DETROIT (9/30/2016) -- The start of the 2016-17 season is officially underway as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team hit the hardwood for the first team practice of the year on Friday.
The Titans are led by first-year head coach
Bacari Alexander '99, a member of two of the greatest teams in school history in the 1998 team that defeated St. John's in the NCAA Tournament followed by the 1999 squad that took down nationally-ranked UCLA in the big dance. In his two years playing, the Titans were 50-12.
Detroit Mercy returns three starters and eight letter winners from last year's team, including senior
Chris Jenkins and junior
Jaleel Hogan.
Jenkins is the team's leading returning scorer at 12.0 points per game, which ranked 20th in the Horizon League. He also finished second on team in rebounding (5.7), fourth in steals (1.0) and fifth in assists (1.4), all while leading the team in three-point field-goal percentage (.432) – good for sixth in the HL.
"To me, this is no different than any other day," said Jenkins. "We have been working hard since the start of the semester, since the summer and really since the end of last season. We are going to do something great this year, but we are taking it one day at a time."
Hogan was the only Titan to start all 31 games and he was fifth on the team in scoring with 10.5 ppg., while leading the team and placing second in the Horizon League in field goal percentage hitting 57.4 percent.
Also back is sophomore
Josh McFolley, a member of the HL All-Freshman Team, who played in 30 games with 23 starts and averaged 8.5 points, a team-high 2.3 assists and 1.5 rebounds per game.
Plenty of backcourt experience returns with senior guards
Matthew Grant,
Jarod Williams and Pat Robinson Jr., while sophomore
Aaron Foster-Smith and
Gerald Blackshear have seen plenty of playing time in their career.
Eight newcomers are also on the squad giving the Titans a 16-man roster to go to battle with this season.
The Titans first competition will be an exhibition game against Wayne State on Oct. 29 in the inaugural City College Series, a game to raise money for Detroit Public Schools (DPS), grades K-5. All tickets to that game are just $2 and can be purchased at Calihan Hall or by calling the Titan Ticket Office at 313-993-1700 ext. 7301.
Season tickets are also on sale starting at $130 for General Admission level seating and $185 for Floor Reserved and Upper Reserved level seating.
