Michigan Tech’s Josh Terrian, right, gets a hand on the face of Northern Michigan University’s Julien Smith, causing him to lose the ball at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Thursday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team looks to bounce back from a big home loss to Michigan Tech when it hosts GLIAC newcomer Roosevelt in an unusual Monday conference game at 7:30 p.m. today at Vandament Arena.

Following the 88-65 loss to the Huskies on Thursday that snapped a seven-game winning streak, the Wildcats are 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the GLIAC, technically in fourth place after being idle on Saturday. Upper Peninsula rivals MTU and Lake Superior State are both 5-1 in the league after wins Saturday, while Ferris State leads at 6-0.

Today’s game will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 The Point, and can also be watched online at the FloSports app. Or follow @NMU_MensBBALL and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during the game. Fans can also visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the men’s basketball schedule for links to live video, live statistics, ticket information, the game program and a preview and the series history.

Like NMU, Roosevelt’s last game came against Michigan Tech, its game on Saturday in Houghton where Tech also prevailed 82-59.

Despite Thursday’s loss when the Huskies blistered the nets in the first half, Northern still has the stingiest scoring defense in the GLIAC at 66.4 points per game, also a top-25 national mark. The Wildcats also allow a league-low 30.2 rebounds a game and has a plus-6.2 rebounding margin each game vs. GLIAC squads.

And NMU is second in the league at 7.62 steals per game, with Gerald Gittens Jr. with 1.5 and Biggie Luster at 1.3 steals per game each in the best seven in the conference.

Dylan Kuehl, coming off his GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week for the first week of January, averages 16.1 ppg, seventh in the league, and had 20 points and six rebounds vs. MTU. In just GLIAC games, Kuehl averages 18.8 ppg for third, also his ranking in field goal percentage at 54.8%.

Julien Smith is second for NMU averaging 12.4 ppg. He has been NMU’s go-to player in the clutch, making 8 of 10 shots from the field when the Wildcats are in a 10-point or closer game in the final four minutes.

Sam Privet at 9.9 ppg, Gittens at 8.5 ppg and Brian Parzych at 7.3 ppg round out a well-balanced starting five.

Roosevelt is just 4-9 overall and 1-4 in the league, also 1-4 on the road overall.

Forte Prater and Enari Thomas lead the offense and present one of the best 1-2 punches in the nation. Prater is at 20.6 ppg and Thomas at 19.2 ppg as the conference’s top two scorers.

The Lakers average 72.6 ppg while giving up a GLIAC-high 80.0. The 3-point line has also been a struggle so far, as they shoot a GLIAC-low 30.8% while holding the second-worst opponent 3-point percentage at 36.4%.

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