DETROIT (12/10/2020) -- The final tune-up before the start of conference play has the Titans staying in the state as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team heads to Western Michigan on Saturday.

Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. at University Arena and the game will be streamed live on ESPN3 and the ESPN App. Fans can also listen to the action on the radio on the new home of the Titans WLQV 92.7 FM & 1500 AM FaithTalk Detroit with the Voice of Detroit Mercy basketball Dan Hasty.

The Titans have played tough in their first three games despite not having a full roster available and will look to get back on track before conference play starts next week. Detroit Mercy has dropped road games at No. 8/12 Michigan State, 83-76, and at Notre Dame, 78-70, before falling to Kent State, 80-66.

 Junior Antoine Davis leads the team in scoring at 19.7 points per game, one of three Titans in double figures along with senior Matt Johnson's 13.3 ppg., and graduate senior Bul Kuol's 11.3

Western Michigan is 1-2 on the season losing at Butler, 66-62, and at MSU, 79-61, and beating Adrian, 62-42. 

ALL-TIME SERIES

• The series with Western Michigan dates all the way back to 1916 as the Titans lead the overall series, 27-26.
• Western Michigan has won two in a row, three of the last four and six of the last eight in the series. 
• The Titans are 9-16 all-time on the road as Western Michigan has won the last six meetings in Kalamazoo. 
• The last Titan win on the road was on Dec. 21, 2000, a 67-56 triumph. 

LOOKING BACK TO 2000

• Here are a few things that were going on in 2000 the last time the Titans won in Kalamazoo. 
• 1. Gisborne, New Zealand was the first city in the world to welcome in the new millennium
• 2. The last Peanuts comic strip was published
• 3. ER was the country's most-watched primetime TV show
• 4. The peak year of CD sales in America as consumers bought 943 million CDs.
• 5. Richard Hatch won $1,000,000 in the first season of Survivor

FINALLY ABLE TO START

• Detroit Mercy opened its season last Friday at Michigan State, and off a tweet sent out by Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey, scheduled a game against the Fighting Irish on Sunday. 
• Its first action was supposed to be in the Bluegrass Classic from Nov. 25-29, but had to cancel the games due to a positive COVID-19 test in the program. 
• The positive test came about from a member of the support staff and no other players or coaches tested positive or have since, although a few members of the team are in isolation due to contact tracing.
• The team was not put on pause and was able to continue to practice outside of those players and staff member. 

 
A DEBUT TO REMEMBER

• Head coach Mike Davis made his Titan debut the last time these teams met in 2018 and it was a great night for then-freshman Antoine Davis.
• He netted a team-high 32 points going 12-of-26 from the field with six 3-pointers, the most points ever by a Titan true freshman in his debut game and the second-most ever by a Titan in their collegiate debut behind only junior college transfer Spencer Haywood's 36 against Aquinas in 1968. 

BASKETBALL BLOODLINES

• There are a few other family connections between Titans and college coaches, NBA players and former NBA stars:
• * Graduate student Brad Calipari is the son of Kentucky head coach John Calipari
• * Senior Dwayne Rose Jr. is the nephew of current Pistons' guard and 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose
• * Junior Chris Brandon is the nephew of former NBA player and head coach John Lucas and cousin to former NBA player John Lucas and former Texas standout and current Kentucky assistant coach Jai Lucas
• * Sophomore Jamail Pink's uncle is NBA Hall-Of-Famer Clyde Drexler

ALL IN THE FAMILY

• Nothing new for the Titans to have a family connection in the program and this season, Detroit Mercy will once again feature three Davis' in head coach Mike Davis, assistant coach Mike Davis Jr. and junior 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.
• Also, the legendary Bob Calihan coached his son, Bob Calihan Jr., for one season as he transferred to U-D from Loyola in his senior season in 1968-69.

GETTING THE FREE ONES

• Detroit Mercy led the HL and was ninth in the NCAA in free-throw percentage at 78.2 percent last season. 
• The Titans were back at it in the season opener hitting all 11 at the charity stripe at Michigan State and were 8-of-10 at Notre Dame and 18-of-20 against Kent State.
• Detroit Mercy is now an amazing 37-of-41, a 90.2 % clip. 

