DETROIT (11/5/2018) -- A brand new season of Titan basketball will get underway on Tuesday as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball teams will begin the 2018-19 season at Western Michigan.

Game time is set for 7 p.m. at University Arena and the game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. 

Head coach Mike Davis was named the 22nd head coach in program history and brings a wealth of experience and success as in his 18 years as a head coach, he has posted a 352-241 record with 14 postseason trips and nine appearances in the NCAA Tournament. 

The Titans will feature almost a brand new roster as 13 of the 17 student-athletes are in their first year wearing the red, white and blue. The 13 newcomers are tied for the most in the nation with Tennessee Chattanooga and Duquesne, while Florida Atlantic and Wichita State have 12.

The game if the first of four on the road to open the year as the Titans will not play a home game until Nov. 19 when they host the GotPrint.com Legends Classic Subregional presented by Old Trapper with Loyola Maryland, Bowling Green and Hampton visiting Calihan Hall. 

Season tickets as well as single-game tickets are now on sale and can be purchased by contacting Director of Ticket Operations & Sales Justin Hairston at 313-993-1700 ext. 7301, email at hairstjj1@udmercy.edu or by visiting DetroitTitans.com/tix. 
 
ALL-TIME SERIES

• The series with Western Michigan dates all the way back to 1916 as the Titans lead the overall series, 26-25.
• The teams have split the last 14 meetings with each squad posting a three-game winning streak in that span, but WMU has won five of the last seven,
• The Titans are also 10-12 all-time on the road as Western Michigan has won the last five meetings in Kalamazoo. 
• The last Titan win on the road was on Dec. 21, 2000, a 67-56 triumph. 
• In an ironic twist, the 2000-01 season was also the only time head coach Mike Davis has faced WMU as his Indiana Hoosiers' team downed the Broncos, 87-59, in Bloomington on Dec. 8, 2000. 

VS. THE MAC

• Detroit Mercy is 178-112 all-time against current members of the Mid-American Conference.
• The Titans have actually dropped six in a row to MAC schools with their last win on Dec. 12, 2015, a 95-80 triumph over Bowling Green at Calihan Hall.

NO RESPECT

• Not much can be said for expectations for the Titans this year as they were picked to finish last in virtually every college basketball publication.
• Even the Horizon League Preseason Poll had Detroit Mercy 10th and did not feature a preseason All-League player.

ALL-AROUND TITANS

• Detroit Mercy's roster has 17 total players - 13 new - but the story is the collection of players.
• The roster features players from 10 states and two countries in Georgia and Newfoundland.
• The team has players covering three time zones from the eastern standard time in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, and of course Michigan, central time in Alabama, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin and pacific time zone of California

WHO IS THAT?

• The Titans will have a blend of rookies and veterans, but in terms of familiarity, Detroit Mercy will bolster one of the highest groups of newcomers in the nation at 13 (14 if you count walk-on Musial Gjysma who redshirted last season). 
• Among Division I teams with a high among of newcomers are, Tennessee Chattanooga and Duquesne at 13, while Florida Atlantic and Wichita State welcome 12 new players. 

COMING BACK

• Just four players return from last year's team and only three of those saw the court totaling 1,496 minutes in senior Josh McFolley (804), senior Gerald Blackshear Jr. (191) and junior Cole Long (501). 
• The 1,496 minutes represents just 23.2 percent of the total minutes returning from last year's team.
• The three players also posted 521 combined points (McFolley-354, Long-115, Blackshear Jr.-52), which is just 20.7 percent of the returning offense from last year.

TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SLATE

• The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will have a challenging non-conference schedule with nine road games, including trips to California, Temple, Butler and Xavier as well as hosting the GotPrint.com Legends Classic subregional. 
• In total, the Titans will have four home games out of their 13 non-conference match-ups. The known opponents posted a 205-190 record (51.8%) last season, and four teams made the postseason with NCAA appearances by Butler and Xavier, a NIT team in Temple and one CIT opponent in Eastern Michigan. 

MAKE SURE TO SEE US IN DETROIT

• The Titans' 13 scheduled home games in the regular season are the fewest since they had 12 in 2008-09 under then first-year head coach Ray McCallum. 
• The four non-conference home games are also the fewest since that season when the red, white and blue had just three.

FAMILY FUN

• Nothing new for the Titans to have a family connection in the program and this season, Detroit Mercy will feature three Davis' in head coach Mike Davis, assistant coach Mike Davis Jr. and freshman guard Antoine Davis.
• From 2010-13, the Titans had head coach Ray McCallum and star guard Ray McCallum Jr., winning the Horizon League Championship in 2012 and earning a trip to the NIT in 2013.

