But if the Wildcats can get by No. 1 seed Michigan Tech at the Huskies’ gym in Houghton, the task may be easier in the championship game on Sunday afternoon back at MTU.

As the lowest surviving seed after Wednesday’s opening-round quarterfinals, NMU has to face the semifinals and finals host Huskies at noon today. The other semi pits No. 2 Lake Superior State and No. 3 Ferris State afterward.

If Northern can get past today’s game, Sunday’s matchup will be a neutral-site contest against a team next to or almost next to it in the final league standings.

As it is, the Wildcats are the No. 4 seed with 20-9 overall and 13-7 league marks. Tech won the regular season at 17-3 and is 23-6 overall, LSSU is 16-4 and 26-5 and Ferris is 14-6 and 25-7.

Northern Michigan University’s Brian Parzych, left, sinks this 3-pointer over Grand Valley State’s Jalen Charity during their GLIAC Tournament men’s basketball quarterfinal round game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Today’s — and the Wildcats hope Sunday’s — game is available online to watch at FloHoops, while it will also be carried on radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point. Sunday’s game might be on a sister radio station as the GLIAC women’s final that Northern could also be involved in will overlap with the men’s.

Fans can also follow @NMU_MensBBALL and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) for updates leading up to and during games, or visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the men’s basketball schedule for links to live video, live audio, live statistics, game previews and series histories.

After losing three games in a row in mid-February, Northern has won its last four, including Wednesday’s 85-72 home victory over tourney No. 5 seed Grand Valley State during the midweek blizzard.

With all four combatants left in the conference tourney sporting 20-plus-win records, this is the first time in NMU men’s history that the Wildcats have strung together three consecutive 20-win seasons.

The 20th win Wednesday came through a fast start as Northern took a 40-23 halftime lead and overall pretty much shot the lights out, making almost 60% of their overall shots (30 of 51, 59%) and nearly 50% on 3-pointers (13 of 27, 48%).

Despite that, no NMU players scored 20 points; instead, five players reached double figures, led by Jackson Dudek with 17 points on 3-of-5 shooting of 3-pointers and 7 of 9 overall from the field.

Teammate Brian Parzych added 14 points, making 4 of 5 triples, as Julien Smith had 13 points and Sam Privet and Gerald Gittens Jr. contributed 11 points apiece. Leading scorer Dylan Kuehl was held to seven points as he could only take three shots, making one (a 3-pointer), though he was 4 of 6 on free throws.

Kuehl is averaging 17.6 points per game in 20 conference games, while his overall scoring average is 16.3 ppg as he’s also fifth in the GLIAC in rebounding at 6.8 per game and second in overall shooting at 50.3%.

Since entering the starting lineup 11 games ago, Dudek is averaging 13.5 ppg while shooting 61% from the field. Also reinserted into the lineup 10 games ago, Gittens is averaging 11.1 ppg over his last seven.

For an offense that averaged 79-plus ppg in each of the last three seasons, defense has been more the theme this time around. Although the offense is averaging 77.6 points per game over the last 11 games, NMU is only seventh of 11 teams in the conference at 74.4 ppg. But the scoring defense ranks fourth, allowing 68.4 ppg, good for a top-50 mark nationally. NMU is also tied with Tech allowing a league-low 31.9 opponents’ rebounds per game.

The Wildcats take care of the ball as well as any team in the country. Committing just 9.8 turnovers per game, Northern ranks 12th nationally. It has been a staple in head coach Matt Majkrzak’s resurrection of the program, as NMU has averaged less than 11 turnovers per game in each of his six seasons.

For today’s opponent, the nationally 20th-ranked Michigan Tech team has won eight straight, including an 84-65 GLIAC quarterfinal win over No. 8 seed Roosevelt on Wednesday.

The Huskies average 77.7 ppg, but more than 80 ppg on their home court, where they are a perfect 13-0. The offense is led by Marcus Tomashek, who is 12th in the country in scoring at 23.1 ppg.

Tech got the better of Northern in both meetings this season, 88-65 in Marquette on Jan. 9 and 67-64 in Houghton on Feb. 20.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.