Men's Basketball Welcomes Eastern Michigan In Titans' Home Opener On Saturday In Annual DPS Benefit Game

DETROIT (12/5/2019) -- After seven-straight road games and nearly 10,000 miles of travel, the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will be in action in Calihan Hall as the Titans host longtime in-state rival Eastern Michigan to Dick Vitale Court on Saturday, Dec. 7.

Game time is set for 1 p.m., and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and locally on WADL-38 with Denny Kapp and Earl Cureton on the call as well as over the air on 910 AM Superstation with Jeremy Otto calling the contest.

The game is the 4th Annual Titans DPS Benefit Game as all tickets are just $2 and all proceeds will go to Detroit Public Schools, K-5, with Michigan First Credit Union matching the proceeds. In the last three years, over $21,000 has been raised between ticket sales and matching donations from Michigan First Credit Union.

The Titans will look to extend an impressive home-opening streak as they have won 25-straight home openers and are 75-11 in home openers dating back to the 1932-33 campaign.

Detroit Mercy is 1-6 on the season with a big win over mid-major power UC Irvine, while Eastern Michigan has got off to a fast start at 7-1 with its lone loss to the Anteaters.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Eastern Michigan is one of the longest and oldest rivals in school history, with this being the 78th career meeting between the two schools located just about 35 miles away from each other.
The 78th meeting marks the fourth-most against any opponent in Titan history as Detroit Mercy has dominated the series winning 10 of the last 12 for a 59-18 overall advantage.
The series has even been more lopsided at home where Detroit Mercy is 32-5.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE RANKED 36TH TOUGHEST

Get your frequent flyer miles ready as Detroit Mercy has a number of power five schools on the non-conference schedule.
In total, the red, white and blue will play 13 games in the non-conference with nine away from the Motor City, including trips to North Carolina State, Clemson, Wyoming, Notre Dame, Gonzaga and a two-game tournament in Las Vegas.
The first seven games on the road saw the Titans travel just under 10,000 miles round trip (9,980).
The seven-games away from home was the longest stretch since the Titans played 10 in a row away from the Motor City at the end of the 2000-01 season, which included two regular-season games, the HL Tournament and a run to the NIT Final Four.
The non-conference opponents were a combined 258-176 (.594) a year ago, with six teams earning postseason bids.
The Titans non-conference schedule is ranked 36th in the nation as the first seven teams have combined for a 37-22 mark (57.6%).

ANTOINE EARNS JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD NOMINATION

The sophomore year of Antoine Davis has already been filled with accolades - and the games have not even started yet - as the University of Detroit Mercy high-scoring guard was named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list.
The John R. Wooden Award® presented by Wendy's® is chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts and the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the most prestigious honors in college basketball, the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.

GETTING THE FREE ONES

Detroit Mercy has done a good job at the line this year as the Titans are leading the HL and 17th in the country in free-throw percentage at 78.4 percent.
The Titans have connected on at least 20 free throws three times this season and are 75 of their last 92 (80.4%).
It helps to have one of the best at the line as sophomore Antoine Davis leads the HL and is 42nd in the nation at 90.2 percent, while senior Justin Miller is third in the league and 84th at 86.4 percent.

BACK IN THE 20'S

Sophomore Antoine Davis had a game-high 23 points at Kent State his last time out, his 29th career 20-point game in just 37 career collegiate contests.
He has now scored in double figures in all 37 games - reaching 17 points in 36 of them - and he also nailed two 3-pointers to extend his three-point shooting streak to 37-straight games, the sixth-longest streak in the country.
1. Mack Smith (Eastern Illinois) – 57
2. Justin Jaworski (Lafayette) – 55
3. Jaylen Minnett (IUPUI) – 44
4. Cameron Healy (Albany) - 40
5. Luke Frampton (Davidson) - 39
6. Antoine Davis (Detroit Mercy) - 37

CAN HE UP DEBUSSCHERE

Antoine Davis scored a Titan and HL-freshman record 784 points last season in 30 games and he already has 174 points in his first seven games to give him 958 in 37 career contests.
He is trying to catch the great Dave DeBusschere - a NBA Hall-Of-Famer who was named one of the top 50 players in NBA history - as the fastest Titan to 1,000.DeBusschere accomplished the feat in his 43rd collegiate game and he did so in a big way with a then career-best 32 points in a 69-65 win over Toledo in 1961.
If he reaches that, he will become the 43rd player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career points.

WATCH YOUR BACK

Sophomore Antoine Davis tallied 28 steals as a freshman, but he already has 16 so far and is second in the conference and 41st in the nation at 2.2 per game.
He has a steal in every game and a career-high four at Clemson.

MILLER TIME

The Titans got some good news as senior transfer Justin Miller was declared immediately eligible by the NCAA.
Miller is also approaching 1,000 career points as he has 938.
He posted his third double-digit scoring outing of the season with 12 at Ohio and just had six points and nine boards at Kent State.
At NC State, he scored nine points with three rebounds in just 15 minutes and really made his presence felt at Clemson, posting 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds before tallying a season-high 14 knocking down a pair of triples in the win over UC Irvine.
It was his eighth career double-double, while the 13 rebounds were just two shy of his career-high.
He played the last three seasons for Louisiana Lafayette, seeing action in 97 games with 59 starts and averaging 9.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists, shooting 44.9 percent.
He tallied 11.1 points as a freshman starting 31 of 33 games and posted 9.0 points and 7.4 rebounds, second on the team on the glass.
In his career, he has scored in double figures in 44 games - including 20 or more four times - with a career-high 22 points on the road at Kansas. He has also recorded eight career double-doubles with a career-high in rebounds of 15 at Arkansas State last season.