FOLLOWING HIS DAD

• The Davis family has always been close and when it came time to play college basketball, they both chose to play for their dad.
• Assistant coach Mike Davis Jr. played for his dad at both Indiana and UAB and Titan freshman guard Antoine Davis chose to come to Detroit Mercy.
• Antoine originally committed to Kelvin Sampson at Houston as a senior in high school, but changed that to Texas Southern in the spring and then followed his dad to the Motor City.
• He was a 3-star recruit by ESPN and Rivals and was also ranked 28th in the region and 20th in the state of Texas and the 15th best recruit in the Houston area for the Class of 2018 by the Houston Chronicle
• As a senior with the Homeschool Christian Youth Association in Houston, he led his team with 23.0 points per game
• He played AAU on the Nike EYBL Summer Circuit with Houston Hoops in 2017 and averaged 13.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.

MCFOLLEY FOR 3

• Senior Josh McFolley connected on a 3-pointer in 25 of the Titans' 32 games last year, including a season-high six in the regular season finale against Green Bay.
• On the year, he had eight games with three or more triples. 
• He enters his senior season with 167 career 3-pointers, eighth in school history and two away from seventh place and Greg Grays. 

PICKING YOUR POCKET

• Senior Josh McFolley has been a thief for all of his Titan career as he has 146 career steals, ninth in school history and just eight away from moving into the top five. 
• He led the team and was tied for second in the Horizon League with 1.5 steals per game last year as his 49 steals was the second most in the league. 
• Had also had six games with at least three steals last season, including a career-best six steals against UIC, where he also scored 30 points. 
• In his career, he has recorded a steal in 69 of his 93 career games, including 31 multi-steal contests and 16 with at least three takeaways.

1,000 & COUNTING

• Senior Josh McFolley became the 42nd Titan in school history to reach 1,000 last year and he did so in dramatic fashion scoring Detroit Mercy's first 12 points and ending with a career-high 34 against Green Bay in the regular season finale. 
• He enters the year 38th all-time on the Titan scoring list with 1,038 career points, 21 behind former all-time great Larry Salci '68 for 37th. 

G-FORCE

• The Titans will need senior Gerald Blackshear Jr. to be a force inside this season as injuries limited his junior year.
• He appeared in 20 games with nine starts last year - playing double-digit minutes just eight times - and did not play after the January 20 meeting against Oakland. 
• When healthy, he is an athletic big man who can grab rebounds and score around the basket, highlighted by his career .596 field goal percentage. 
• He shot 64.1 percent from the field in 2017-18 (25-of-39) and that was after 61.3 percent (73-of-119) as a sophomore and 55.2 percent from the field (48-of-87) in his rookie year. 

A LONG DAY

• Junior Cole Long learned to play in the paint a bit more last season and he grabbed at least five rebounds in five of the last nine games on the year.
• He posted a career-high 16 points connecting on 6-of-8 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers along with registering eight rebounds at Cleveland State. 
• He netted 12 points with a career-high seven assists along with five rebounds against IUPUI and then pulled down a career-best nine rebounds and tied his career mark with three blocks against UIC. 
• Long saw action in 30 games last year with 15 starts and averaged 3.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and a team-best 21 blocks as he tied for 14th in the HL with 0.7 blocks per game. 

HOLLAND, KING LOOKING TO BRING SENIOR LEADERSHIP

• The Titans have two graduate seniors on the roster in Jacob Holland and Derrien King.
• Holland spent last year at New Mexico Highlands University, where he started all 25 games he appeared in and led New Mexico University in scoring at 14.7 points per game to go with 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists
• His college career has also seen him play at Fresno State.
• Holland's dad played football at New Mexico University and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 and he is also engaged to a former Fresno State softball player.
• King was at Angelo State last season, but did not play after transferring from Washington State.
• At WSU, he played all of his sophomore year and nine games as a junior before transferring and poured in a career-best 22 points going 6-of-12 from the field with three triples and a 7-of-9 effort at the free throw line against Montana State. 
• In 2016-17, he played in nine games with five starts and averaged 6.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 76.9 percent from the free throw line.

BASKETBALL FAMILY

• Freshman Chris Brandon is another player that head coach Mike Davis knows well as he is from Houston, Texas.
• Brandon is the nephew of former NBA player and head coach John Lucas and cousins to former NBA player John Lucas and former Texas standout Jai Lucas. 
• Brandon was a First Team All-District selection in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and averaged 10.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game as a senior. 
• He also helped his team to a top-five ranking in the state in the last two years.