GAMEDAY CENTRAL
2013 NIT Bracket

DETROIT (3/18/13) –The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will travel to Tempe, Arizona on Wednesday, March 20 as the sixth-seeded Titans will face third-seeded Arizona State in the first-round of the NIT. The game is scheduled to begin at 10:00 p.m. ET at Wells Fargo Arena and will be televised live nationally on ESPNU. Joe Davis (play-by-play) and Miles Simon (Analyst) will call the game. The winner will meet the winner of second-seeded Baylor and seventh-seeded Long Beach State.

Tickets, which are priced at $15 apiece, may be ordered by calling (313) 993-1700 or in person at the UDM Athletic Ticket Office in Calihan Hall. For any questions please contact Matt Zielinski at (313) 993-1700 or matthew.zielinski@udmercy.edu.

DETROIT IN THE NIT
The Titans will be making their seventh NIT appearance on Wednesday and are 5-7 all-time in the tournament. Detroit advanced all the way to Madison Square Garden in 2001 for the NIT Final Four. The Titans run included wins over Bradley (68-49), Connecticut (67-61) and Dayton (59-42) before falling to Alabama (74-63) in the semifinals and Memphis (86-71) in the third place game. Detroit's last trip to the NIT came the following year, but didn't last long as the Titans dropped their first round game at Dayton (80-69).

SERIES WITH No. 3 ARIZONA STATE
The Titans and Arizona State (22-12, 9-9 PAC-12) will be meeting for the fourth time on the hardwood, with the Sun Devils leading the all-time series 2-1. Detroit won the last meeting 71-66 at the 1995 ASU Tribune Classic.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Titan fans can follow every UDM game this season through men's basketball GAMEDAY CENTRAL page located on the Titans Athletic Website that will keep fans one click away from all the action. This page will feature links for live stats (audio and video when applicable) as well as links for all the latest info while also making it easy to find the Titans on social media and to purchase photos and game tickets. The Game Day Central page also carries all the information on each opponent from who is leading the all-time series to who won the last game.

LAST TIME OUT
Detroit's defence of its 2012 Horizon League Tournament Championship came to an end on a rushed last-second shot as third-seeded Wright State downed Detroit, 56-54, Saturday night in a semifinal game at the ARC.

Junior Jason Calliste had a game-high 17 points and a team-high five assists and junior Evan Bruinsma tallied 15 points and three rebounds. Seniors Doug Anderson and Nick Minnerath had eight points apiece, while Ray McCallum totaled five points, seven rebounds, and five steals.

The game featured 14 ties and nine lead changes, but a three from Calliste with 1:13 left tied the score at 54-all. Detroit then was able to force a miss and get the ball back, but it was not able to capitalize on its next possession and the Raiders took over with 14.8 seconds on the clock. UDM played great defense, but WSU's Miles Dixon was able to just get off a shot as time expired, sending the second-seeded Raiders to the championship game.
Detroit ended the day shooting 42.2 percent on 19-of-45 from the field - the lowest field goals attempted by the red, white and blue on the season - while the Raiders were 22-of-42 (52.4). UDM forced 17 turnovers and had a 23-7 tally in points off turnovers and a 12-0 advantage on second-chance points, but the Titans were outrebounded 29-21.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE STATE
Detroit enters Wednesday's game as one of only three DI team's in the State of Michigan to record 20 wins this season and to have an RPI ranking among the top 100. The Titans (20-12, RPI 64) trail only Michigan State (25-8, RPI 8) and Michigan (26-7, RPI 17) for the best record in the Mitten. Detroit also holds a higher RPI ranking than 51 other schools from the eight power conferences (A-10 9, SEC 8, ACC 7, PAC-12 7, BIG EAST 6, Big 12 5, B1G 5 and MW 4).

1. MSU  (25-8, RPI 8)
2. UM   (26-7, RPI 17)
3. UDM (20-12, RPI 64)
4. WMU (20-12, RPI 131)
5. OU  (16-16, RPI 150)
6. EMU (16-18, RPI 241)
7. CMU (11-20, RPI 268)

McCALLUM NAMED HL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Detroit junior guard Ray McCallum was tabbed the Horizon League Player of the Year in voting by the League's coaches, sports information directors and media. McCallum is the first player to earn both preseason and postseason honors since 2001.

Picked as the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year in both 2011 and 2012, McCallum led the Horizon League in scoring with 19.2 ppg, ranking 22nd nationally. Running the point for the No. 2-seeded Titans, McCallum handed out 4.7 assists per game while grabbing 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals. The junior was the first player since fellow Titan Rashad Phillips in 2000-01 to earn both preseason and postseason Player of the Year.

MINNERATH NAMED TO HL FIRST TEAM
Detroit senior forward Nick Minnerath earned First Team honors, in voting by the League's coaches, sports information directors, and media.

Minnerath, who finished fifth in the league in scoring with 15.1 ppg, while leading the Titans on the boards with 6.1 rpg, returned this year from a season-ending knee injury last year. He recorded the most points in a single game this season in the Horizon League with 36 against Valparaiso on Jan. 17.

SENIOR DRIVEN
This season Detroit seniors Doug Anderson and Nick Minnerath have combined to average 27.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Together the two Titan seniors are responsible for 34 percent of the scoring and 32 percent of the rebounding for Detroit.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Ray McCallum currently leads the Titans in three categories this season scoring (18.8 ppg), assists (4.5 apg), and steals (1.9 spg.) while also climbing up the career record board in all three. McCallum has 1,602 points (10th), 449 assists (7th) and 171 steals (4th) in his career. The last Titan to rank among the top-10 in all three of those categories was Rashad Phillips '01. Phillips finished his spectacular career with 2,319 points (1st), 548 assists (4th), and 190 steals (2nd).

ALL ALONE
Ray McCallum is also close to becoming the first Titan ever to record 1,600 points (1,602), 500 rebounds (484), 500 assists (449), and 200 steals (171) in a career.

ONE OF THE BEST IN THE NATION
The Titans are one of the best teams in the nation in turnover margin where they rank fifth (+5.2) overall (tied with Louisiana Tech). Detroit has forced 517 turnovers, while only committing 350 through 32 games this season. VCU (+8.0), Louisville (+6.0), Eastern Kentucky (+6.0), and Arkansas (+5.9) are the only teams with a higher turnover ratio than the Titans.

RACKING UP SOME POINTS
As a team the Titans lead the Horizon League and rank eighth in the nation in scoring with 78.1 points per game. The Titans average 84.0 points per game at home, compared to 74.1 per game on the road, but the defense has stayed steady only giving up 69.3 at home and 72.6 on the road.

RED, WHITE AND BLUE
The Titans have worn three different uniform colors this season and have a winning record in two. Detroit is 11-4 in white uniforms this season, 6-4 in red, and 3-4 in blue.

COACH McCALLUM NAMED JOBE FINALIST
Detroit head coach Ray McCallum was named a finalist for the 2013 Ben Jobe award, which is presented annually to the top minority coach in division I men's basketball.

McCallum, who is in his fifth season at the helm of the Titans, has led Detroit to its second-straight 20-win season, while also reaching the postseason in back-to-back years. Since McCallum has taken over, the Titans have increased their conference win total in every season (2, 9, 10, 11 and 12). Detroit has also increased its place in the regular season standings each season under McCallum (10th, 7th, T5th, T3rd and 2nd).

The 2013 recipient will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet in Atlanta, site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.