COMPETING FOR EVERYTHING

• Detroit Mercy gave No. 8 Michigan State all it could handle in the season opener.
• The Titans outshot the Spartans, 70-63, and were just outrebounded by the Big Ten foe, 40-36, but claimed more offensive rebounds by a 14-12 margin.
• They also forced 17 MSU turnovers and took four charges, while being outscored in the paint by just two, 36-34. 
• At Notre Dame, the Titans were just edged on the glass, 42-39, and had a 13-7 advantage on second-chance points and 12-7 ledger on fast-break points. 

DAVIS 2ND LEADING RETURNING SCORER IN D1

• After finishing third in the nation in scoring as a freshman (26.1), Antoine Davis was right back on top of the nation's leaders as a sophomore finishing fourth in the country at 24.3 points per game, trailing only Marquette's Markus Howard (27.8), UTSA's Jhivvan Jackson (26.8) and Hampton's Jermaine Marrow (24.8).
• He entered the season as the second leading returning scoring behind Jackson as Howard and Marrow both graduated. 
• Davis' career 25.0 points per game is tops among all active players and his 1,572 career points is 11th most among active players and the highest by any junior in DI.

JERRY WEST AWARD WATCH LIST

• Antoine Davis is no stranger to national recognition and he added to his collection of awards by being named to the Jerry West Award watch list by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. 
• Davis was named a top-10 finalist for the award last season. 
• Previous winners include Myles Powell, Seton Hall (2020), RJ Barrett, Duke (2019), Carsen Edwards, Purdue (2018), Malik Monk, Kentucky (2017), Buddy Hield, Oklahoma (2016) and D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State (2015). 

ONE LETHAL SHOT

• Antoine Davis hit a season-high seven 3-pointers against SIUE last season en route to 14 games with four or more triples. 
• He now has 31 games with four or more triples, 11 with six or more and has twice connected on 10 in his young career.
• Davis currently has 237 career 3-pointers, second in school history, while his career 3.78 triples per game is the second-highest among all active players in DI trailing only Dru Kuxhausen of McNeese State. 
• The 3.78 mark is also currently seventh all-time in NCAA history. 
• His uncharacteristic 0-of-9 effort at Michigan State marked just the second time in 63 collegiate games that he failed to hit a three. The other was an 0-of-5 mark against Cleveland State last season.

RACKING UP THE POINTS

• Junior Antoine Davis now has 46 career 20-point games, 15 career 30-point outings and three 40-point contests in just 63 collegiate games and has also scored in double figures in all 63 games - reaching at least 17 points in 51 of them.
• In two seasons, Davis has scored 1,572 career points, 13th in school history. 

AD THE QUICKEST TO 1,000, NOW LOOKING AT 2,000

• Antoine Davis scored 27 points at Notre Dame last season, 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 - as the fastest Titan to reach 1,000.
• DeBusschere accomplished the feat in his 43rd collegiate on his way to 1,985. 
• Davis became 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.
• He now has 1,572 career points, 13th in school history, and is 428 points shy of 2000 - something only two Titans have done (John Long and Rashad Phillips)

SOMETHING TO PROVE

• A transfer from St. Bonaventure with one year of eligibility, Matt Johnson certainly made a name for himself in his first game as a Titan.
• Johnson tallied a career-high 20 points going 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-6 from three with five rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal at No. 8 Michigan State.
• He came right back to score 15 at Notre Dame with five rebounds and an assist at Notre Dame and pulled down a career-high seven rebounds with a career-best five steals against Kent State. 
• His previous career-high in scoring was just 12 points at George Washington last season as a member of St. Bonaventure. 
• He scored just 37 points all of last season, which included just four total 3-pointers, but through three games, he already has 40 points and has knocked down seven triples. 
• Johnson played in 22 games with one start last year with the Bonnies, averaging 1.7 points and 1.1 rebounds. 
• Prior to that, he played at two JUCO's spending his freshman year at Pensacola State and sophomore at Howard College
• With Pensacola State, he averaged 7.5 points and 2.7 rebounds per game and shot nearly 40 percent from the floor
• At Howard College, he was named All-Conference after averaging 14.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, scoring in double figures in 20 of 26 games, including five 20-point efforts
• As a prep, he played on two Maryland state championship squads at New Town High.