FROM KENTUCKY BLUE TO TITAN RED

Graduate student Brad Calipari transferred to Detroit Mercy and will have the rare two years of eligibility as a graduate student as he graduated from Kentucky in just three years with a degree in Business and is enrolled in the Liberal Studies masters program.
After starting the season 0-for-7 from the field and 0-of-5 from three, Calipari is 14-of-28 overall and 13-of-27 from three in his last five games from behind the arc and is averaging 8.8 points per game.
He had 13 points hitting 4-of-6 from long range at Wyoming and came back with a career-high 16 points with four more triples in the win over UC Irvine.
He spent three seasons at Kentucky and played in 27 games with the Wildcats, under the direction of his dad head coach John Calipari, and was part of 88 wins as the Wildcats advanced to the Elite 8 in 2017 and 2019 and the Sweet 16 in 2018.
According to stories in the Detroit Free Press, Kentucky has said they would be open to playing the Titans next season and that meeting could occur in Calihan Hall.

GOING AFTER YOU DAD

Head coach Mike Davis is quick to point out that Antoine Davis is not the defender that he was in college, but in terms of offense, the son is winning that battle.
Coach Davis starred at Alabama from 1979 to 1983 and totaled 1,211 points in 121 career games, going 478-of- 1003 (47.7%) from the field with 238 assists.
Antoine now has 958 career points, 144 assists and 43 steals.
For Brad Calipari, he has already surpassed his dad's, John Calipari, point totals at Division I as he has 55 at DI.
Coach Cal played three seasons of college ball, one at UNC Wilmington and two at Clarion. At UNC Wilmington in 1978-79, he posted 29 points hitting 4-of-17 from the field and 21-of-25 at the line.
At Clarion, Calipari scored 202 points, but ran the offense with 193 assists.

WHO WILL START?

Detroit Mercy saw 13 players start a game last season, the most in the country. The Titans also used 15 different starting line-ups on the year.
Through the first seven games, Detroit Mercy has seen seven players start a game and four different starting 5's.

DAVIS TABBED HORIZON LEAGUE PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Coming off a sensational rookie campaign, the nation's leading returning scorer picked up an early preseason accolade as sophomore Antoine Davis was named the Horizon League's Preseason Player of the Year.
Davis - the 2019 HL Freshman of the Year - is the first Titan to earn the preseason honor since Ray McCallum in 2012.

A GID-JEWELL PERFORMANCE

Sophomore Boe Nguidjol was one player that head coach Mike Davis has seen marked improvement and the season opener at NC State showed just that.
Nguidjol finished with a career-best and game-high nine rebounds along with two blocks and six points, hitting his first 3-pointer in the process at NC State. He was a big reason the Titans outrebounded the Wolfpack, 40-33.
He tied his career high with six points and pulled down seven rebounds in the win over UC Irvine and had a career-high seven points with five rebounds, two blocks and a steal at Ohio.
He played in 20 games last year and pulled down at least five rebounds in three games with season-highs of six at Akron, at Wright State and against NKU.
He gets his athleticism and footwork from his dad, who played professional soccer in England and China.

BIG WILLY STYLE

Sophomore Willy Isiani had his best game of the season scoring 13 points and grabbing a career-high seven rebounds in the win over UC Irvine and nailed five treys en route to 15 points at Ohio.
He also continued his prowess from three as 13 of his 14 field goals this season and 33 of 39 in his career have been from behind the arc.
Isiani made his long-awaited debut midway through his freshman season and against NKU, he scored nine points, hitting three 3-pointers in just 11 minutes of action, until he suffered a head injury that kept him out for a few games.
He came back with four more 3-pointers at Oakland, finishing with 12 points.
He tallied a season-high 20 points nailing six more from downtown at IUPUI and finished the year with 14 in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals at NKU.
A native of Tbilisi, Georgia, he is believed to be the first Titan from the country of Georgia.

ROSE BACK AT DI

Junior Dwayne Rose Jr. is back playing at the Division I level after suiting up for Southwestern Illinois College last season, where he averaged 7.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.
He had a career-high 8 points against Louisiana Lafayette and that was after scoring six in the over UC Irvine.
The Chicago native played in 14 games off the bench at Toledo as a freshman in 2017-18 and scored a season-high seven points at Kansas.

I WAS BORN IN NEW YORK CITY

Sophomore Alonde LeGrand transferred to the Titans from State Fair Community College in Vermont and will have three years of eligibility.
He is coming off another strong game on the boards by tying his season-high with six for the second-straight game, while adding four points, three steals and a block at Kent State.
He also pulled down a team-high six boards at Ohio.
Originally from Harlem, New York, he enrolled at Fairfield as a freshman, but did not appear in any games, therefore, allowing him three years of college basketball.