Complete Notes
Upcoming in Gray Wolves Basketball: The Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament championship and the league's automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships is on the line Monday evening as fourth-seeded Lourdes travels to third-seeded Madonna.

Head Coach Dennis Hopson: In his second season on the Lourdes bench, Dennis Hopson is 52-24 (.684) 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: Madonna leads the all-time series against Lourdes 16-9 dating back to Nov. 6, 2010.  The Crusaders have won three straight games against the Gray Wolves after sweeping this year's regular season series.  Madonna was an 86-78 victory in Livonia, Mich. on Nov. 20 and a 79-69 winner in the Ebeid Rec Center on Jan. 29.  Madonna holds a slim 7-6 edge all-time in games played in Livonia.

Wrapping Up Tournament Action: Lourdes built a 23-point halftime lead on Wednesday (Feb. 23) on the way to registering a 79-59 victory over fifth-seeded Rochester (Mich.) inside the Ebeid Rec Center in quarterfinal play.  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 made 16 three-pointers and shot 53.1% from beyond the arc on Saturday (Feb. 26) while defeating 25th-ranked Indiana Tech 89-79 in Fort Wayne, Ind. in semifinal play.  Anderson poured in 28 points while Holifield scored 20 more.  Welch chipped in 18 while Lauf tallied 11 in the victory.

Scouting Madonna: The Crusaders enter the championship game having defeated Aquinas 79-63 at home and Cornerstone 103-102 on the road to begin their tournament run.  Mark Mettie paces Madonna offensively averaging 19.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season.  Noah Campbell has added 12.2 points per outing while Brendan Young is tallying 10.5 points per night.

Looking for First Tournament Title: Lourdes has never captured a WHAC regular season or tournament title in the program's history which dates back to 2010-2011.  The Gray Wolves are playing in their second tournament championships game all-time, having fallen on the road at Davenport 52-42 on Feb. 27, 2012.

Lourdes in the WHAC Tournament: With its two victories this season, Lourdes has improved to 5-7 all-time in WHAC tournament play as the Gray Wolves make their eighth overall appearance in the postseason event.

Setting the School Record: With 23 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 23 victories also set a new school mark for wins in a year, surpassing the 2012-2013 team which won 22 games that year.

Downing A Ranked Foe: Lourdes defeated 25th-ranked Indiana Tech 89-79 in the semifinals on Saturday, marking the Gray Wolves' 13th win all-time against a NAIA top-25 foe.  Lourdes has won four of its last five games against ranked teams dating back to Nov. 26, 2019.  The Gray Wolves last defeated a ranked opponent on Jan. 22, 2020 at 22nd-ranked Madonna.

Anderson Has Career High: Little Anderson registered his career high as a Gray Wolf with 28 points at Indiana Tech. The junior made 10-of-19 shots from the floor, including 6-of-10 from three-point range.  Anderson's previous high of 23 points came as a freshman and was matched earlier this year at Michigan-Dearborn.

Double Figures are the Norm: Joey Holifield has posted double figures in 29 of the Gray Wolves' 30 games this season, including the last eight contests.  The team's leading scorer at 15.9 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.

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: Only Joey Holifield, Little Anderson, and N'Keeley Elmore have appeared in all 30 games this season, with none starting every contest ... Holifield and Nick Welch have started a team-high 29 games this year ... Brett Lauf has 118 assists while committing just 67 turnovers this season ... Holifield has registered 51 steals.