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MARQUETTE — The GLIAC recognizes quality when it sees it.

Not “recognizing” as in being aware of it, but as in honoring it.

The perfect example is men’s basketball player Dylan Kuehl of Northern Michigan University, who was recognized as the GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday for the second time in the past three weeks.

Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, center, gets fouled as he goes up for a shot during a GLIAC men’s game played against Wisconsin-Parkside at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Dec. 7. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

This time, Kuehl led the Wildcats to a pair of road victories, defeating Davenport 60-52 on Thursday and Grand Valley State 78-70 on Saturday.

Those triumphs extended the team’s winning streak to seven along with records of 4-0 in the conference and 10-2 overall.

The redshirt junior had game highs of 19 points and eight rebounds to go with a pair of blocked shots against DU, then followed it up with 21 points against GVSU, tying his career high by making four 3-pointers in just six attempts. Against the Lakers, he also had four rebounds, three steals and a block.

The Iron Ridge, Wisconsin, native has scored in double figures in 11 of NMU’s 12 games, including each of the last 10, when he’s been averaging 17.0 points per game while making at least five field goals and grabbing at least four rebounds. He’s also shot over 50% in nine of his last 10 contests, according to a news release from NMU Sports Information about the honor.

In an interesting twist, Kuehl is second in the GLIAC in scoring for conference games at 18.5 ppg, even while his scoring average in all games of 15.8 ppg only ranks him eighth in the league.

Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, right, goes up for a shot during the Wildcats’ exhibition game played against NCAA Division I Michigan State on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, at the Superior Dome in Marquette. The exhibition, called the Superior Dome Showdown, drew more than 11,000 spectators and in part honored Spartans’ longtime head coach Tom Izzo, who played for the Wildcats and graduated from NMU in the 1970s. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Also in GLIAC games, Kuehl is third in shooting percentage at 52.0% and seventh in 3-pointers with 2.3 per game. In those league games, he’s also tied for eighth in three other per-game categories — 6.5 rebounds, 1.0 blocked shots and 35.0 minutes played.

In all games, Kuehl is second in the conference in field goal percentage at 53.4%, 10th in blocked shots at 0.7 a game and eighth in minutes at 30.2 each outing.

NMU has two home games at Vandament Arena over the next week on a bit of an unusual schedule for the GLIAC. Northern hosts Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, a game to be telecast on Fox-U.P., then entertains league newcomer Roosevelt at 7:30 p.m. Monday.

Women’s games precede each at 5:30 p.m. those days, with that MTU game also on Fox-U.P.

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