GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport men's basketball team (8-2, 2-0 GLIAC) is off to their best start since the 2018-19 season when they captured the GLIAC regular season championship. To this point in the season, Davenport has played to the No. 125 strength of schedule out of 298 NCAA Division II schools. The gauntlet of the GLIAC restarts this week and moving forward the Panthers will have the No. 49 strength of schedule. The Panthers will play a pair of 11-1 teams that are also 2-0 in the GLIAC as they travel across the Mackinac Bridge to face Northern Michigan (Jan. 1) and No. 5 Michigan Tech (Jan. 3). This will be the toughest challenge to date for a hungry Panther squad who will be well rested having not played since Dec. 20 in a big win over Findlay to improve to 6-0 at home this season. Davenport has won five straight games, while NMU has won 10 straight and MTU has won nine in a row entering this week.

The victory over Findlay was the team's best win to date as the Oilers entered the game with an 8-3 overall record. The main stat in this one was free throw shooting. Davenport made 24-of-32, while Findlay was 10-of-11. Ken Walker went a perfect 12-of-12 at the charity stripe to set his career high for free throws made. Nathan Cox is the only other Panther to make 12 free throws in 12 attempts and did that back on Jan. 26, 2008 against Madonna. Walker became the seventh different player to shoot 100 percent at the line in a game with at least 10 attempts. Dylan Smith had a great week in the wins over Grace Christian and Findlay with back-to-back, double-doubles. He had 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds against Grace Christian and followed that with 18 points and 11 boards against Findlay. The Davenport defense has made the greatest stride since last season. They have shot a better percentage from the floor in all 10 games this season. In fact, they currently lead Division II in field goal percentage defense (36.4) and defensive rebounds per game (33.8).

Scouting the Opponents
Northern Michigan (11-1, 2-0 GLIAC)
• The Wildcats are receiving votes in this week's top 25 Division II poll and are one spot from cracking the top 25. NMU is riding one of the nation's best win streaks at 10 games. Northern Michigan and Davenport are both 2-0 in the GLIAC and the Panthers will look to snap a six-game skid in Marquette. The Wildcats have been stingy on defense all season, but particularly in their last five wins allowing just 46 points per game. They last competed on three straight days (Dec. 18-20) at the Puerto Rico Clasico.

• The Wildcats do several things very well, but nothing better in Division II than dishing the ball and limiting turnovers. They lead Division II with a 1.91 assist-to-turnover ratio. They also clamp down on defense allowing 38.3 percent shooting which is 13th in Division II. NMU also leads our division in scoring defense (57.3) and rebound margin (14.3). Dylan Kuehl has emerged as an All-American candidate as he leads his team in scoring (16.1), rebounding (6.3), assists (3.6), and blocks (0.8). Cal Klesmit is second on the team in scoring (13.9), while connecting on 44 percent from the arc.

Michigan Tech (11-1, 2-0 GLIAC)
• The Huskies have ascended to No. 5 in Division II on the back of a nine-game win streak entering the new year. They opened the season turning some heads with wins over then No. 3 Dallas Baptist (75-70 OT) and then No. 19 Lenoir-Rhyne (66-65 OT) at the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. MTU recently stormed through the competition at the Florida Tech Christmas Classic on Dec. 19-20 with wins over Florida Tech (64-52) and Lynn (105-67). The Huskies scored a season high in points against Lynn and made 23-of-43 from behind the arc to set a school record for three's made.

• Reigning GLIAC Player of the Year and NABC All-American senior guard Marcus Tomashek from Green Bay, Wisconsin, set a school record with 11 triples against Lynn and earned GLIAC Player of the Week honors before the holiday break. He is closing in on a remarkable feat needing just 30 points to reach the 2,000-point plateau. He is the active Division II leader in career points, which includes 268 three-pointers. He ranks second behind Ken Walker of Davenport  (23.2) in the GLIAC this season averaging 20.1 points per game. Michigan Tech ranks in the top 5 in Division II in field goal percentage defense (36.8), scoring defense (58.8).

Live Coverage
Thursday, Jan. 1 - Northern Michigan (Marquette) - 7:30 PM (Live Video ($) - Live Stats)
Saturday, Jan. 3 - Michigan Tech (Houghton) - 2:00 PM (Live Video ($) - Live Stats)