The Wayne State men's basketball team opens the 2024-25 season this weekend in St. Joseph, Missouri at the Hillyard Tipoff Classic hosted by Missouri Western.  The 'Cats face Emporia State Friday morning at 10 a.m. and meet #20 Northwest Missouri State Sunday in a 2 p.m. contest at the Missouri Western Fieldhouse.
            Under ninth-year head coach Jeff Kaminsky, who is 114-112 on the Wildcat bench, the Wildcats are picked 12^th in this year's NSIC Preseason Coaches Poll released October 10^th.  WSC lost their top three scorers from last season's team that was 16-14 overall and 9-13 in the NSIC.
            Two starters are back this season for the Wildcats – senior forward Cody McCullough and senior guard Jay Saunders.  McCullough averaged 8.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season for the 'Cats while shooting 57 percent (77-135) from the floor.  Saunders averaged 3.8 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.  He ranked fourth in the NSIC last year in steals (41) and fourth in the league last season in assist/turnover ratio at 2.2 (72 assists/33 turnovers).
            Other key returners for the Wildcats include sophomore guard JJ Ferrin, who scored 7.6 points a game last season while leading the team in 3-point field goals (48).  Senior guard Sean Stokes started 17 games last year and produced 3.7 points a contest.
            The Wildcats open the 2024-25 season against a pair of teams from the MIAA.
            Emporia State is coached by former longtime Augustana head man Tom Billeter.  The Hornets were 19-12 last season with a 12-10 mark in the MIAA.  Only one player with extensive playing time from last season is back for the Hornets this year. 
            Wayne State and Emporia State were former members of the Central States Intercollegiate Conference in the 1970's and 80's as members of NAIA.  Emporia State holds a 17-10 lead in the all-time series against WSC and this will be the first meeting since the 1989-90 season when WSC lost to the Hornets 82-61 at the CSIC Classic in Hays, Kansas.  The last WSC win in the series came in the 1988-89 season in Wayne (2/17/89) by a score of 72-66.
            The other Wildcat opponent this weekend is 20^th-ranked Northwest Missouri State, who is the only NCAA men's basketball program to have won 25 or more games in each of the last 10 seasons.
            The Bearcats have won the last 11 MIAA men's basketball regular season titles and has appeared in 24 NCAA Tournaments with national titles in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
            Matt Keeley takes the helm at Northwest Missouri State this season after Ben McCollum departed for Division I Drake in the off-season.  The Bearcats lost four starters and their top four scorers from last year's team that was 29-5 and 20-2 in the MIAA, falling to eventual national champion Minnesota State in the NCAA Central Region championship game.
            Senior forward Byron Alexander is the top returning scorer for the Bearcats at 7.3 points a game.  Sophomore forward Jack Ratigan produced 3.2 points a game last year.
            Northwest Missouri State is 16-7 all-time against Wayne State.  WSC and NMSU met at this same tournament in the 2016-17 season with the Bearcats winning 76-58.  The last WSC win in the series came in the 1997-98 season with WSC winning 94-69 in Wayne (11/29/1997).