Story By Ricky Lindsay

Freshman Antoine Davis has taken the college basketball world by storm with his sharp-shooting stroke, months after arriving to the University of Detroit Mercy as an under-the-radar three-star prospect from Houston.

When he stepped foot on campus near the end of summer, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound point guard did not have the level of hype surrounding him that soon-to-be NBA lottery picks at blue-blood programs boast. Yet he's accomplishing feats few have achieved to start their collegiate careers.

Shooting his way into the record books for Detroit Mercy this season, Davis finds himself chasing some all-time Titans scoring legends.

The third-highest scorer in NCAA Division I this season with 26.3 points per game, Davis has already shattered the program's freshman records for points in a game (48, previously 33), 3-pointers in a season (121, previously 79) and total points (709, previously 446). He's continuing to climb the Titans' all-time leaderboard for points in a season, sitting in sixth place entering the final week of the regular season.

"He has tremendous range on his jump shot," Rashad Phillips, Detroit Mercy's all-time scoring leader, said. "To go along with that range, he possesses high courage. It takes guts to really have the courage to attempt those shots; not just to attempt them, he makes them. He's just a natural scorer by origin and he's just exciting to watch." 

That combination of range and courage has Davis pursuing one of the greatest 3-point shooters in basketball history. He enters Thursday's game against IUPUI with 121 3-pointers on the season, needing just two more to pass Stephen Curry for the most triples in a season by a freshman in NCAA history.

Curry recorded 122, 3-pointers as a budding star at Davidson in the 2006-2007 season.

"It is amazing," Davis said. "I never really thought about it coming into the season. I just wanted to come in and play hard and get better with my teammates and everything just happened. He is someone who we all know so just to be mentioned in that category is special."

PHILLIPS LEARNED FROM ANOTHER TITAN 

Phillips, who starred for Detroit Mercy from 1997-01 and was inducted in the Titans Hall of Fame in 2010, knows a thing or two about scoring. 

His 2,319 career points during his four years in the red, white and blue remains the program's all-time mark, and he twice earned Horizon League Player of the Year. Also in Phillips' name are Detroit Mercy's single-season scoring (785 points) and 3-point field goals (136) marks, and career 3-pointers (348).

Fittingly enough, another Titan scoring legend helped pave Phillips' path to the corner of Livernois Avenue and McNichols Road.

As a child, Phillips would watch Archie Tullos play at Calihan Hall. Mesmerized by Tullos' ability to score at-will, Phillips was inspired to one day don the red, white and blue and make his mark on the Titans' record book.

Tullos played for the Titans from 1984-88. He led the team in points per game (19.7) as a junior but exploded during his final season to the tune of 25.1 points per game, a mark fueled by a scorching two-month stretch.

On Dec. 20, 1987, Tullos scored 43 points against John Carroll, which at the time was the fourth-highest point total for a single game in program history.

Several weeks later, on Feb. 2, 1988, Tullos engaged Bradley All-American Hersey Hawkins in a historic shootout. That night, Tullos set Detroit Mercy's single-game scoring mark with 49 points. Hawkins, who was selected sixth overall in the NBA Draft that summer, established a Calihan Hall record of 63 points scored.

"I remember Hersey scoring 63 and he had like 35 in the first half. That's the one thing that stood out from that game after so many years," Tullos said. "It was a lot of fun. I remember at the end of the game, there was kind of like a hush. It's so funny after all these years, it didn't really dawn on me that the two of us scored as many points as we did. It's fun remembering. I have fond memories of it."

Tullos added another 40-point game two weeks later, when he scored 42 points against Xavier on Feb. 15, 1988.

The record of 49 points had remained relatively untouched, despite valiant attempts by Marvin Owens (43 points) later that season and Willie Green (43 points) midway through the 2002-03 campaign.

But that all changed when Davis entered the fray. 

On Nov. 19, Davis, making his Calihan Hall debut, set the Titans' freshman record with 42 points and tied the school record for 3-pointers in a game with 10. That night, he became the 12th Titan in program history to score at least 40 points. It was just the fourth game of Davis' collegiate career.

His first career Horizon League game at Calihan Hall — a Jan. 3 contest against Wright State — delivered more magic. Davis dropped 48 points connecting on 10, 3-pointers, finishing a mere field goal shy of breaking Tullos' 30-year-old mark for the most points in a single game by a Titan. 

Davis did, however, become the first freshman in Detroit Mercy history to record two 40-point games in a season.

"I didn't know what the school record was and did not know really what I had," Davis said. "I just kept playing hard and with my teammates and it just happened. My mom and grandma were there so that was really special."

Phillips never thought anyone would come close to breaking Tullos' single-game point record at Detroit Mercy.

"No, not really, because going to a school like Detroit Mercy, it's a mid-major school, so you don't think you're going to see somebody that has that type of dynamic ability," said Phillips, who believes Davis will one day be a first-round pick in the NBA Draft. "Those types of players, players like Antoine, they don't grow on trees. They're not just hanging around. I call them like UFOs — you don't see them a lot, they're rare sightings. 

"To see what he's doing and at that pace, he just reminds me so much of Archie Tullos. And I just believe Archie Tullos was a NBA player, in my mind. The way the NBA was structured back then, jump shooting wasn't a premium. Even when I played, it wasn't a premium on guys that could make shots. But now, the way the NBA has structured itself, there's a premium on jump shooters. And Antoine epitomizes that — he epitomizes the way the NBA is played today."

Tullos is at peace with his record being chased and has no regrets from his time in the red, white and blue.

