Complete Notes
Upcoming in Gray Wolves Basketball: The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament runs continues for Lourdes on Saturday afternoon.  The fourth-seeded Gray Wolves take to the road to battle WHAC regular season champion, top-seeded, and 25th-ranked Indiana Tech.

Head Coach Dennis Hopson: In his second season on the Lourdes bench, Dennis Hopson is 51-24 (.680) 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: Indiana Tech leads the all-time series against Lourdes 15-10 dating back to Oct. 30, 2010.  The Gray Wolves and Warriors split their regular season series, with each winning on the opposing home floor.  Lourdes scored a 74-65 triumph in Fort Wayne, Ind. on Nov. 17 before Indiana Tech logged an 80-69 victory in the Ebeid Rec Center on Feb. 14.  The Warriors hold an 8-5 series edge in games played inside the Schaefer Center.

Wrapping Up Quarterfinal Action: Lourdes built a 23-point halftime lead on Wednesday evening (Feb. 23) on the way to registering a 79-59 victory over fifth-seeded Rochester (Mich.) inside the Ebeid Rec Center.  Nick Welch and Joey Holifield each scored 16 points to lead the Gray Wolves while Brett Lauf came off the bench to add 15 more.  Little Anderson chipped in 12 points in the Lourdes win.  The Gray Wolves shot 90.9% (20-of-22) from the free throw line and forced 23 Warrior turnovers.

Scouting Indiana Tech: The Warriors enter the WHAC semifinals having won 13 consecutive games.  Indiana Tech defeated Northwestern Ohio 85-52 in Wednesday's (Feb. 23) quarterfinal at home.  Grant Smith paces Indiana Tech averaging 15.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.  Rog Stein adds 12.5 points per contest while Josh Kline chips in 11.8 points per outing.  The Warriors are shooting 46.6% from the floor as a team while holding the opposition to just a 38.9% shooting clip.

Lourdes in the WHAC Tournament: With the quarterfinal victory, Lourdes improved to 4-7 all-time in WHAC tournament play as the Gray Wolves make their eighth overall appearance in the postseason event.  The Gray Wolves advanced to the championships game in 2012, falling to Davenport in the title tilt.  Lourdes advanced to the semifinals in 2013.  Last season, the Gray Wolves dropped their quarterfinal contest on the road at Madonna 92-73.

Looking to Match the School Record: With 22 victories on the year, Lourdes has reached the 20-win plateau for the third time in program history.  The Gray Wolves last won 20 games in 2019-2020, the first season under Coach Dennis Hopson.  The 22 victories also match the 2012-2013 team for wins in a season.

Quite the Offensive Force: Lourdes has five players that have averaged in double figures over the course of the 2021-2022 season.  Joey Holifield leads the way tallying 15.7 points per game while Nick Welch adds 14.6 points per outing.  McRay White contributes 13.2 points per outing while Little Anderson has scored at a 12.1 point per game clip.  Jackie Harris was also averaging in double figures at 14.4 points per night through the first 14 games before being injured.

Double Figures are the Norm: Joey Holifield has posted double figures in 28 of the Gray Wolves' 29 games this season, including the last eight contests.  The team's leading scorer at 15.7 points per game, the only time Holifield failed to reach 10 points in a game was against Rochester (Mich.) on Jan. 15 when he tallied eight points.

Forces Inside: Nick Welch and McRay White have been dominant inside for the Gray Wolves all season.  Both have registered seven double-doubles on the year.  Welch is pulling down a team-leading 9.0 rebounds per contest while White is averaging 7.7 caroms per night.  As a team, Lourdes is outrebounding its opponents by 5.5 boards per contest.

Getting Defensive: Lourdes ranks 27th in the NAIA allowing opponents to shoot just 40.8% from the floor.  The Gray Wolves also rank 27th nationally yielding just 66.0 points per game.  Lourdes has not lost a game this season when holding teams below 70 points.

A Rare Feat: Brett Lauf registered the first triple-double in Lourdes history on Senior Day Feb. 12.  He scored 13 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and handed out 10 assists in the win over Michigan-Dearborn.  Ironically, none of his totals were career highs, as he had accomplished double figures in each category separately in the past.

Rewrite the Record Books: Lourdes set a new school record earlier this season with 116 points against East-West in the season opener on Oct. 26 but re-broke the mark on Dec. 20 with 117 points at Penn State-Shenango.  In fact, the top three scoring games in program history have all happened this season as the Gray Wolves also tallied 115 points at Wilberforce on Nov. 13.  The previous record prior to this season was 114 points against Wright State-Lake in 2019.

Record-Breaking Streak: Lourdes set a new school record with its 13-game winning streak from Dec. 4 through Jan. 24.  The Gray Wolves surpassed the old mark, an 11-game winning streak which took place from Nov. 23, 2019-Jan. 8, 2020.  

This and That: McRay White has surpassed 900 points in his career, entering the semifinals with 940 over his five years at Lourdes ... only Joey Holifield, Little Anderson, and N'Keeley Elmore have appeared in all 29 games this season, with none starting every contest ... White is shooting 62.7% from the floor this season.