HAMMOND & WESTVILLE, Ind. - - The Purdue Northwest Men's Basketball team begins their 2019-20 GLIAC conference play with a pair of road games in the state of Michigan, beginning with their Thursday evening matchup at the Davenport University Panthers. Tipoff on December 5 is set for 6:30 p.m. (CT) in Caledonia, Michigan.

PNW has begun the season with a 3-3 record, last seen falling 80-73 to California State Dominquez Hills on November 27 in Carson, California. Leading the way in multiple statistical categories is Jyrus Freels (Evansville, Ind.), who is currently averaging team-highs with 17.2 points on 49 made field goals and 7.8 rebounds per game while logging 192 minutes of action. Other statistical leaders include Xavier Hallinan (Portland, Ore.), who is averaging 8.0 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.3 steals in his 24.2 minutes per game. Hallinan's 14 steals lead the Pride and his 16 assists are second behind Xavier Allison (Carlsbad, Cal.), who leads with 20.

Durante Lee (Indianapolis, Ind.) has played balanced basketball on both ends of the court so far, as he is averaging 5.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and has rejected a team-high five shots in his 162 minutes of play. Chandler Spring (Covington, Ind./Covington) is shooting team-highs with 46.7-percent from downtown and almost 91-percent from the free-throw line. The sharpshooter has averaged 9.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while snagging four steals.

As a team, PNW has collected 246 rebounds so far on the season for an average of 41 per game. The Pride have averaged more assists (16.2 to 13.8) and steals (8.7 to 6.2) per game than their opponents.

Davenport begins their conference slate with a 5-2 record, dropping their last contest 83-62 against Hillsdale College on November 23 that ended the Panthers' four-game winning streak. Davenport averages 74.0 points, 34.1 rebounds, 12 assists and 8.9 steals per game and is led by four double-digit scorers. Evan Hines leads that pack with 12.3 points per game on 30 made field goals, including a team-high 18 from three-point range. Tafari Beckford is averaging 10.9 points and a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game. Robbie Bramhill scores 10.7 points per game and has six of the Panthers' 16 blocked shots on the season to date. Chris Rollins averages 10.6 points per game and has team-highs with 27 assists and 18 steals.

Following Thursday's game, the Pride will take on the Grand Valley State Lakers in Allendale, Michigan on Saturday, December 7. Tipoff is set to be at 2 p.m. (CT).