ALLENDALE, Mich. – The No. 11 Grand Valley State Lakers look to remain alone atop the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as they welcome the second-place Michigan Tech Huskies tonight (Thursday, January 23) at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena. The game will be televised live on ESPN3 and on radio on ESPN 96.1 FM and the iHeart app.
 
GVSU has won five consecutive games, coming off a home win over Northwood and road victory against Saginaw Valley State, to sit alone in first place in the GLIAC. Jake Van Tubbergen earned GLIAC South Player of the Week for the fourth time this season for two impressive efforts, including a 20-point, 10-rebound game last Thursday for his ninth double-double of the season. The Laker defense continues to impress, they held Northwood to just 45 points, as they've now held GLIAC opponents to 70 points or fewer in 16 of the last 17 games, going back to last season.
 
"I was very happy with the way our guys played defense last weekend," said GVSU head coach Ric Wesley. "We really emphasized it in practice last week because I thought we were a little laxed the previous few games. To see the way our guys responded was really encouraging and hopefully that continues going forward."
 
That defense will certainly be tested Thursday night as one of the best offenses in the league comes to town. Overall, Michigan Tech is 13-4 this season with a 7-2 mark in GLIAC play. The Huskies have scored in triple digits in each of their last two games, they rank second in the GLIAC in scoring average (82.2) this season and lead the conference in field goal percentage (.498), three-point percentage (.420) and are second in free throw percentage (.765).
 
They're led by fifth-year senior Kyle Monroe, who averages a conference-best 21.1 points per game. He shoots 48.7% from the field and gets to the free throw line nearly five times a game; where he is an 82% shooter. Starting point guard Tommy Lucca missed last season due to injury, but has returned to once again be the maestro of the offense, averaging 10 points and seven assists a game.
 
Tech went 17-of-24 from three last Saturday to knock off nationally-ranked Ferris State and have knocked down 35 threes between their last two contests. Three of the top five three-point shooters in the league all hail from Houghton; Eric Carl (1^st - .559), Owen White (2^nd - .525) and Dawson Bilski (5^th - .473).
 
"This is going to be a unique challenge for our team in the number of pure shooters Michigan Tech has," Wesley said. "They've got maybe one of the best players in GLIAC history in Kyle Monroe and then they surround him with so many weapons. We're not going to really be able to help much defensively and everyone is going to have to take responsibility for their own man and be ready to guard both the perimeter and the drive."
 
With one of the league's best offenses pitted against one of the best defensive teams in the GLIAC, this should one of the most entertaining games of the season. The Lakers hope the home court advantage will help give them the edge. This is the penultimate game of the first half of the GLIAC schedule and GVSU wants to keep the momentum rolling.