The Upper Peninsula rivals square off at 3 p.m. with TV coverage on Fox-U.P. and radio coverage on WUPT 100.3 FM The Point.

Fans can also follow @NMUMensBBALL and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for continuous updates, while visiting the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and looking under the men’s basketball schedule provides links to ticket purchase information; a game preview, program and series history; and live statistics, video and audio.

The Wildcats, currently ranked No. 19 in the NCAA Division II national D2CSC poll, want to protect what is now a two-game lead in the GLIAC over second-place Ferris State. Working on an 11-game winning streak, Northern is 8-0 in the conference and 15-5 overall. Ferris (16-3 overall) improved to 6-2 in the GLIAC after defeating Wayne State 79-75 on Thursday and faces 3-5 Saginaw Valley State this afternoon.

Michigan Tech is tied with SVSU for seventh place in the league at 3-5 as the Huskies are 6-11 overall.

Northern Michigan University’s Carson Smith, left, gets around Northwood's Noah Pruitt during their men’s basketball game played at the PEIF Gym in Marquette on Dec. 19. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Wildcats head coach Matt Majkrzak eagerly anticipates the game.

“We only have one game this week,” Majkrzak said in an NMU Sports Information release previewing the game. “We can focus not only on Michigan Tech, but we can focus on ourselves.

“The hope is that in this week, we can make a jump and get better, which will propel us into (today) and the weeks ahead.”

NMU picked up a pair of close wins on the road last week, defeating Purdue Northwest 82-78 on Jan. 18 and Wisconsin-Parkside 61-58 last Saturday.

Northern erased a two-point halftime deficit against Purdue NW, then used a late 8-0 run to get past Parkside.

The Wildcats’ Brian Parzych scored 24 points and fellow guard Max Weisbrod 23 against Purdue NW, while Weisbrod put in 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting vs. Parkside as forward Sam Schultz added in 15 points and 13 rebounds for his seventh double-double this season.

Tech is 2-3 in the GLIAC on the road this season and has lost three of five, most recently 79-70 vs. Purdue NW last Saturday.

The Huskies score 71.5 points per game while allowing 74.0 ppg, and shoot 42% from the field and 36% on 3-pointers. MTU’s opposition 3-point shooting is the best in the GLIAC at 30%.

Sophomore guard Marcus Tomashek leads the Huskies offensively, averaging 22.5 ppg, which is also No. 1 in the conference and ninth in the nation. Pete Calcaterra is averaging 7.3 rebounds a game, ranking him third in the conference.

Here are some other facts about the Wildcats as gleaned by NMU SI:

• Not only are the Wildcats ranked No. 19 in the country, but are a unanimous No. 1 in the Midwest over their closest chaser, Ferris State;

• Northern’s 1.63 assist-to-turnover ratio is seventh in the nation;

• NMU scores at a 80.2 ppg clip and allows 71.1 ppg, the offense second in the GLIAC. The Wildcats shoot 48% from the field, including 35% on triples. Northern also has a plus-6.6 rebound margin per game and allows just 7.2 offensive rebounds, tops in the league;

• The ‘Cats are near the top of the conference in assist statistics, both creating and allowing, at 16.5 a game for themselves and 10.2 per game allowed, each ranked second in the league. And Tech’s 9.8 assists allowed is best in the GLIAC;

• NMU has had one of the stingiest defenses in the country during its 11-game winning streak, allowing just 62.6 ppg on 42% shooting;

• Five Wildcats have scoring averages in double figures — Dylan Kuehl, 16.6 ppg, third in the GLIAC; Weisbrod, 15.4 ppg; Parzych, 10.3 ppg; Carson Smith, 11.7 ppg; and Schultz, 10.5 ppg. Northern is the only conference team to have all five starters in double figures;

• Schultz leads the GLIAC at 10.2 rebounds per game, also 12th in the country. Averaging 10.5 points/game, he is one of 14 in Division II to average a double-double. His 203 rebounds in third in the nation.

• The Wildcats are 20-1 at the BEC since February 2022, their only loss an 82-77 setback on Jan. 19, 2023, to Grand Valley State;

• Long winning streaks are becoming habit for these Wildcats. In the 2021-22 season, Northern won nine in a row to make the GLIAC Championship game, while last season they rattled off eight straight. The current 11-gamer is two short of the program’s record 13-game win streak in 1984-85;

• Northern has won its last four games vs. Michigan Tech, most recently in last season’s GLIAC Championship game when Weisbrod and Kuehl each scored 14 points in NMU’s 79-66 win, its first conference tournament title in 23 years;

• Weisbrod has won the last two GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors, averaging 21.5 ppg over the last four games in those weeks. During that stretch, he has shot 53% from the field and is 15 of 27 (56%) from 3. This season, he is second in the conference with 52 3-pointers, second with 85 assists, and third with 4.3 assists a game;

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The Wildcats are 79-50 (.612) under Majkrzak in his fifth year. With 25 victories at Bryant and Stratton before he got to NMU, Majkrzak recently surpassed the 100 collegiate wins milestone in NMU’s victory at GVSU.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.