After coming off the first win of interim head coach Alex Fodness’s career at Ferris against Kuyper, the Ferris men’s basketball team looks ahead to the first GLIAC matches of the season, against Purdue Northwest and Wayne State.
The first of this week’s two matchups sees the Bulldogs (1-3, 0-0 in GLIAC) take on the Pride (2-3, 0-0 in GLIAC). The Bulldogs are off to their roughest start to the season since 2020-21, when they also started 1-3.
Senior guard Tyler Hamilton spoke about the rough start to open the season.
“The first couple of games were rough,” Hamilton said. “But we played hard and felt like we saw some great stretches where we can be really good, but we have to try to put it all together.”
The Bulldogs look to continue to win after coming off a 102-55 win against Kuyper. Junior guard Chang Hoth led the team in points with 18, shooting 6-13 and 3-7 from the three-point line. Senior forward Mykel Bingham shot 5-11 for 12 points while leading the team in rebounds with 11, but also had three steals and four assists.
The Purdue Northwest Pride come into this game riding a two-game winning streak, including a 96-51 victory in their last game against Indiana University Columbus.
Fodness spoke about getting the first victory of the season.
“It was really nice to see us rebound after the slow start,” Fodness said. “I’m really just happy for the guys sticking to the process and doing what needs to be done. I told them I was going to be hard on them regardless of what the scoreboard was going to be today. Because we need to get better at the things we need to get better at, and today was a step in the right direction.”
The Bulldogs have historically played the Pride well, holding a 14-3 record against them, and are riding a three-game winning streak coming into the matchup. With the last game the Pride won, coming in 2023, where the Pride narrowly defeated the Bulldogs 84-80.
Ferris is led in scoring by their two senior starters, Hamilton and senior forward Donovan Brown Boyd. Hamilton thus far in the season is averaging 13.3 points per game, which leads the Bulldogs, 3.5 assists per game and three rebounds per game. Brown-Boyd is averaging 12.3 points per game and seven rebounds per game while missing the game against Kuiper.
The Pride is led by senior forward Kyle Ross, who leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.2 points per game, while also averaging 9.6 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Aaiden Ashton and freshman guard Garrett Clark are the Prides’ shooters from beyond the arc, with Ashton shooting 10-20 from beyond the arc and Clark shooting 9-15.
The next matchup comes against the Wayne State Warriors (2-2, 0-0 in GLIAC) in Detroit. The Warriors are coming off a 95-81 loss against the Findlay Oilers.
The Warriors are led by a trio of scorers, junior guard Jordan Briggs, who averages 13.8 points per game and three assists per game. Carlos Paul III, who averages 13.3 points per game and four rebounds per game, and junior forward Jotham Nweke, who averages 12.5 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game.
Last season, the Bulldogs took down the Warriors in two of their three matchups, taking them down in early January 91-81 and then again in the GLIAC tournament quarterfinal by a score of 77-65.
The Ferris State Bulldogs men’s basketball team will travel to Hammond, Indiana, to take on the Purdue Northwest Pride on Thursday, Dec. 4, at 8 p.m. Then, it will travel to Detroit to take on the Wayne State Warriors at the Wayne State Fieldhouse on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 3 p.m.