The NMU Men’s Basketball team is 8-8 on the season with an exact .500 record. Now with a road series with Purdue Northwest on the schedule to end the regular season, it will be their final chance to rack up some wins before the GLIAC Tournament begins.
NMU comes off a sweep of Davenport, winning both games by an average margin of 21 points per game. The Wildcats now have to turn the page to this weekend’s series against Purdue Northwest, and the Pride is also 8-8. NMU split its two meetings with PNWU last season, and the ‘Cats’ opponent has been constantly improving, Head Coach Matt Majkrzak said.
“[They are] very, very talented. They have been at the bottom of the league the last couple of years and played some young guys, now those guys are older. They’ve brought in some really good recruits,” Majkrzak said in his Zoom press conference on Monday. “They just keep getting better, keep getting more talented. They’re very, very big, talent-wise. I would say they’re right after Grand Valley and Ferris just with raw talent.”
Majkrzak continued to stay high on his team’s efforts over the weekend, especially on defense in the second game. But in order to win this weekend against the Pride, he added that’s it going to have to be like that again.
“It’s going to take a really good effort. We’re going to be undersized and we’re going to have to get back to defending like we did on Sunday [against Davenport],” Majkrak said “They do give you shots, and we have to make those shots.”
These two games could be the first of many in Hammond, Indiana for the ‘Cats, as the final eight teams in the GLIAC Tournament will be playing at Purdue Northwest’s campus. There’s even a scenario where the Wildcats would play there in the first round of the conference tournament on Tuesday, March 2.
“We head down there Thursday [February 25], and we might pack all of our stuff and just stay down. We could play at Purdue [in the GLIAC Tournament first round], the conference tournaments at Purdue. There’s a scenario where best case, we could just spend about two weeks in Hammond, Indiana- everyone’s dream,” Majkrzak said with a grin.
The Wildcats have two games left to cement its seeding in the postseason and set up its path for a run. The two games will be held on Friday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 27 at 4 p.m.
