Lake Superior State Men's Basketball Schedule 2023-2024: What To Know

The LSSU men’s basketball team lost some key talent but added a few major prospects. Will this be a rebuilding year? Here’s a look at the LSSU schedule.

Dec 11, 2023 by Matt Cannizzaro

Lake Superior State Men's Basketball Schedule 2023-2024: What To Know

The Lake Superior State men’s basketball program is led by Steve Hettinga, the winningest coach in program history at 267-184.

Hettinga is entering his 17th campaign with the Lakers, but despite his past success, the preseason outlook for his team was bleak.

Last season, LSSU finished fourth in the 10-team Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association regular-season standings and then made a quick exit from the conference tournament, falling to Grand Valley State in the quarterfinals. The Lakers ended the year 13-14 overall.

Heading into the new season, the Lakers landed in a tie for seventh place in the 2023-2024 GLIAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

The squad still is looking to regain the form that helped the Lakers top the regular-season GLIAC standings in consecutive years—2013-2014 and 2014-2015—and to the tournament title in 1996, but they’ll have to do it with a crop of unproven talent.

Lake Superior State did have two players on the All-GLIAC first team last year—Kemon Bassett and Caden Ebeling—while C.J. Robinson made the All-GLIAC defensive team.

Unfortunately, all three have moved on in their careers, leaving Hettinga to fill those roles.

The list of key returners includes senior guard Xander Okerlund, junior guard Tyson Edmonson, senior guard Andy Soma and junior forward Kingsley Perkins. Okerlund was the best scorer of the bunch last season, averaging 9.4 points per game. Ebeling led the team at 16.4, which was sixth in the GLIAC.

The 2023-2024 LSSU roster also features six new players, which includes four freshmen and two transfers.

With more incoming talent than returning standouts, Lake Superior State did not have any preseason first- or second-team selections.

Here’s a look at the Lake Superior State men’s basketball schedule for the 2023-2024 season.

Lake Superior State Men’s Basketball Schedule 2023-2024

All Times Eastern

Date	Day	Time	Home/Away	Opponent	Location
Oct. 29	(Sun)	5 p.m.	Away	Terra State (Exh)
Nov. 10	(Fri)	7 p.m.	Away	Lake Erie	Painesville, OH
Nov. 11	(Sat)	5 p.m.	Home	Northwood	Painesville, OH
Nov. 18	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Away	Indianapolis	Indianapolis
Nov. 20	(Mon)	7 p.m.	Away	Quincy	Kalamazoo, MI
Dec. 1	(Fri)	7 p.m.	Away	Eastern Michigan	Ypsilanti, MI
Dec. 7	(Thu)	9 p.m.	Away	Wisconsin-Parkside	Kenosha, WI
Dec. 9	(Sat)	4 p.m.	Away	Purdue Northwest	Hammond, IN
Dec. 14	(Thu)	6 p.m.	Home	Algoma	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Dec. 18	(Mon)	8:30 p.m.	Neutral	SW Minnesota State	Wisconsin Dells, WI
Dec. 19	(Tue)	2 p.m.	Neutral	Saint Leo	Wisconsin Dells, WI
Dec. 30	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Home	Lewis	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Jan. 2	(Tue)	6 p.m.	Home	Kuyper	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Jan. 6	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Away	Ferris State	Big Rapids, MI
Jan. 11	(Thu)	7:30 p.m.	Away	Northern Michigan	Marquette, MI
Jan. 13	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Away	Michigan Tech	Houghton, MI
Jan. 18	(Thu)	7:30 p.m.	Home	Grand Valley State	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Jan. 20	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Home	Davenport	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Jan. 25	(Thu)	8 p.m.	Away	Saginaw Valley	University Center, MI
Jan. 27	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Away	Wayne State	Detroit
Feb. 1	(Thu)	7:30 p.m.	Home	Michigan Tech	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Feb. 3	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Home	Northern Michigan	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Feb. 10	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Home	Ferris State	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Feb. 15	(Thu)	7:30 p.m.	Home	Wayne State	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Feb. 17	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Home	Saginaw Valley State	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Feb. 22	(Thu)	7:30 p.m.	Away	Davenport	Grand Rapids, MI
Feb. 24	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Away	Grand Valley State	Allendale, MI
Feb. 29	(Thu)	7:30 p.m.	Home	Purdue Northwest	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
2-Mar	(Sat)	3 p.m.	Home	Wisconsin-Parkside	Sault Ste. Marie, MI
6-Mar	(Wed)	TBD	TBD	GLIAC Quarterfinals	TBD
9-Mar	(Sat)	TBD	TBD	GLIAC Semifinals	TBD
11-Mar	(Mon)	TBD	TBD	GLIAC Final	TBD

When Is The GLIAC Men’s Basketball Tournament?

The 2024 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament will be held March 6-10 (March 6 (quarterfinals) and March 9-10 for the semifinals and final).

In 2023, the higher seed in each of the four quarterfinal matchups played host. Then, the highest remaining seed among the semifinalists was the host for the semifinals and championship. The plan is the same for 2024.

The tournament winner earns an automatic berth into the Division II Men’s Basketball Championship.

When Is The 2024 NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship?

The NCAA Division II Men’s Basketball Championship takes place in March of each year.

Following the completion of the conference tournaments is a formal selection show, during which, the 64 teams for the national postseason bracket are announced.

The first 23 teams are the automatic bids given to the conference champions. The remaining teams are selected by a selection committee. The spots are distributed evenly among the eight Division II regions (Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West).

The road to the national championship will continue with the regional competitions – the opening round of play (Round of 64), Round of 32 and Round of 16 across eight locations – from March 16-19. Essentially, it’s eight single-elimination regional tournaments.

The eight regional champions are the Elite Eight for Division II, and they all converge on a pre-determined location for the final three rounds of play.

In 2024, this will take place at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, from March 26-30. Specifically, the rounds (Elite Eight, semifinals and final) will take place on March 26, 28 and 30, respectively.

Nova Southeastern defeated West Liberty to claim the Division II men’s title in 2023.