GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport University men's basketball team (14-13) is the No. 8 seed for the 2022 GLIAC Tournament and will face top-seeded Ferris State (21-7) in Big Rapids on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. The two teams' quarterfinal matchup will be their third meeting of the season, all of which will have happened in just a month's time, the first two of which were won by the home team.

•    "Momma, there goes that man.": Redshirt-senior point guard, Chris Rollins, was named GLIAC South Player of the Week for the third time in his career and second time this season on Monday. The honor comes after Rollins averaged 17.5 points per game in a four-game week for Davenport, all of which were wins for the Panthers. Rollins led DU to its second four-game winning streak of the season and got better as the week progressed with point totals of 14, 17, 19, and 20. The Detroit native scored the game high in two of those four games in SVSU on Thursday and WSU on Saturday. Against the Warriors, Rollins reached the 20-point mark for the 19th time in his career (leads the team) and fourth time this season (ties the team lead).

•    The "D" Stands for Defense: Before the four-game winning streak that Davenport rides into the GLIAC Tournament, the Panthers were giving up 77 points per game on defense. During these four wins in a row, they've allowed just 65 per game and gotten back to the .500 mark in true road games at 6-6.Ferris State boasts the best scoring offense in the league at 87.3 points per game, nearly eight points better than Northern Michigan in second place, and Davenport's scoring defense ranks eighth in the conference at 75.1 points per contest.

•    Scouting the Bulldogs: Four of Ferris State's seven losses this season have come in the last three-plus weeks, a stretch that began with the Panthers defeating the then-ranked No. #15 Bulldogs, 75-73, in Grand Rapids on the night of Feb. 7. Davenport didn't fare well immediately following that game either as it lost the next three in a row, all of which were at home. However, the Panthers have since righted the ship with four-straight wins heading into the GLIAC Tournament, which ties their longest winning streak of the season.

Ferris State has lost three consecutive GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal games, the first two of which were at home. Those three losses include an 89-73 defeat to Northern Michigan in 2019, a 70-69 loss to the Wildcats again in 2020 and a 100-85 upending by Ashland in 2021 (played in Hammond, Ind.).

Ferris State is paced by the potential GLIAC Player of the Year, Walt Kelser, and his 18.2 points per game, which is good for third in the GLIAC. He's one of five Bulldogs averaging at least 11 points per contest along with Dorian Aluyi (12.6), Ben Davidson (12.1), Lee Higgins (12.1), and Logan Ryan (11.3). Kelser, Aluyi, Higgins, and Jimmy Scholler have started all 28 games for Ferris State while Ryan has made the start in 27 of the 28 (Vejas Grazulis started one game). Aluyi is the team's top rebounder with 7.9 per game, which is tied for fourth in the league, and Scholler is third in the conference in assists per game with 4.5.

•    #15 Ferris State 91, Davenport 74 (Feb. 3): Aside from a tie under two minutes into the game, Ferris State led wire to wire and was up by as many as 20 before the final 17-point margin. The first two times Ferris State pushed its lead to seven points in the first half (9-2 and 19-12), Davenport battled back within one point (11-10 and 19-18). With just under four minutes to play in the half, the Bulldogs' lead was three, 32-29, before they ended the period with a 9-2 run to go up by 10, 41-31, heading into halftime. Out of the break, Davenport scored 21 points to Ferris State's 16 and cut the deficit to five, 57-52, at the 12:29 mark. The Bulldogs responded with five points in a row to stretch their advantage back to double-digits and didn't look back.

•    Davenport 75, #15 Ferris State 73 (Feb. 7): The Panthers snapped the Bulldogs' nine-game winning streak and handed them their first GLIAC loss of the season. The first half saw a total of seven ties and eight lead changes before Ferris State went into the locker room up two, 38-36. Following the game's eighth and final deadlock at 38-38, the Bulldogs' Lee Higgins hit a fast-break triple that gave his team the advantage for the final time, 41-40. The Panthers responded by going ahead as many as eight at 56-48 and 64-56, but the Bulldogs weren't done quite yet. Ferris State battled all the way back and cut the margin to one, 72-71, with just 43 ticks remaining. At the 21-second mark, Jairus Stevens made an emphatic dunk over Ferris State's Logan Ryan, was fouled in the process and completed the three-point play to make it 75-71 in favor of the good guys. On the other end, the Bulldogs' Walt Kelser missed a three-point attempt and Ferris State's last two points came on a Ryan layup at the final buzzer.

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