn the 79-67 victory.

HONORABLE MENTION 

• NORTH: Walt Kelser (FSU), Anthony Irvin (PNW)
• SOUTH: Ramelle Arnold (NU), Marcedus Leech (DU), Darian Owens-White (WSU), Jake Van Tubbergen (GVSU)