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The Grand Valley State men's basketball team plays its third straight home game to start off the 2015-16 season, as the Lakers will welcome Olivet into Allendale for a 7:00 p.m. showdown on Friday night (Nov. 20). GVSU looks to stay unbeaten after a pair of home victories last weekend against a pair of in-region opponents.

Last weekend inside the Fieldhouse Arena, the Lakers started the season in style, as GVSU captured two important victories over teams from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC). In the season opener last Saturday (Nov. 14), Grand Valley State topped Quincy 76-67. The Lakers followed 24 hours later with a 63-57 victory over Missouri-St. Louis, scoring the final eight points of the game to move to 2-0 on the season.

This is the seventh time in head coach Ric Wesley's 12-year tenure at GVSU that the Lakers have started 2-0. Grand Valley State will look to improve to 3-0 for the fifth time during Wesley's time in Allendale. 

A couple of overriding themes from the first two games is GVSU getting to the free throw line and taking care of the basketball. Through two games, the Lakers have made 43-of-60 free throw tries - which is a 71.7 percentage - but their opponents have combined to shoot just 15-for-21 at the stripe. Grand Valley State has made more than double the free throws that Quincy and UMSL even attempted. GVSU also turned the ball over just nine times against Quincy and made only eight miscues against Missouri-St. Louis. 

Six Lakers are averaging at least seven points per game, with four GVSU players putting up double-figures in points. Three of the four double-digit scorers are guards, with senior point guard Aaron Hayes leading the way at 13.0 points per game. Junior Luke Ryskamp (at 12.0 ppg.) is close behind, while sophomore guard Myles Miller (11.5 ppg.) is also off to a great start.

Junior forward Trevin Alexander is averaging a double-double through two games, as the third-year player is posting 10.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, to go with a team-high seven steals.

This is thie third of seven straight home games for Grand Valley State to start the season, the longest such stretch to open a year in program history. 

GVSU is 4-2 all-time against Olivet, as the Lakers have won the last four meetings. The most recent match-up was in 2013-14, as Grand Valley State won the season opener with a 70-48 victory over the Comets in Allendale.

Olivet enters Friday's game with an 0-3 record. The Comets have lost to Trinity International, Trinity Christian, and Manchester, the last of which was an 84-75 defeat on Wednesday night. Senior forward Lee Gardner is averaging 28.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game for the Comets, as he has scored 38, 29, and 18 points, respectively, in Olivet's first three games.

After the Friday night matchup, Grand Valley State will take on Grace Bible next Monday night (Nov. 23) and Salem International next Saturday afternoon (Nov. 28) to close out the month of November.