Northern Michigan University head coach Matt Majkrzak talks to the Wildcats during a timeout in a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal men’s basketball game played against Purdue Northwest at the Berry Events Center in Marquette on March 6. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Can history repeat itself for the Northern Michigan University men’s basketball team?

The Wildcats sure hope it does for at least one round in the NCAA Division II Tournament when NMU opens in Indianapolis against a familiar foe, fellow GLIAC member Ferris State, on Saturday night.

Last year, Northern defeated Hillsdale in its NCAA opener 86-81 before bowing out in the second round 93-83 to McKendree in a Midwest Regional that was also played in Indianapolis.

Their appearance in the NCAA tourney last year was the Wildcats’ first since 2000 and the opening-round victory was their first win since 1999.

Northern would like to repeat the first-game success against Ferris, but then break the mold after that by picking up at least a second win in the nationals for the first time by an NMU men’s team since 1981. In that “way back” year, probably around the time many of the current Wildcats players’ parents were born, Northern dropped Wright State 70-69 and Western Illinois 93-87.

The second game would come on Sunday evening against either No. 1 seed and regional host Indianapolis or the team that would knock them off — No. 8 William Jewell.

Then it would take a third victory, which would come in the Midwest Region championship game, for NMU to equal its program-record total of 25 victories it set just last year.

The Wildcats enter the nationals at 22-10 having won the GLIAC regular season title with a 14-4 conference record. They advanced through the conference tournament opening-round quarterfinals on March 6 over No. 8 seed Purdue Northwest 71-63 to earn the host’s position for the semifinals and finals.

But they couldn’t take advantage of their home court and lost to No. 4 Grand Valley State 92-77 in the semis on Saturday. Ferris went on to beat GVSU in the championship game to earn the league’s automatic berth into the NCAAs.

Despite the Bulldogs’ sterling 25-7 overall record, the automatic berth may be something they needed as the No. 5 seed in the NCAA’s Midwest Region, which is how they were paired up with No. 4 seed NMU in the first round.

Like the NMU women who were also No. 4 in their own Midwest Region bracket, Northern plays the late game in each round, facing Ferris at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and if they win, playing the Indy-William Jewell winner at 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Indianapolis (22-8) and William Jewell (21-10) play their first-round game just before the Wildcats at 5 p.m. Saturday.

A second NMU victory would propel the Wildcats into the Midwest championship tilt at 7 p.m. Tuesday — the tourney takes a day off Monday so teams don’t have to play three consecutive days — against either No. 2 Kentucky Wesleyan, No. 3 Walsh, No. 6 Lake Superior State or No. 7 Upper Iowa.

Those four teams on the other side of the bracket play the earlier games each day. Fellow Upper Peninsula rival Lake Superior State (21-8) of the GLIAC takes on former GLIAC member Walsh (24-5) at noon Saturday, followed by Kentucky Wesleyan (21-8) squaring off against Upper Iowa (21-9) at 2:30 p.m.

Those winners play at 5 p.m. Sunday with a berth in the regional finale on the line.

Like with the women’s tournament, teams in the men’s Midwest Region come from three conferences — NMU’s own Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, along with the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Their basketball-playing members are located in Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois and Missouri.

NMU, LSSU and Ferris hail from the GLIAC; Walsh and Kentucky Wesleyan are from the G-MAC; and Indianapolis, William Jewell and Upper Iowa come from the GLVC.

Northern’s games in the tourney will be broadcast on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, including the opener that will be played at the same time as the women’s second-round game if that NMU team advances. The women’s game is scheduled for sister station WUPZ-FM 94.9 The Bay, according to its Radio Results Network website, www.rrnsports.com.

Fans can also follow @NMUMensBBALL and on X (formerly Twitter) and @nmu_mbb on Instagram for updates leading up to and during the tournament. Or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the men’s basketball schedule for links to a tournament page, a series preview and history, and live statistics, video and audio.

All of this buildup should be starting to become old hat for the Wildcats after their run in the nationals a year ago.

“Playing a familiar team, we know what they’re doing, they know what we’re doing, and it’s going to come down to who steps up and who makes plays,” Northern fifth-year head coach Matt Majkrzak said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the weekend.

In Northern’s first game in the conference tournament, the Wildcats used a run in the middle of the second half to pull away from Purdue NW as NMU sophomore Dylan Kuehl led the way with 27 points, making 13 of 17 shots from the field and not committing a turnover in 35 minutes court time.

Three days later against Grand Valley in another game that was just about even halfway through the second half, the Lakers did the pulling away to take a double-digit victory. GLIAC Player of the Year Max Weisbrod led Northern with 24 points, hitting 4 of 9 on 3-pointers and making four assists.

