HOUGHTON, Mich. – The GLIAC regular season championship defense for the No. 14 nationally-ranked Michigan Tech men's basketball team begins this weekend on the road, traveling to Roosevelt on Thursday and Parkside Saturday.
The Huskies will tipoff against the Lakers at 8:30 p.m., followed by a 4 p.m. start at the Rangers.
Watch The Huskies
All home and GLIAC games will be streamed on FloCollege. Michigan Tech fans can watch all home and conference games in volleyball, basketball, football and soccer with one subscription. FloCollege provides each subscriber with access to all content and events with the purchase of a monthly or yearly subscription. Subscriptions are offered in two different billing packages - monthly and annual. Discounts are available for students enrolled at GLIAC member and associate member institutions. You must subscribe with a .edu email address to be eligible. FloCollege is available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast.
About the Lakers
Roosevelt has struggled in non-conference play to start the season 0-4, with its closest contest coming at Northwood (92-82) on Saturday.
Three players reach double-digit scoring averages for the Lakers, led by transfer guard Jalen Windham, producing 22.5 points on 46.3 percent from the field with a season-high 32-point outing against Upper Iowa. Guard Dante Sawyer shoots 46.5 percent from the field for 15 points while adding a team-high 1.5 steals. Taylor Kaleim chips in 11.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in his first season with the Lakers.
Davon Smith-Johnson leads the team with 5.5 rebounds to go with 1.3 blocks and 1.3 steals.
Roosevelt was tabbed to finish 11th in the GLIAC under fourth-year head coach Dee Brown.
About the Rangers
Parkside has won three-straight games after dropping its season-opener to Upper Iowa for a 3-1 record overall.
The Rangers rank first in the GLIAC in field goal percentage (49.5) and free-throws made per game (21.3) while ranking second in scoring offense (84) and blocks per game (4.5).
Guard transfer Luka Mateski paces the Rangers offense with three games of over 20 points for an average of 19.3 points and 5.3 rebounds. Senior guard Paxton Warden produces 18.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 50 percent from 3-point land. Senior forward Fawaz has neared a double-double in all four games, averaging 11.8 points and leads the team with eight rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game.
Josiah Palmer chips in 9.3 points and a team-high 4.8 assists per game.
Long-time head coach Luke Reigel is in his 23rd season at the helm of the Rangers, who were predicted to finish third in the league.
About the Huskies
No. 14 nationally-ranked Michigan Tech, the defending 2024-25 GLIAC Champions, enters the opening weekend of conference play with a 6-1 standing through the opening slate of non-conference play with notable wins over then-No. 3 Dallas Baptist and then-No. 19 Lenior-Rhyne, including a 2-0 record against NSIC foes and a 1-1 standing against GLVC opponents. Most recently, the Huskies enjoyed a 92-56 victory over Lakeland for their home-opener on Saturday.
The Black & Gold rank second in the league in scoring defense (62.4 points) and steals per game (10.0) with the third-best field goal percentage defense (39.0) and 3-point attempts per game (25.1).
The Huskies are producing 68.9 points on 42.1 percent shooting while averaging 38.7 rebounds and 12 assists per game. All-American guard Marcus Tomashek leads the team with 19.5 points while adding six rebounds and two assists. Veteran guard Nate Abel adds 5.4 points with a team-high 6.4 rebounds and 2.6 steals. Sophomore Ty Fernholz produces 9.7 points off the bench with 19 3-pointers made this season.
Gabe Smith chips in eight points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.6 assists as Nordgaard posts 7.7 points on 72.7 percent from the field to go with 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists. Sophomore big man Grant Warren leads the team with 1.4 blocks and 2.7 rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.
One Last Thing
With a 6-1 record through the first seven games of the season, the Huskies are off to their best start since the 2010-11 season, where the Black & Gold won nine games before suffering their second loss of the season.
