Huskies & Wildcats prepare for FSU, GVSU
MARQUETTE – Whether it’s men’s or women’s basketball, things are certainly tight in the GLIAC North. From now until the end of February, the basketball teams at Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan will take on squads squarely from the GLIAC North Division.
The Huskies and Wildcats kickoff inter–division play this week with Ferris State and Grand Valley. NMU will start with the Lakers tomorrow, followed by Ferris State on Saturday. Michigan Tech gets the Bulldogs first, then the Lakers. Any way you look at the men’s or women’s standings, there’s no room for error with six weeks left in the regular season.
“Grand Valley is 6–2 and one game out of first place and we’re one game behind them,” said NMU women’s basketball head coach Troy Mattson. “We don’t want these teams to get away from us. (GVSU) has a lot of speed, a great transfer point guard from Wisconsin–Green Bay who’s playing extremely well, and they have some tough kids. We’ve already lost three games on our home court this year and that cannot happen again if we want to make a run for a championship.”
“Ferris comes in with three different players in double figures,” said MTU women’s basketball head coach Kim Cameron. “Every position is capable of scoring. Their post play is really, really good. Their guard play has done a wonderful job and there just a threat from each of their different positions.”
“They (Ferris State) crash the boards. They’re averaging 14 offensive rebounds and their transition game is awesome. Those are two areas that we are going to have to be really good at to get ourselves a chance in our own gym,” said Huskies men’s basketball coach Kevin Luke about the Bulldogs. “Their point guards are well seasoned– one is a senior and the other is a junior. They don’t have any weaknesses, so we’ve got to be ready with our systems and challenge them.”
NMU takes on GVSU Thursday beginning with the women’s game at 7:30 p.m. The men’s game takes place at 7:30 p.m. Michigan Tech battles FSU at the same times in Houghton.