HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Grand Valley State men's basketball team looks for a second straight win as they hit the road for a pair of contests in the Upper Peninsula this week, beginning tonight (Jan. 20) against Michigan Tech at the SDC Gymnasium. The game can be heard live on 1340 AM The Ticket (www.theticketmi.com) while @GVSUBasketball on social media will provide all live coverage links and in-game updates.
 
The Lakers enter the contest 10-3 overall and 4-2 in GLIAC play while the Huskies are 10-4 overall and 6-2 in the conference. GVSU leads the all-time series, 46-44, but are just 3-7 in the last ten after dropping two of the three meetings last season, including the GLIAC Tournament semifinals, as the Huskies went all the way to the Midwest Region championship in the final season of legendary head coach Kevin Luke.
 
This season's Lakers have relied heavily on the post-play of Jake Van Tubbergen and Christian Negron. Van Tubbergen is the only player in the GLIAC to rank in the top five in points per game (17.7; 5th), rebounds per game (10.2; 1st) and field goal percentage (.598; 4th) while Negron ranks second in FG% (.697), fourth in rebounding (7.8) and leads in both total blocks (27) and blocks per game (2.1).
 
But the three-point shot has been steadily improving, making the Lakers an increasingly dangerous offensive threat as the season builds towards crunch time. The Lakers went 7-10 from three in the first half last Saturday and finished with 12 made threes for the game, the most against a Division II opponent this season in the lopsided win against Lake Superior State. The Lakers are shooting over seven points higher from three in their wins (36.8%) than their losses (29.7%) and the three-point shooting has improved every month, shooting 31.6% in November, 35.3% in December and 41.9% so far in January.
 
Michigan Tech is no stranger to the three-point shot themselves, knocking in 132 at a .368 clip this season (for comparison, the Lakers have made 90). They average 72 points a game, relying heavily on that long-range shooting, while playing stingy defense to a GLIAC-best 65.5 points allowed. The Lakers allow the second-fewest (67.4) after facing two of the top-three offenses in the conference last weekend.  
 
"It seems like every time we play Tech, it's the first team to 60 (points) wins," head coach Ric Wesley said. "They are always physical and fundamentally sound and make you work for every bucket. We have to be ready for a 40-minute brawl, particularly at their place, and find a way to win."
 
Owen White is averaging 16.6 points and over five rebounds a game. He's one of three Huskies averaging double figures, all of whom have hit at least 25 threes this season. Eric Carl has 12.1 points a game with a team-high 36 threes while Adam Hobson scores 11.9 with 30 triples. Trent Bell is a veteran post presence, averaging 9.8 points and 7.5 rebounds with 11 blocks.  The Huskies as a team have 130 steals and protect the ball well with 230 assists compared to 170 turnovers for the season.
 
The long road trip pits the Lakers in another tight matchup that should be fun from wire-to-wire. Join Jake Levy for the live radio call on 1340 AM and www.theticketmi.com and follow @GVSUBasketball for live links and in-game updates from the SDC.