MARQUETTE, Mich. – Two more wins.
Two more wins are all it will take for the Northern Michigan men's basketball team (23-5, 14-4), now ranked No. 18 nationally, to secure at least a share of the GLIAC regular season championship as well as the No. 1 seed for the upcoming conference tournament.
To do that, the Wildcats will welcome two teams to Vandament Arena in the final week of the regular season. First, NMU will focus on the Roosevelt Lakers (4-21, 3-15) who will be in town on Thursday, Feb. 26. Opening tip is set for 7:30 p.m.
In the regular season finale and Senior Day, the Wildcats will host the Parkside Rangers (11-14, 6-12) on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 3 p.m.
If the Wildcats can string together two victories, they will claim their fourth GLIAC championship (two being GLIAC tournament titles) in the past four seasons, cementing a legacy on the winningest senior class the program has ever seen. Those four that will be recognized on Saturday are:
Aidan Bellisle,
Sam Privet,
Jackson Dudek, and
Dylan Kuehl.
Each game this weekend will also be streamed on FloCollege and can also be heard live on 100.3 The Point, with Casey Ford on the call.
Follow the Action
Follow @NMU_MensBBALL and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly known as Twitter) and @nmu_mbb on Instagram for updates throughout the weekend.
About the Wildcats
The Wildcats rose to No. 18 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Poll after picking up a pivotal 70-64 victory against Michigan Tech at home followed by a 75-53 road win at Ferris State. Now at 14-4 in the conference, NMU is tied with MTU and one game ahead of GVSU. NMU would hold a potential tiebreaker over the Huskies based off each team's regular season record against GVSU.
Earlier this season in December, the Wildcats defeated Parkside 82-78 and Roosevelt 85-64.
As he has throughout his career,
Dylan Kuehl is one of the most well-rounded players in all of DII. He recently broke the 2,000 career points threshold, becoming just the fourth Wildcat to ever hit that mark. In GLIAC games, he is first in scoring (22.1 ppg) and field goal percentage (56.9%), third in blocks (1.4 bpg), 11th in rebounds (6.2), and 14th in assists (2.6). He has scored in double figures in every DII game this season and has scored 20 or more points in five of the past six.
Kuehl was named to the Bevo Francis Top-50 Watch List and the Trevor Hudgins Award Top-25 Watch List.
The Wildcats have established themselves as one of the most efficient teams in the nation, as they are second in rebounding margin (10.7) and assist/turnovber ratio (1.8), fifth in scoring margin (17.8), and 14th in both scoring defense (64.2) and three-point percentage (38.5).
NMU's success from beyond the arc is in large part thanks to
Cal Klesmit, who is second in GLIAC play with 3.0 threes per game and first in shooting 45.4% from deep. Over 18 conference games, he is 15th at 13.3 points per game. He can take over a game from three, notching five or more triples eight times this season.
Jackson Dudek is also averaging double figures this season at 12.2 points per game. His 43.5% career three-point percentage is seventh among all active players with at least 80 attempts.
A Look at Roosevelt
The Lakers are 4-21 this season, but they're 2-10 record away from home should not be taken lightly. Those two wins are at Purdue Northwest, where NMU lost just a few weeks ago, and at then-No. 24 Upper Iowa. Roosevelt does have both the lowest-ranked offense (67.7) and defense (80.6) in the GLIAC this season.
With that, the Lakers have a trio that can fill it up in a hurry. Hamahrie Bowers (16.4), Mikey West (14.7), and Dante Sawyer (13.1) are all top-15 in the GLIAC in scoring, the only team that can say that.
A Look at Parkside
The Rangers are vying for a spot in the GLIAC Tournament—sitting at 6-12—they are one game back of three teams holding positions 7-9 entering the weekend. They are 2-8 on the road this season, with a GLIAC win at Davenport. The offense averages 74.0 points per game while allowing 74.6 on the defensive side.
Paxton Warden (18.8) is fourth in the GLIAC in scoring, followed closely by Luka Mateski at 16.4. Josiah Palmer (3.2 assists per game) and Fawaz Surakat (2.0 blocks per game) are each top-5 in the GLIAC in the category mentioned.