William Dunn scored 23 points and Britain Harris 20 for GV as teammate and Marquette Senior High School graduate Marius Grazulis added 14 points and two blocked shots.

Weisbrod, a sophomore, became just the fourth Wildcat named GLIAC Player of the Year and first since Cory Brathol in 2000. He was fifth in scoring among conference players at 17.1 points per game, but also second with 4.4 assists per game, second with 75 3-pointers, second with 2.8 triples per game, and fourth with 101 total free throws (out of 125 for 80.8%).

In his 15 conference games — he missed three contests late in the season due to injury when NMU lost two of them — he averaged 19.1 ppg, including a 21.8 ppg clip over the final 11.

Weisbrod had 22 games scoring in double figures, including his last 11 of the regular season. Among those highest scoring games, he reached at least 20 points 10 times, 25 points five times and 30 points twice, his top game 35 points with seven 3s in a 98-66 win over Michigan Tech on Jan. 27.

He was also Mr. Clutch, making 7 of 9 shots during games when the Wildcats either led by a single possession or trailed and were attempting a comeback with under two minutes remaining. The most memorable one may have been his buzzer-beating triple to beat LSSU at home, 72-71, on Jan. 11.

In his two seasons and 62 games at NMU, he has scored 906 points (14.6 ppg) with 293 assists (4.7 per game) and has made 41.7% on 3-pointers, 152 of 364.

Majkrzak won Northern’s other major GLIAC award, Coach of the Year, after leading the Wildcats to their first regular season title since 1992-93. He becomes NMU’s second GLIAC Coach of the Year, joining Dean Ellis in 1993.

Working around injuries all season that saw a stretch of multiple games with just eight players in the lineup, he led Northern to a program-tying longest win streak ever of 13 games, matching a mark first made in 1984-85.

Over five seasons, his teams have improved each year as he now has an 86-55 record (.610) and has attained a GLIAC Tournament title, GLIAC regular season title and NCAA Tournament victory.

Looking at Saturday’s opponent, Ferris State, the Bulldogs’ Vejas Grazulis — he’s the brother of Grand Valley’s Marius Grazulis and also an MSHS grad — was named tournament MVP with 26 points vs. Wayne State and 16 against GVSU in the championship game, an 87-76 win for FSU.

Ferris has the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio, 1.84, in the nation and is also in the top 20 with its plus-12.5 scoring margin, 50.0% field goal shooting and 77.8% free throw shooting.

The Bulldogs’ top three scorers are Ethan Erickson at 14.4 ppg, Ben Davidson at 13.4 ppg and Dolapo Olayinka at 12.1. Olayinka, who transferred from Northern in the off-season, also leads Ferris in rebounding at 5.3 per contest.

In their two games against each other spaced less than three weeks apart, the Wildcats defeated FSU 75-71 at home on Jan. 13 and 83-80 in Big Rapids on Feb. 1. In both games, Weisbrod led NMU scorers, getting 18 points in the first one, including three 3s and dishing out five assists, and 21 points in the latter, when he was 9 of 9 at the free throw line and had another six assists.

Here are some other Wildcat facts as gathered by NMU SI:

• NMU has played eight games against six teams in this year’s NCAA field — twice each against Ferris and LSSU (a 72-71 win at home on Jan. 11 and 74-68 loss in Sault Ste. Marie on Feb. 3), and once against another Midwest Region team, Upper Iowa, an 85-75 win at the JustAGame Crossover in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, on Nov. 11. The Wildcats also played teams from other regions — Minnesota State Moorhead, an 83-79 home loss on Nov. 25; Minnesota-Duluth, a 74-72 setback at home on Nov. 26; and Lubbock Christian, an 83-69 win at the Lubbock Tip-Off Classic in Lubbock, Texas, on Nov. 5.

• All five Northern starters have led the team in scoring multiple times — Kuehl and Weisbrod a dozen times apiece, Carson Smith five times, Brian Parzych three times and Sam Schultz two times.

• And those starters just missed having all five average scoring in double figures as Schultz finished at 9.9 ppg while leading the GLIAC in rebounding at 9.4 per game, good for 17th in the country.

• Kuehl was another GLIAC awards honoree, for the second straight year making both the GLIAC First Team (joining Weisbrod this year) and conference All-Defensive Team. Scoring at 16.2 ppg, Kuehl had four double-doubles, most notably a 30-point, 10-rebound game that also included six blocked shots in a 71-56 home win over Saginaw Valley State on Dec. 9. Over his two years and 64 games, he has 924 points, 403 rebounds, 117 assists and 68 blocks.

• NMU’s 1.71 assist-to-turnover ratio is No. 4 nationally, while the Wildcats are also top-50 with their 48.3% field goal shooting and plus-4.4 rebound margin.

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