Northern Michigan University’s Dylan Kuehl, right, goes high defending a shot taken by Lake Superior State's Harrison Sorrelle during their GLIAC game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Feb. 7. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — For really the first time all season, the men’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University is playing catchup in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The Wildcats fell out of a first-place tie they had maintained through much of January and February when they lost 88-76 at Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Indiana, on Saturday.

But they have the perfect opportunity to get back in the race when they host conference co-leader Michigan Tech at 7:30 p.m. today at Vandament Arena.

The Huskies and Grand Valley State are 13-3 in league games, while NMU is 12-4. Northern is also 21-5 overall and ranked No. 22 in this week’s National Association of Basketball Coaches poll for NCAA Division II.

Tech is 22-4 overall and No. 12 in the country, while GVSU is 20-4 overall and ranked No. 15.

After playing MTU tonight, the Wildcats go on the road for the final time in the regular season to Big Rapids to take on Ferris State at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs are in a three-way tie for the final three spots in the upcoming GLIAC Tournament that begins in early March.

After that, NMU returns home to host two of the three teams likely not to make the league tourney, Roosevelt next Thursday and Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday, Feb. 28.

Today, though, the Wildcats need a win in the worst way, otherwise they will fall two games behind Tech and not own the tiebreaker as the Huskies have already won their first encounter, 84-75 in Houghton on Jan. 8.

Tonight’s game is a White Out game at Vandament, with Northern fans encouraged to wear white with a limited supply of white rally towels to be placed on arena chairs as supplied by GMC.

In addition following the game, an Overtime Party will be held at Slabz Bar & Grill in the Ramada Inn on West Washington Street with a cash bar and complimentary hors d’oeuvres.

Both games this week will be broadcast on Marquette radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, with tonight’s game also televised on Fox-U.P. Fans can also see the game livestreamed online on FloCollege, follow @NMU_MensBBALL and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) and @nmu_mbb on Instagram for updates throughout the weekend, or visit the Northern athletics website at www.nmuwildcats.com and look under the men’s basketball schedule for links to ticket information, live video, live statistics and a preview.

During tonight’s game, NMU student-athletes from Northern’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee will collect cash donations for a Miracle Minute, raising funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation to help a U.P. resident.

The Wildcats, who are 3-3 in their last six games, also won at Wayne State 82-62 last Thursday, keeping them at that time in a three-way tie for the top spot in the GLIAC.

Dylan Kuehl led NMU in scoring in both games, totaling 46 points in the two contests to remain the league’s top scorer at 22.2 points per GLIAC game, along with second with a 56.5% field goal percentage and 1.6 blocked shots per game, and 12th with 6.0 rebounds per outing.

He recently was named to watch lists for a pair of Division II national awards.

NMU is still among national leaders in multiple statistical categories, including the best rebound margin of plus-11.1 per game, second with a 1.73 assist-to-turnover ratio, fifth with an 18.0-ppg scoring margin, 14th with a 39.0% 3-point shooting rate and 16th with a 64.6 ppg scoring defense.

Looking at this week’s opponents, Tech has one of the top defenses in the nation, ranking ninth in field goal percentage defense at 39.3% and 17th in scoring defense at 65.0 ppg.

Reigning GLIAC Player of the Year Marcus Tomashek is No. 2 in the conference in scoring for all games at 21.6 ppg as he now has career totals of 2,253 points, 307 made 3s and 19.8 ppg, all bests among active players in Division II.

Ferris is 10-13 overall and 7-9 in the GLIAC, having lost to Northern in Marquette 95-66 on Jan. 12. Ferris scores at a 76.3 ppg clip while allowing 79.8 ppg, even while only giving up 26.8% shooting on 3s, the best in the country.

Tae Boyd at 13.6 ppg and Mykel Bingham are 13.1 ppg are the Bulldogs’ 1-2 scoring punch.

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