DETROIT (1/2/2019) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will look to start off the New Year by going 3-0 in the Horizon League as the Wright State Raiders come to town on Thursday, Jan. 3.

Game time is set for 7 p.m. at historic Calihan Hall and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and locally on WADL-38 with Jeremy Otto and Earl Cureton on the call as well as over the airwaves on 910 AM Superstation as the Voice of the Titans Dan Hasty has the play-by-play. 

It is a big week for the red, white and blue as Wright State won the conference tournament last season and advanced to the NCAA and was the HL preseason favorite in the coaches poll, while NKU visits the Titans on Saturday and they won the regular season last year and are off to a 12-3 start this year. 

Detroit Mercy started the Horizon League with two-straight road wins at Youngstown State and at Cleveland State, the first time the Titans have done that since 1998-99, and are looking for their first 3-0 start in league play since 2015-16. 

Wright State comes into the game at 7-8 overall and 1-1 in the conference, falling to UIC in overtime and defeating IUPUI. The Raiders return the reigning Horizon League Freshman of the Year Loudon Love, who is averaging 13.4 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Senior Cole Gentry is tallying 14.3 points and 4.0 assists, while sophomore Billy Wampler is netting a team-high 15.0 points. 
 
Antoine Davis - who was named the Horizon League Freshman of the Week for the fourth this time year on Monday - is fourth in the nation in scoring at 25.4 points per game and leading Division I with 68, 3-pointers on the year. 

Graduate senior Derrien King has tallied double digits in scoring in three-straight games and seven times on the year and is averaging 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds in the last three games, while junior Lamar Hamrick has led the team in rebounding in the last two contests with eight at Youngstown State and 11 at Cleveland State

Tickets start at just $10 and can be purchased at Detroittitans.com/tix.

ALL-TIME SERIES

• The Titans have dropped five in a row and 11 of their last 14 to Wright State as the Raiders now lead the all-time series, 31-26. 
• Detroit Mercy is 15-11 all-time at home, but the two teams have split the last eight meetings at Calihan Hall. 

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 winning the Horizon League Championship in 2012 and earning a trip to the NIT in 2013.

AD GETTING BUCKETS

• Freshman Antoine Davis led the team for the 14th-straight game - every game this season - finishing with 17 points at Cleveland State.
• He now has nine 20-point games, five 30+ performances and the 42-point barrage in his first 14 collegiate games. 
• He is one of just nine freshmen in NCAA Division I to score in double figures in every game this season. 
• To start the year, he posted eight-straight 20-point games, the first Titan to have eight-straight games with 20 or more since Willie Green's 10 in a row in 2002-03.
• His five 30-point games on the season are the most since Green had five in 2003 and another would be the most since Tony Tolbert's six in 1993-94.

DAVIS AMONG NATION'S LEADERS

• Freshman Antoine Davis - four-time HL Freshman of the Week - comes into the contest leading the nation in a national category and among the leaders in a few others.
• Davis is fourth in the nation in scoring at 25.4 points per game.
• His 68 triples lead the country, while his 4.86 three-pointers per game is second. 
• He is also fourth in total points (356) and fifth in field goals (126). 
• Davis is also second in the Horizon League and 97th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (39.8%), fifth in the HL and 110th in DI in free throw percentage (83.7%) and leading the conference and ninth in the country in minutes per game (37:21). 

SHOOTING HIS WAY TO RECORDS

• Freshman Antoine Davis already has 68 triples on the season, just six shy of moving into the top 10 for a single season for a Titan and 11 in back of the Detroit Mercy rookie record of 79 by Corey Allen in 2016-17. 
• If he keeps up his prolific outside shooting, he could find himself holding the NCAA record for most 3-pointers by a freshman, currently held by Stephen Curry as he hit 122 at Davidson in 2006-07.

LET IT FLY

• Detroit Mercy is third in the Horizon League with 9.7 triples per game, 30th in the country, while ranking third in the HL and 83rd in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (36.7). 
• The Titans have nailed 136 treys on the year, tying a school record with 17 against Loyola Maryland and then connecting on 15 versus Bowling Green and at Eastern Michigan. 
• The 136, 3-pointers are 23rd in the nation.

TAKING CARE OF THE BALL

• Detroit Mercy has seen its offense struggle at times, but not because it is turning it over. 
• The Titans lead the conference and are 20th in Division I committing just 10.9 per game.
• Detroit Mercy is coming off a game in which they had just five turnovers on the road at Cleveland State and now have five games on the season with less than 10 turnovers.

OH LORDY HE WENT FOR 40

• Antoine Davis set the Titan freshman with 42 points in the win over Loyola Maryland.
• The 42 points are the most by a Titan since Willie Green had 43 at UIC in 2003 and tied for the eighth most in school history as well as eighth in NCAA DI this year. 
• Davis was 14-of-21 from the field and 10-of-14 from the outside to go with five assists, three rebounds and two steals. The 10 treys tied him with Desmond Ferguson for the school record, who had 10 against Milwaukee in 2000, and are tied for the fourth most in the country. 
• The freshman record was 33 points by Corey Allen against Fort Wayne in 2016. 

