The No. 4 ranked Ferris State men’s basketball team is off to a 17-2 start, their best start to a season since the 2018 season, where they only lost one game en route to a national championship.
Following a weekend split with Wisconsin-Parkside and Purdue-Northwest, Ferris sits at 17-2 overall and first in the GLIAC, posting a 7-1 record so far in conference play.
The hot start for the Bulldogs was spearheaded by their efficiency on both sides of the court. Ferris leads the GLIAC in scoring offense, putting up 86.5 points per game and is fourth in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 68.8 points per game.
The Bulldogs are second in the GLIAC in both field goal and three-point percentage with 49% and 39.4% respectively.
Junior guard Tyler Hamilton believes that the teams’ work ethic has led to their effectiveness on offense.
“We all work so hard every day, we are always in the gym getting shots up or pushing ourselves in workouts,” Hamilton said. “We also just have that trust in one another to make the right play.”
Hamilton has been a key to the Bulldogs’ successes this season. The transfer from St. Clair County is second on the team in scoring with 11.2 points per game and second in assists with three a game.
Another big reason why the Ferris offense has been so successful is due to their pace according to junior forward Mykel Bingham.
“Our pace is really fast, we like to get out in transition and run,” Bingham said. “When we can use the pace to our advantage it opens up lanes for us to score.”
In addition to having an offense among the best in the conference, Ferris’s defense has also been stout.
The Bulldogs lead the GLIAC in opponent field goal percentage as they only allow 38.8% of shots to fall from the field and 28.4% of threes to go in against them.
Ferris’ dynamic roster allows the team composition to change depending on their opponent. The Bulldogs consistently run a front-court rotation that consists of five players who stand six-foot-six or above. That size has led to Ferris leading the GLIAC in blocks per game, swatting away 5.95 shots per game.
The defense anchor, junior center Nate Claerbaut, led the GLIAC in blocks per game with 2.7.
Claerbaut attributes his opportunities to the communication of the team on the floor.
“We are always talking and putting each other in the right position and communicating,” Claerbaut said. “My teammates make it so easy for me to protect the rim, we have great trust in each other on the floor.”
While the Bulldogs have been great this year, there are things that the team would like to clean up as conference play continues.
Ferris struggles with the turnover bug on some nights, they are second in the conference when it comes to turnovers per game. In each of their losses, they have lost the turnover battle.
Hamilton recognizes this issue needs to be fixed.
“The turnovers just kind of happen due to the style we play with and how fast we are,” Hamilton said. “Going forward it will definitely be a top priority to clean up as we go forward and play deeper this season.”
The Bulldogs will look to continue their phenomenal play in conference play this week with a two-game homestand versus Northern Michigan on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. and a game versus Michigan Tech on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 3 p.m.