GAMEDAY CENTRAL

DETROIT (11/12/14) – The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will tip-off its 110th season of basketball on Friday (Nov. 14) when the Titans host Rochester College at historic Calihan Hall. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. and will be televised live locally on Comcast 900 as well as nationally on ESPN3.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Fans can follow every Detroit game this season through the 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 OUTING
Detroit concluded its exhibition season with a dominating 98-55 win over Marygrove on Saturday (Nov. 8) at historic Calihan Hall. Over the two exhibition games the Titans outscored their opponents 182-104.
 
Senior guard Brandan Kearney scored a game-high 18 points, including eight-straight in the second half, while classmates Juwan Howard Jr. and Patrick Onwenu both recorded double-doubles. Onwenu finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots, while Howard pitched in 16 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Junior guard Carlton Brundidge scored 15 points with three steals, while sophomore Jarod Williams finished with 14 points and a game-high seven assists. Freshman forward Jaleel Hogan scored 11 points, including a thunderous dunk that brought the crowd to its feet off a pass from junior Anton Wilson.     

Detroit shot 49.4 percent (38-of-77) overall, including 56.4 percent (22-of-39) in the second half, while holding Marygrove to just 30.9 percent (21-of-68) overall. The Titans only turned the ball over eight times, while forcing 20 Mustang turnovers, which resulted in 20 points for Detroit. The Titans also recorded eight steals and five blocked shots, while dishing out 18 assists.

TITANS RECEIVE VOTES IN MID-MAJOR POLL
Detroit finished with a perfect 2-0 record in the preseason and capped that off by receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll released this week. Detroit is one of five Horizon League teams represented as Green Bay was ranked ninth and Cleveland State 11th. Wright State, Valparaiso and Detroit received votes.

SEASON OPENERS
Detroit will be entering its' 110th season of division I basketball and own a 78-29 record in season openers. The Titans only have statistical information for 108 seasons as there were no records recorded during the 1907-08 and 1908-09 seasons. Detroit is 2-1 over the last three seasons under head coach Ray McCallum, with the only loss coming last year at South Alabama.
 
ABOUT ROCHESTER COLLEGE
The Warriors enter Friday's game 4-2 overall with wins over Redeemer (84-51, 65-51), U-M Dearborn (56-34) and Marian (63-55). Rochester also faced Akron (No. 14 in the Mid-Major Poll) in an exhibition game on Monday, Nov. 10, and hung with the Zips before falling 55-42 at James A. Rhodes Arena.
 
Both Akron and Rochester struggled to find the net as Akron shot 33.3 percent (20-of-60) from the field and 17.2 percent (5-of-29) from three-point range. The Warriors netted 38 percent (19-of-50) of their shots from the field and only connected on one shot from behind the arc (1-of-13).
 
TITANS PICKED THIRD
Detroit was picked to finish third in the Horizon League preseason poll - voted on by the league's coaches, sports information directors and media members – while senior forward Juwan Howard Jr. was named to the preseason first team at the Horizon League Men's Basketball Media Day at the Loews Chicago O'Hare Hotel in Rosemont.
 
Both Howard and head coach Ray McCallum attended the 2014 Media Day in the Windy City.

Green Bay was selected as the favorite to win the league with 32 first place votes and 357 points overall, while Cleveland State was picked to finish second with 335 points, including nine first place votes. Detroit was slated to place third with 239 points, while Valparaiso was picked fourth with 228 points.
 
Wright State is projected to finish fifth totaling 186 points, ahead of sixth-place and defending Horizon League Tournament Champion Milwaukee's 182 points. Metro Series rival Oakland was picked seventh (178), followed by Youngstown State (95) and UIC (45).

The last time Detroit was picked among the top-three of the Horizon League preseason poll was the 2012-13 season when the Titans finished second in Horizon League play with a 12-4 mark and 20-13 overall, earning a trip to the NIT.

WELCOME TO THE SHOW
The Titans welcome an impressive group of new faces to court this season as Patrick Ackerman, Paris Bass and Chris Jenkins will be eligible for competition after sitting out last year. Newcomers Aaron Foster-Smith, Jaleel Hogan and Youssoupha Kane as well as Brandan Kearney, who transferred from Arizona State, will also look to make an impact.

MOVING FORWARD
Detroit returns a core of student-athletes who saw playing time in 30 or more games last season including Howard, who was named to All-Horizon League Second Team last year after averaging 18.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Also returning up front with Howard will be senior forward Patrick Onwenu who played in all 32 games for the Titans last year where he averaged 4.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. During the Titans 2014 Summer Trip to Vancouver Onwenu emerged to lead the team with 15.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.
 
Sophomore guard Jarod Williams also earned All-League honors by being named to the Rookie Team after starting 28 games in which he averaged 7.7 points and 2.0 assists per game. Returning to the back court with Williams will be his classmate Matthew Grant, who played in all 32 games last year – starting 12 – as a true freshman, while averaging 7.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.
 
A pair of junior guards will also be competing for playing time the backcourt as Carlton Brundidge and Anton Wilson both averaged more than seven points per game last year. Brundidge played in 32 games – starting 20 – as a sophomore where he averaged 7.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, while his classmate Wilson also played in all 32 games last season averaging 7.0 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.
 
Between Howard, Williams, Grant, Brundidge, Wilson and Onwenu the Titans return 75 percent of their scoring from last season along with 52 percent of their work on the boards.

MEDIA PACKAGE ANNOUNCED
The University of Detroit Mercy Department of Athletics has announced the 2014-15 men's and women's basketball local television schedule. The 15-game package includes games on WADL 38 and Comcast 900.
 
The seven men's games on WADL will be against Bowling Green (Nov. 30), South Florida (Dec. 6), Oral Roberts (Dec. 30), Oakland (Jan. 10), Green Bay (Jan. 17), Wright State (Jan. 26) and Valparaiso (Feb. 25).
 
In addition to the games with WADL, Comcast 900 will air five men's games, including the season opener against Rochester College on Nov. 14. The other four men's contests to air locally on Comcast will be against South Alabama (Nov. 22), Aquinas College (Dec. 1), Youngstown State (Jan. 29) and UIC (Feb. 8)
 
The Titans will also begin their second season on CBS Radio Detroit with at least 20 games on 97.1 FM The Ticket and 1270 AM.

UP NEXT
Detroit will travel to the great northwest to face Oregon as part of the ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. The game is set for Monday, Nov. 17, at 11 p.m. ET, at Matthew Knight Arena and will be televised live on ESPNU. The game can also be listened to on 1270 AM with Dan Leach the voice of the Titans.