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Game Notes vs. Michigan State

DETROIT -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball team will leave the friendly confines of Calihan Hall for the first time this season as the Titans head to East Lansing for a showdown with No. 25/22 Michigan State on Sunday. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m., at the Breslin Center.

The game can be seen live on the BigTenNetwork.com, a webstream that requires users to pay in order to view the game. Jacob Bodnar will do the play-by-play with Mandy Piechowski providing the color. Fans can also follow the action on gametracker. Both links are located on top of the page.

Detroit has won three straight to start the year for the first time since the 1991-92 season and are now looking for its first 4-0 start since the 1981-82 campaign. The Titans are coming off a 66-53 victory over Western Michigan on Friday, a game that Detroit led from the very start. Sophomore Yar Shayok recorded her 11th career double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while the defense held WMU to 25 percent shooting and 17 points in the first half.

Michigan State enters the contest as a ranked team for the second-straight year as the Spartans were No. 10 last season when they visited Calihan Hall. MSU is 2-1 on the year, but is coming off a 78-52 loss to No. 2 Baylor in Waco, TX, on Friday.

THE DETROIT-MSU SERIES
The Titans have seen Michigan State run off 11 straight wins in the series as well as coming away with a win in 13 of the last 14 games. MSU leads the overall series, 16-7.

The last time UDM beat the green and white was on Dec. 20, 1994, in San Juan, with Detroit coming up with a 75-70 victory.

Detroit is also 1-11 in East Lansing with the one triumph coming in the Titans' inaugural season (Feb. 6, 1979) when the red, white and blue earned a 61-60 win.

ABOUT MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State comes into the game ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press and No. 22 in the coaches poll. The Spartans started the year with wins over IPFW and Dayton, but fell on the road to No. 2 Baylor, 78-52, on Friday.

MSU is led by three-time Big Ten selection Kalisha Keane. The conference's Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year as a junior, Keane is averaging 20.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Suzy Merchant is in her fourth season as head coach of the Spartans, where she owns a record of 70-36. She is in her 15th year as a college head coach, with stops at Saginaw Valley and Eastern Michigan compiling a 271-156 mark.

TITANS VS. THE BIG TEN
The Titans are 31-36 all-time against current teams from the Big Ten, with its last victory against the conference on Dec. 20, 1994, when the Titans defeated Michigan State, 75-70.

COACH REMEMBERS THE LAST WIN OVER THE BIG TEN
Since head coach Autumn Rademacher came back to her alma mater, Detroit is 0-3 against the Big Ten conference, twice falling to Michigan State as well as a setback against Michigan.

But coach certainly remembers the last win Detroit has had over Michigan State and the Big Ten. On Dec. 20, 1994, Rademacher, a sophomore at the time, and teammate Jeanie Hill each netted 20 points and Faith Cyr grabbed 11 rebounds as Detroit downed Michigan State, 75-70, in San Juan.

TRAVERSE CITY LEGENDS ON THE SIDELINES
The contest will feature two great players turned coaches that hail from Traverse City, MI. Both Titan head coach Autumn Rademacher and Michigan State's Suzy Merchant were prep stars and All-State performers at Traverse City High School before embarking on their collegiate careers.

LAST TIME DETROIT WAS 4-0
Detroit accomplished something that it had not done in 19 years (1991-92) - start the year out with three-straight wins - after the Titans 66-53 victory over Western Michigan.

Now, Detroit will look to crack even deeper into the record books with a 4-0 start. The last time that happened was at the start of the 1981-82 campaign when Detroit posted wins over Bowling Green (63-46), at Eastern Michigan (52-47), Seton Hall (52-43) and North Carolina State (60-59).

SPREADING THE BALL AROUND
UDM has had three different leading scorers through its first three games, and has three players averaging double-digits in scoring and five players tallying eight or more points per game on the season.

Looking even deeper, Detroit has four players that have attempted anywhere between 28 and 33 shots.