DETROIT (1/2/2020) -- The new year is here and back to conference play for the rest of the season as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team hosts the top two projected teams in the HL starting with NKU on Friday, Jan. 3. 

Game time is set for 7 p.m., and will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and locally on WADL-38 with Jeremy Otto and Earl Cureton on the call as well as over the air on 910 AM Superstation with Dan Hasty calling the contest. 

The Titans are coming off a competitive 93-72 contest on the road at No. 1 Gonzaga and are looking to even their record in conference play after falling at Oakland last week. 

The Titans are 21-18 all-time in HL home openers as they defeated Wright State last season in Antoine Davis' 48-point performance. 

Davis has been on fire recently posting at least 24 points in five-straight games and is averaging 28.6 points in that span to raise his season average to 25.6 ppg., first in the HL and third in the nation. Last year, he had a pair of 30-point games against NKU as he averaged 29.6 ppg., on 44.7 percent shooting (34-of-76) to go with 5.0 assists per game.

Another Titan that has increased his performances is sophomore Chris Brandon, who has pulled down double-digit rebounds in three-straight games and at least nine in four of the last five with a double-double and is averaging 10.4 boards in that span. He also hs 12 blocks in the last five games and is now leading the league at 1.21 per game.

NKU comes into the game at 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the Horizon League after splitting the opening weekend of conference play by beating Milwaukee and losing to Green Bay. The Norse have had a couple of injuries pop up their way and are led by Dantez Walton (18.3) and Tyler Sharpe (16.2), two of the top four scorers in the league, although Walton has missed the last few games. 

Following the contest, Detroit Mercy will welcome preseason favorite Wright State into Calihan Hall on Sunday in a 1 p.m. tip. 

Tickets start at just $10 and can be purchased by visiting detroittitans.com/tix. 

ALL-TIME SERIES

• This is the 10th career meeting between the two schools as NKU leads the all-time series, 8-1.
• NKU has won seven in a row and is 4-0 against the Titans at Calihan Hall. 

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE ONE OF THE TOUGHEST

• The non-conference opponents were a combined 258-176 (.594) a year ago, with six teams earning postseason bids.
• So far on the season, the non-conference foes have combined for a 104-71 (59.4%) mark with one more left.
• In total, the red, white and blue played 13 games in the non-conference with nine away from the Motor City.
• The first seven games of the year were on the road and 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.

DAVIS THIRD IN NATION IN SCORING

• After finishing third in the nation in scoring last season, sophomore Antoine Davis has his name right back on top of the nation's leaders as he ranks third in the country and leading the Horizon League in scoring at 25.6 points.
• Davis now has 11 games on the season with 20 or more points and four 30-point outings.
• He has scored at least 24 points in his last five games - with a season-high 35 against SIUE and 31 at #1 Gonzaga. 
• Last year, he topped the HL at 26.1 ppg. and he is the current active leader in scoring average at 26.0 ppg. 

GETTING THE FREE ONES

• Detroit Mercy has done a good job at the line this year as the Titans are leading the HL and fifth in the country in free-throw percentage at 79.8 percent. 
• The Titans have connected on at least 20 free throws four times this season and are 172 of their last 211 (81.5%). 
• It helps to have two of the best at the line as sophomore Antoine Davis - who has made 34-straight free throws - leads the league and is 10th in the nation (93.1%), while senior Justin Miller is second in the HL and 36th in the nation at 88.5 percent.

BACK IN THE 20'S

• Antoine Davis now has 34 career 20-point games and 13 career 30-point outings in just 43 collegiate contests after scoring a game-high 31 at Gonzaga. 
• He has now scored in double figures in all 43 games - reaching at least 17 points in 40 of them - and he also nailed five, 3-pointers against the Bulldogs to extend his three-point shooting streak to 43-straight games, the fifth-longest streak in the country.
• 1. Mack Smith (Eastern Illinois) – 61    
• 2. Justin Jaworski (Lafayette) – 59
• 3. Jaylen Minnett (IUPUI) – 51
• 4. Cameron Healy (Albany) - 47
• 5. Antoine Davis (Detroit Mercy) - 43

DAVIS QUICKEST TO 1,000 POINTS 

• Sophomore Antoine Davis scored a team-high 27 points at Notre Dame, but it was his free throw for 26 that made history giving him 1,000 career points in just 39 games, passing 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 reach 1,000.
• DeBusschere accomplished the feat in his 43rd collegiate on his way to 1,985. 
• Davis is the 43rd player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career points and just the third second-year player joining DeBusschere (who did it as a junior as freshmen could not play) and sophomore Ray McCallum in 2010-11.
• With his 31 points at #1 Gonzaga, Davis is now 30th in school history with 1,117 points, just eight shy of 29th place. 

DAVIS' LETHAL SHOT

• Sophomore Antoine Davis hit a season-high seven 3-pointers against SIUE and just made five from long range at Gonzaga.
• He now has 24 games with four or more triples, eight with six or more and has twice connected on 10 in his young career.
• Davis currently has 176 career 3-pointers and is already seventh in school history, just 26 away from sixth place. 