FRASER DID WHAT?

• Graduate senior Marquell Fraser accomplished something no Titan has done in 24 years and that was post a double-double in his Titan debut.
• Fraser had 11 points and a career-high 12 rebounds at nationally-ranked Michigan State, the first Titan to record a double-double in their first game since Derrick Hayes notched 14 points and 10 boards against Wayne State on Nov. 23, 1996. 
• It was the third career double-double for Fraser, who came back with an all-around game of 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals at Notre Dame. 
• He chose to play his final season a bit closer to home as he hails from Hamilton, Ontario, a three-hour drive from Detroit.
• As a prep, he was the No. 2 overall prospect out of Canada as a senior and a three-star recruit and played his freshman year at VCU before transferring to Idaho. 

BRADLEY BUCKETS

• Graduate Brad Calipari was in double figures six times last season as he saw action in 27 games, earning six starts, and posted 6.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game along with nine steals. 
• He led the team shooting 38.0 percent from three. Calipari was also second on the team with 46 triples as 46 of his 51 total field goals were from behind the line and his 1.7, 3-pointers per game was second on the team and 11th in the Horizon League.
• He also shot 70.8 percent at the free-throw line (17-of-24).  
• Calipari hit at least two 3-pointers in 14 games - seven times in HL play - and connected on four or more in four contests. 
• He had a 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.
• 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 has 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. 

A LONG JOURNEY FOR KUOL

• Detroit Mercy's graduate senior transfer Bul Kuol is looking to make an impact.
• Kuol netted a career-high 18 points with six rebounds at Notre Dame, going a career-best 7-of-17 with three 3-pointers in 40 minutes of action. 
• He was very active in the season opener on defense and ended the game with 12 points and four rebounds at MSU. 
• A native of the Sudan, he moved to Canberra, Australia, as a kid and starred at Lake Ginninderra College as a prep.
• He then went to Cap Baptist and played in 91 games with 39 starts in his four years, averaging 5.2 points and 3.0 rebounds. Last season, he played in 16 games and posted 5.6 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game, connecting on 19-of-40 from long range, as well as being one of the team's top defenders.

ROSE RAISING HIS GAME

• Senior Dwayne Rose Jr. had a strong game at Notre Dame finishing with six points, six rebounds and three assists.
• He came back with 15 points and four boards against Kent State. 
• He played in 28 games with eight starts last year and averaged 7.3 points and 2.4 rebounds, shooting 39.5% overall, 44.8% from behind the arc and 71.1% at the line. 
• He really started to find his stride in the second half of last season, netting double figures in scoring in seven of the last 13 games, including back-to-back games of 20 or more and a career-high 22 against UIC.
• He had a then career-high of 20 points and eight rebounds at Wright State and followed that up with 21 points, five rebounds and three assists at NKU. 
• In his first 15 games, he scored in double figures just once and averaged 4.2 points and 1.5 rebounds, shooting 35.0 % (21-of-60) from the field and 3-of-10 from three. 
• In his last 13 games, he averaged 10.7 points and 3.4 rebounds, shooting 42.1% (43-of-102), including 10-of-19 from three. 

BIG WILLY STYLE

• Junior Willy Isiani is back and looking to improve on his skill as a big man who can hit from the outside. A native of Tbilisi, Georgia, he is believed to be the first Titan from the country of Georgia.
• While he is known as a shooter, he had a career-high five assists with six rebounds and two steals at Michigan State and pulled down 10 boards with two blocks at Notre Dame. 
• He showed his offense versus Kent State scoring 15 points with seven boards and three assists. 
• He connected on the three ball on 37 of his 51 field goals last season and 61 of 83 in his career have been from distance.

IN THE BOOKS

• Freshman Joey Liedel made his collegiate debut late in the game at Notre Dame and quickly showed the Titans what to look forward to as he knocked down his first shot, a 3-pointer, something he did 334 times as a prep, sixth in the state of Michigan record books.