ZONE PRINCIPLES

• The Titans have used a zone defense this year and have frustrated teams at times trying to shoot the three ball as they are holding teams to just 32.3 percent from behind the arc. 
• Last year, the Titans ended the season ranked 333rd in three-point field goal percentage defense (39.7%). 
• Overall, the defense has held teams to shooting 44.0 percent or less in nine games on the year and under 40.0 percent on five occasions, including YSU to just 37.5 percent and CSU to 38.6 percent.

TAKE IT AWAY

• Detroit Mercy is second in the Horizon League and 41st in the country with 8.3 steals per game.
• The Titans posted a season-high 12 steals against Ohio and had 11 versus Kent State and at Youngstown State.  
• In the last two games, the Titans have had a pair of players record three steals as their big men in senior Gerald Blackshear Jr. and Harrison Curry had three at Youngstown State, while senior Josh McFolley and junior Lamar Hamrick had three apiece at Cleveland State.

KING ME

• Graduate senior Derrien King has tallied double digits in scoring in three-straight games and seven times on the year.
• In the last three games, he is averaging 13.6 points and 4.6 rebounds. 
• He had back-to-back 13-point outings at Xavier and at Youngstown State and just scored 15 points at Cleveland State. 
• He also grabbed a career-high eight rebounds at Xavier, had six boards at CSU and hit three 3-pointers in each of the contests.  
• He scored 13 points with six rebounds against Kent State, hitting a big three with just over six minutes to go as the Titans took the lead and built an eight-point advantage against the Golden Flashes. 
• He was named to the Legends Classic Subregional All-Tournament Team after recording 15.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists, while nailing eight triples in wins over Loyola Maryland and Bowling Green. 
• He had 14 points and a career-tying seven rebounds in the title game versus BGSU and that was after scoring a season-high 17 points - hitting four 3-pointers - with four rebounds, two assists a steal and a block.
• The 17 points was the second most in his career behind the 22 he registered as a junior at Washington State vs. Montana State in 2016. 

JOSH SAVING HIS BEST FOR LAST

• Senior Josh McFolley scored a season-high 20 points - his 12th career 20-point game - hitting 6-of-12 from three and registered six rebounds and six assists at Eastern Michigan. 
• He is averaging 12.4 points - 17th in the HL - 2.9 assists and 2.9 rebounds, while shooting 40.7 percent overall and 38.6 percent from three.
• He had 19 points with a season-high seven rebounds off the bench at Akron and tallied nine points and tied his season high for the third time this year with six assists at Xavier. 
• In the HL opener at Youngstown State, McFolley ended with 14 points, while tallying 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals at Cleveland State. 

PICKING YOUR POCKET

• Senior Josh McFolley has been a thief for all of his Titan career and came away with four steals at Xavier, matching his season high that he had at Temple and against Kent State. 
• He now has 30 steals on the year and leads the Horizon League and is 44th in the nation with 2.14 steals per game.
• The 176 thefts are fourth in school history and just 19 away from the school record. 
• He led the team and was tied for second in the HL with 1.5 steals per game last year as his 49 steals was the second most in the league. 
• In his career, he has recorded a steal in 81 of his 107 career games, including 40 multi-steal contests and 26 with at least three takeaways.

MCFOLLEY FOR 3

• Senior Josh McFolley has continued his three-point shooting and has nine games with at least two 3-pointers, including a 6-of-10 performance at Eastern Michigan. 
• He now has 194 career 3-pointers, sixth in school history, eight away from the fifth spot. 

WE GOT OUR CURRY

• It was a long road for junior Harrison Curry to get back on the court, but he has added a scoring punch for the Titans. 
• He scored 16 points with three rebounds and two blocks in 27 minutes of action, getting a start in just his second collegiate game - first as a Titan at Toledo. 
• He then had 12 points with four rebounds, a block and a steal against Ohio,12 points, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks at Youngstown State and 10 points at CSU. 
• After playing just one game at Louisiana Tech last year before an injury in the season opener forced him to miss the year, he transferred to Detroit Mercy and applied for a waiver to play immediately.
• He missed the first nine games this year before it was approved by the NCAA. 

WHAT A DEBUT

• Freshman Antoine Davis had a collegiate debut to remember as he netted a team-high 32 points at Western Michigan. 
• He scored the team's first points and ended the contest 12-of-26 from the field and 6-of-14 from behind the arc.
• The 32-point outing was the most ever by a Titan true freshman in his debut game - and one off the Titan freshman record of 33 points that he would eventually break - and the second most ever by a Titan in their collegiate debut behind only junior college transfer Spencer Haywood's 36 he tallied against Aquinas in 1968, a game that was called with 6 1/2 minutes left after he broke the backboard with a dunk and the Titans up 105-40. 

THE ENCORE

• After going for 32 at Western Michigan, freshman Antoine Davis became the first freshman in school history to post back-to-back 30-point games as he scored a team-high 30 at Temple. 
• Davis was 11-of-21 from the field and 6-of-13 from behind the arc.
• He reached 30 points for the second-straight game, the first Titan to record back-to-back 30's since Jon Goode did it during the 2007-08 season with 30 at Loyola and 35 at UIC. 

 

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