CLEANING THE GLASS

• Sophomore Chris Brandon has been a monster on the glass in his last five games, averaging 10.4 boards with three-straight games pulling down double-digit rebounds.
• He is coming off his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 boards along with tying his career-best with four blocks at #1 Gonzaga. 
• Brandon had a day to remember at Oakland as he grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds to go with six points and three blocks and had 10 boards against SIUE.
• The 18 boards are the most since Greg Grant had 20 against Toledo in 1992.
• On the season, he is tied for first on the team in rebounding at 5.6 per night, while his 2.57 offensive rebounds per game is seventh in the HL and 146th in the NCAA. 

WATCH YOUR BACK

• Sophomore Antoine Davis tallied 28 steals as a freshman, but he already has 27 so far and is leading the conference and 48th in the nation at 2.08 per game.
• He has a steal in 12 of the 13 games he has played in with a career-high four at Clemson. 

LONG RANGE APPROACH

• Detroit Mercy got off a school-record 46 attempts from behind the arc at Oakland, making 12 in the process. 
• The Titans had 66 total field goal attempts in the contest. 

BRADLEY BUCKETS GOES FOR 20

• Graduate student Brad Calipari was back in double figures for the fourth time this season as he posted a team and career-high 20 points, hitting a career-best five 3-pointers against Toledo.
• That was after draining four triples and ending with 12 points at Notre Dame. 
• After starting the season 0-for-7 from the field and 0-of-5 from three, Calipari is 27-of-54 overall (50.0%) and 24-of-48 (50.0%) from three in his last 10 games from behind the arc and is averaging 8.5 points in that span. 
• He has also hit at least two 3-pointers in seven of the first 12 games and connected on four or more in four contests. 
• He had 13 points hitting 4-of-6 from long range at Wyoming and came back with a then career-high 16 points with four more triples in the win over UC Irvine. 
• 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. 
• 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. 

BRANDON SHOWING OFF

• Sophomore Chris Brandon has come alive recently, showing off his high energy and athleticism to grab rebounds, score and block shots.
• Brandon currently leads the Horizon League with 1.2 blocks per game and 17 total swats on the year. 
• He just tied his career-high for the second time this season with four blocks at Gonzaga to go with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
• He had three blocks and two steals to go with his 18 boards at Oakland, and against Toledo, he finished with nine rebounds and four blocks, two of which were coming down the court and breaking up a Rockets' fast-break attempt. 
• One of the most athletic players in the Horizon League, in the season opener at NC State, he had a couple of dunks finishing with eight points, three rebounds, two assists, a steal and a block.
• He came back with another athletic performance, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds at Clemson. 
• He is now averaging 4.6 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds, while shooting 64.3 percent (27-of-42) on the season. 
• Last year, he shot 60.8 percent from the field, mostly on getting to the rim and putting back offensive rebounds. 

MILLER TIME

• Senior transfer Justin Miller had a special moment in his career with a little more than three minutes to go at top-ranked Gonzaga as he posted his 1,000 career collegiate point.
• He ended the contest with a season-best 17 with five caroms and three assists against the Bulldogs for his sixth career double-digit scoring effort. 
• He ended with 12 points in the win over SIUE and that was after 13 points and six boards against Northeastern.
• At Clemson, he really made his presence felt posting 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds before tallying 14 knocking down a pair of triples in the win over UC Irvine. 
• 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.  
• In his career, he has scored in double figures in 48 games - including 20 or more four times - with a career-high 22 points on the road at Kansas. 
• For the Titans, he is second on the team in scoring (9.1) and tied for the team lead in rebounding (5.6). 

MOORE FOR MARQUIS

• Sophomore Marquis Moore tied his season and career-high with 12 points for the third time this year against Oakland. 
• He also had 12 points - hitting four 3-pointers - with four rebounds versus SIUE. 
• He tallied his second career double-double with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds against Eastern Michigan.
• He posted eight points and nine rebounds at Wyoming and has grabbed at least four rebounds in six of the first 13 games
• Last season, he had at least five rebounds in eight games, including two in double figures with a season-best 11 rebounds at Milwaukee and 10 against IUPUI
• He had his first collegiate double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds against IUPUI, a team-high on the boards, and posted 12 points and eight rebounds in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals at NKU. 

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 1,117 career points, 162 assists and 54 steals.  
• For Brad Calipari, he has already surpassed his dad's, John Calipari, point totals at Division I as he has 96 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. 

HISTORY VS. #1

• Detroit Mercy played the No. 1 team for the sixth time in its program history to end the decade on Dec. 30 as the Titans visited the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs.
• Antoine Davis had a game-high 31 points, Justin Miller scored 17 and Chris Brandon posted his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds in the 93-72 setback. 
• The Titans are now 2-4 all-time against the No. 1 team with both wins coming in 1951-52 defeating Bradley on the road, 70-65, and Oklahoma State at home, 62-52.

HOORAY FOR GORMAN

• Junior walk-on Jordan Gorman came into the Oakland game with just 20 points on the season, but he connected on five 3-pointers and ended with a career-best 15 points against the Golden Grizzlies. 

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 had 11 points and tied his career-best with seven rebounds against Northeastern and that was after 11 points, four rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals against Toledo. At Notre Dame, he scored 11 points with a couple of 3-pointers.
• He continues to show his prowess from three as 25 of his 31 field goals this season and 45 of 56 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.