Complete PDF Notes
Upcoming in Gray Wolves Basketball: After a two-and-a-half month layoff, Lourdes opens the home portion of the 2020-2021 season this week with a pair of games.  The Gray Wolves will entertain East-West in non-conference action on Wednesday night before hosting Northwestern Ohio in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference opener on Saturday afternoon.

Head Coach Dennis Hopson: In his second season on the Lourdes bench, Dennis Hopson is 20-13 (.606) with the Gray Wolves and as a men's collegiate head coach.  He is only the third head coach in Lourdes program's history.

Series Notes: Lourdes is 2-0 all-time against East-West in a series that began Oct. 31, 2018.  The Gray Wolves won the initial meeting with the Phantoms 83-69 inside the Ebeid Rec Center before defeating East-West again three days later 76-72 in Livonia, Mich. as part of the Bernie Holowicki Classic.  Lourdes holds an 11-10 series edge against Northwestern Ohio dating back to Dec. 30, 2010.  The two schools split a pair of meetings last season with the Gray Wolves winning 72-58 inside the Ebeid Rec Center and the Racers winning 83-75 in Lima, Ohio.  Lourdes holds a 3-1 edge in games played inside the Ebeid Rec Center.

Wrapping Up Last Time Out: The Gray Wolves dropped both games of the Bethel Tip-Off Classic to begin the season.  In the opener on Oct. 30, a 77-53 setback to #12 Marian, Clif Snow led Lourdes with 14 points and six rebounds while Mike Bruce added 12 points.  On Oct. 31, the Gray Wolves dropped an 87-81 decision to the host Pilots.  Snow tallied 22 points while Nick Welch registered a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.  McRay White added 12 points and Bruce chipped in 11 more.

Scouting East-West: The Phantoms bring a 3-11 record into the Ebeid Rec Center after falling 88-64 at Olivet Nazarene last Saturday.  Kalu Idika led East-West with 16 points while Mohamed Jannedi added 12 more for the Phantoms.  Season stats for East-West are unavailable.

Scouting Northwestern Ohio: The Racers dropped their season opener at Saint Francis (Ind.) 100-71 last Friday evening.  Northwestern Ohio begins WHAC play on Wednesday at Indiana Tech before visiting Lourdes.  Hunter Bode led the Racers with 16 points and seven rebounds while Isaac Golson Jr. added 15 points.  Nathan Lessing tallied 10 points in the loss for the Racers. 

Lourdes in Home Openers: Lourdes is 9-1 all-time in home openers, including a perfect 4-0 inside the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.  Last season the Gray Wolves opened the home slate with a 99-81 win over Harris-Stowe.  The Gray Wolves went 5-1 in their former home, Tam-o-Shanter prior to the 2016-2017 season.  The only home opener Lourdes has lost came to top-ranked Cornerstone in 2015.

WHAC Openers: Lourdes is 4-5 in program history in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference openers.  The Gray Wolves snapped a four-game losing streak in league openers last season with a 65-64 win at #23 Indiana Tech.  Lourdes has never begun league play against Northwestern Ohio prior to this year.

Nearing the School's Scoring Mark: Clif Snow enters the week just 68 points shy of matching Zach Steinmetz's (2013-2016) school scoring mark.  Snow has scored 1,327 points during his four years at Lourdes while Steinmetz finished his career with 1,395 points in three seasons.

Gray Wolf Debuts: Lourdes had a pair of players make their Lourdes debuts in the season-opening tournament.  Anthony Mills averaged 18 minutes per game, scoring 3.5 points per night in the pair of contests after transferring to Lourdes while Will Simpson saw five total minutes of playing time over the two games, scoring three points in his first two collegiate contests.

Lourdes Tabbed Third in Preseason Poll: The Gray Wolves were selected to finish in third place in the WHAC this season in the preseason poll conducted of the league's head coaches.  Lourdes was picked just ahead of Madonna and just behind Cornerstone in the league balloting.  Indiana Tech is the favorite to win the WHAC in 2020-2021.

Try Two of WHAC Play: Due to COVID-19, the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference has pushed the start of league play into January.  The conference produced a new schedule, with each team scheduled to play 13 games for the 2020-2021 league slate.  Michigan-Dearborn is not playing basketball this year.  League play is slated to begin January 27, but Lourdes, Northwestern Ohio, and Indiana Tech have pushed games up and will begin this week.

More Changes in NAIA: This year the NAIA has combined Division I and Division II into just one division for basketball.  A total of 64 schools will qualify for the NAIA National Championships with 16 teams hosting four-team regionals.  The final 16 teams will then advance to Kansas City, Mo.

This and That: Nick Welch recorded his third double-double as a Gray Wolf with 13 points and 10 rebounds against Bethel (Ind.) ... Lourdes shot 76.7% from the free throw line on opening weekend ... the Gray Wolves forced 14 turnovers per game while committing just 10 per night over the first two games ... Mike Bruce scored in double figures in each of the first two games after tallying 10 or more points just four times during the entire 2019-2020 season.