KENOSHA, Wis. – The Parkside men's basketball team is set to round out the regular season this weekend in De Simone Arena. The Rangers enter the final week tied for fourth place in the GLIAC with Northern Michigan and are vying for the chance to host the GLIAC Quarterfinals. Parkside will open the week on Thursday hosting Northern Michigan in De Simone Arena with a 7:30 p.m. CST tip. The Rangers will then close out the regular season hosting Michigan Tech with a 3 p.m. CST tip.
Quick Hits
- Parkside is coming off their first 0-2 week in GLIAC play since the opening week of conference play where the Rangers dropped road match ups to Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech back on December 5th and 7th.
- The Rangers are currently tied for fourth place in the conference with Northern Michigan. The Rangers need to go 2-0 over the weekend to outright clinch either the No. 3 or 4 seed. Parkside can go 1-1 over the week and still clinch a Quarterfinal host but would need help around the league with results.
Access this week's game notes
here.
Scouting Northern Michigan
The Wildcats enter the week tied for fourth in the conference with the Rangers at 11-7 in GLIAC play. NMU took on Michigan Tech and Roosevelt in their most recent outings, dropping to MTU 67-64 but bouncing back to beat Roosevelt in Chicago 75-68. The Rangers and Wildcats last met at the beginning of the conference season back in December, as Northern Michigan would have the upper hand in a 73-62 victory.
Northern Michigan's offense is led by Dylan Kuehl. He leads the Wildcats in ppg with 16.6 while shooting 49.8% from the field. The junior notably had 18 points in the first match up against the Rangers. Kuehl has also been averaging 24.5 ppg in his past four games played, including a season high outing of 31 points in the Wildcats loss to Ferris State.
On the defensive end the Wildcats have Gerald Gittens Jr. who has been leading the Wildcats in steals this season with 33. Kuehl has also been getting it done on the defensive end the Wildcats as well, pulling down a team leading 6.8 rpg.
Scouting Michigan Tech
The Huskies currently sitting at 15-3 in GLIAC play and at the top of the GLIAC standings. In last week's action MTU went 2-0 with an 67-64 victory over Northern Michigan and a dominate 82-56 victory over Roosevelt. The Rangers and Huskies haven't seen each other since the start of GLIAC play back in early December where the Huskies handled the Rangers 80-54 on their home court.
Offensively for Michigan Tech they are lead by GLIAC Preseason Player of the Year Marcus Tomashek. He is making a strong bid for the league player of the year award, leading the GLIAC in ppg with 23.2 while shooting 42.7% from the field. There is just one other Huskie averaging double digits in the scoring column in Ty Fernholz who sits at 10.4 ppg.
On the defensive end of the floor for they Huskies they look to Pete Calcaterra. The big man inside pulls down a team high 5.2 rpg. Tomashek follows closely behind at 4.1 per game. Gabe Smith also causes chaos defensively for Michigan Tech, leading the team in steals on the season with 30.