"I knew someone would get it eventually. I left everything on the court," Tullos said. "If someone gets that, they really had to put the work in. I won't be surprised if he gets it this year. I wouldn't be surprised for him to go for 60 before the season's over. 

"I wish the young man the best. Just have a great time. And when it's all said and done, he can look back on his collegiate career and smile and know that he had a great time."

DUEROD & TULLOS LEFT THEIR MARKS

Before Davis, Phillips and Tullos, there was Terry Duerod, who was best known for his long-range, high-arching jumpers. The 1993 Titan Hall of Famer averaged 15.2 points per game from  1975-79 and holds school records in field goals in a game (23) and in a season (303).

Duerod held the Titans' single-game points record for nearly 10 years, after scoring 47 points on his record 23 field goals against CCNY on Feb. 10, 1979.

"That was just amazing for me," Duerod said. "Sometimes it just feels like the ball's going in the ocean."

Duerod, who ranks sixth in total points at Detroit Mercy with 1,690, did all his collegiate damage without a 3-point line. It wasn't adopted by the NCAA until 1986-87.

"I bet you if he had a 3-point line, he easily would have had 65 points," Tullos said. Technically, yeah, I have the 49, but Duerod is the man."

A regular at Calihan Hall and avid viewer of Titans basketball, Duerod is well acquainted with Davis and has been impressed by his quick rise to college hoops' epicenter.

"The guy's explosive," Duerod said. "He can definitely play offense. He's, fast, he's quick. The thing is, he's just got to get a little stronger, that's it. But once he gets in the weight room, a couple more seasons, he's going to be really good."

Duerod, who was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 1979 and won an NBA Championship with Boston in 1981, crafted his long-range shot by taking thousands of shots per day. Davis, training under John Lucas Jr. since age 14, continues to use the high-volume shooting to perfect his shot.

Playing behind upperclassmen early into their careers, it took Phillips and Tullos some time to display their offensive gifts in front of the Calihan Hall faithful. But like Duerod and Davis, there were many hours of behind-the-scenes toiling in order to reach that level of scoring.

"I always had the confidence, but one thing I was taught to do was just wait for your time," Tullos said. "Whenever I went out there on the floor, I always had that confidence, it was just a matter of how long are you going to be out on the floor. The more I was able to be out on the floor, the more you were able to see the hard work that was put in. 

"I give God all the glory; I have the utmost confidence because of my relationship with Him as a youngster coming up. It wasn't an easy journey. The hours shooting jump shots, working on your ball handling, those sort of things. Yeah, you want to be good, but do you really want to be good? Do you want to wake up at four in the morning go out there and run the miles, put the jumpers in? That was always instilled with me growing up."

NATION TURNING THEIR ATTENTION TO DAVIS

Davis' freshman season has been nothing short of spectacular. 

Starting all but one of Detroit Mercy's 28 games this season (the lone being a DNP due to an injury), he has scored at least 20 points 20 times. His eight 30-point games are the most since Tullos' 10 30-point games in 1987-88.

One of the top scorers in the NCAA from the very start of the season, Davis started picking up national attention after leading Detroit Mercy to the Legends Classic Subregional Championship, presented by Old Trapper.

He's been featured by multiple ESPN programs, Sports Illustrated, The Athletic and many other national outlets. 

"It has been amazing. I am truly blessed," Davis said. "You never think that is going to happen. I just keep working hard and working with my teammates for us to get better every day."

Bleacher Report featured Davis last month, touting him alongside Duke's Zion Williamson, who has been compared to NBA All-Star LeBron James for the past several years and is widely expected to be the first overall selection in June's NBA Draft.

"I think he's right up there with the Zions and the R.J. Barrett's," Phillips said. "We herald these freshmen that go to these blue-blood schools, and we're supposed to, but I don't think Antoine should take a backseat to those guys. He's on a historic pace right now, and I don't think he's going through a hot phase — I think that's just the type of player he is."

In January's game versus Oakland, Davis became the third ever Horizon League men's basketball freshman to score more than 500 points in a season, joining Dikembe Dixon and Mark Miller, both of UIC. Davis passed both with ease in early February to overtake ownership of the league's freshman points record.

Davis now has 709 points on the year, already the sixth-highest single-season output in program history. With at least three games remaining in the Detroit Mercy's season, he is within reach of the top spot, held by Phillips at 785 points in 2000-01. 

Should Davis maintain his points per game average (26.3) through the end of the season, he'll finish tied for the second-best scoring average in Horizon League history. Alfredrick Hughes (Loyola, 1984-85) and Keith Gailes (Loyola, 1989-90) both averaged 26.3 points per game and are right behind Hughes' top mark of 27.6 in 1983-84.

Davis said he didn't expect to put up the type of numbers he has this season, rather focusing on hard work and wanting to make an impact. 

But for those who were in his shoes before, watching Davis do historic things at Detroit Mercy and put the program back on the map brings an indescribable feeling of joy.

"I can't put it into words. It's just terrific," Phillips said. "I think the city of Detroit needs that superhero-type figure so kids can be able to see that you don't need to go to the blue-blood schools to be a great basketball player. You can do this right here on 6-Mile and Livernois. Just the outlook of having a person of that caliber, a player of that caliber, to put that on display right here in your backyard. You take that stuff for granted and you shouldn't, because there's not a bunch of Antoine Davis' walking around. 

"Whenever he decides to leave, it's not like there's going to be another one that comes in, and another one that comes in. At our school, those type of players only come around once every 20-25 years, so you have to cherish them while they're there."