SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State men's basketball program (7-10, 6-3 GLIAC) is set to face their Upper Peninsula rivals when they take on the Northern Michigan Wildcats and the Michigan Tech Huskies for a pair of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) games on Thursday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Bud Cooper Gymnasium.  

The Wildcats are currently holding a record of 15-4 (7-2 GLIAC) which has them sitting atop the GLIAC standings going into Thursday's contest. Northern Michigan came away with the victory when the two programs last faced off on Dec. 11, but the Lakers will be looking to stay out of foul trouble in order to split the season series. Offensively, the Wildcats have the Preseason GLIAC Player of the Year, Max Bjorklund, leading the team with 20.6 points per game, the top mark in the league. Bjorklund has also been named to the Top 100 Watch List for the Bevo Francis Award, this award is presented annually to the player who has had the finest overall season within Small College Basketball. 

The Huskies currently hold a record of 4-14 (1-8 GLIAC) which has them sitting at the bottom of the conference standings, but they are still capable of catching a team off guard, as shown in their 69-68 upset victory over Ferris State in which Marcus Tomashek scored a game-winning free throw with two seconds remaining. They are led offensively by Dan Gherezgher and Tomashek scoring an average of 11.5 and 11.2 points per game, respectively, to pace a balanced offense.