The Grand Valley State Lakers begin a five-game road swing with the longest trip of the regular season, traveling to the upper peninsula to face Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) foes Michigan Tech on Thursday (Jan. 17) at 7:30 PM and the Northern Michigan Wildcats on Saturday (Jan. 19) at 3:00 PM. The Lakers have won back-to-back games to get to 11-5 on the year and 5-3 in GLIAC play.
 
The Lakers are coming off their best defensive performance of the season, holding Northwood to just 60 points, including only 25 in the second half, to win their final home game of January. The Lakers are currently tied for third place in the league, but three through ten are separated by just two games, so the Lakers will need to weather the storm of this long road trip with the air-tight conference.
 
Hunter Hale has caught fire from deep as of late, knocking down 11 threes over the last three games and leading the team in scoring in each of those contests. He is currently second in the GLIAC in made three-pointers on the season and has moved into fifth in the conference in scoring average (17.3). Jeremiah Ferguson also had a bounce-back week at home, recording 11 combined assists and scoring in double figures in both contests from his point guard position.
 
Isaiah Brock had a career-high 10 rebounds on Thursday then recorded five blocks on Saturday as he anchored the Lakers stout defense in the two wins. Kindred Williams, who has resurfaced a lethal midrange jump shot, gave the Lakers solid minutes off the bench while Jake Van Tubbergen neared a double-double Saturday in a bounce-back game after fouling out in each of the previous two.
 
The Lakers open their road stint with the team furthest away in the conference, heading to Houghton, Michigan to take on the Michigan Tech Huskies. The Huskies are 8-7 on the year and 3-5 in the GLIAC, but are 4-2 on their home floor, where they are always difficult to beat. A defensive-minded team this season, Michigan Tech is averaging 63.5 points and scoring at a .416 clip, both of which rank last in the conference, but they have the second-best scoring defense (62.4 points) and field goal defense (.392) in the league.
 
The Lakers lead the league in field goal percentage (49.9), so this matchup will pit the most efficient offense with one of the best defensive teams in the league in what should be another grind-out battle.
 
The Lakers will then head over to Marquette, Michigan for a date with the Northern Michigan Wildcats. The Wildcats also enter this week 8-7 overall and 3-5 in GLIAC play, but have two of the best scorers in the league, with Isaiah Johnson (21.7) and Naba Echols (18.1) ranking first and second respectively in the GLIAC. Despite those two, the Wildcats still are averaging just 73.3 points per game, which is eighth in the conference. Still, the Lakers will need to shut down the potent Wildcat guards to earn a road win to wrap up the weekend.
 
The Lakers aim to start their five-game road swing on a positive note. Both of this weekend's games will air live on ESPN 96.1 FM and the iHeart app and GVSULakers.com will provide links to live video and stats while @GVSUBasketball provides live Twitter updates.