DETROIT (12/24/2020) -- Twas the day after Christmas and two teams wanted to play as Santa Claus delivered the #MetroSeries to be put on display a bit early this season with the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team now hosting rival Oakland this weekend at Calihan Hall.

Both games will start at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 26-27 and will be streamed online on ESPN3 and the Watch 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 on Sunday and an audio stream on Saturday. 

The games were rescheduled by the Horizon League on Wednesday after both teams lost an opponent due to a positive COVID-19 test among the program's tier 1 personnel. Detroit Mercy was supposed to face IUPUI, while Oakland was slated to battle NKU. 

Detroit Mercy (1-5, 0-2 HL) and Oakland (0-9, 0-2 HL) have had a tough start to the season, mostly due to tough competition. The Titans faced Michigan State, Notre Dame and Kent State in the non-conference and dropped their first two HL games to league-favorite Wright State, while the Golden Grizzlies took on the likes of Xavier, Michigan, MSU and Oklahoma State in non-league action and dropped their first two conference games on the road at UIC.

Detroit Mercy and Oakland branded the #MetroSeries in 2014.

ALL-TIME SERIES

• This is the 27th career meeting between the two schools, located roughly 26 miles apart.
• The series is tied at 13-13 as Oakland has won seven in a row and 12 of the last 14 since joining the Horizon League in 2013-14. 
• The Titans are 12-6 at home in the match-up, but have dropped four straight. 

HONORING SMOKEY & DUEROD

• The Titans will honor their late coach in Smokey Gaines and former All-American Terry Duerod with a commemorative patch on their jerseys this season. 
• It will be located on the top of their right shoulder. 

CHECK OUT THESE GRADES

• The University of Detroit Mercy student-athletes posted one of the best semester GPA's in recent history.
• The Titans recorded a 3.45 GPA spanning over 250 student-athletes with over 220 tallying a term GPA of 3.0. All 17 programs were above a 3.0 with four programs over a 3.5 and 10 exceeding 3.4. 
• The men's basketball team registered a 3.09 team GPA, the second-straight semester the program has tallied a 3.0 GPA. 

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.

QUICK NUMBERS VS. OU

• Junior Antoine Davis is averaging 22.2 points, 5.2 assists and 1.7 steals in four career games against Oakland.
• His shooting hasn't been up to his standards at 32.0% overall (26-of-81) and 26.6% (12-of-45) from three although he is 25-of-29 (86.2%) at the line. 
• Junior Chris Brandon had one of his biggest collegiate games at Oakland last year with a career-high 18 rebounds - the most boards by a Titan since 1992 - and posting six points, three blocks and two assists. 
• As a freshman in just his second collegiate game, Willy Isiani had 12 points hitting four 3-pointers at home. 

TOPS IN THE NATION

• Detroit Mercy led the HL and was ninth in the NCAA in free-throw percentage at 78.2 percent last season and are currently third in the nation and tops in the league again in that category hitting 84.1% on the year (74-of-88) 
• The Titans hit all 11 at the charity stripe at Michigan State and were 8-of-10 at Notre Dame, 18-of-20 against Kent State, 16-of-19 at Western Michigan and 15-of-18 in the final game versus Wright State. 
• Part of that success is junior Antoine Davis, who owns a career 87.9%, second in school history and the sixth highest among all active Division I players. 

KEEPING THE BALL

• The Titans currently rank 15th in the nation and second in the HL averaging just 10.3 turnovers per game
• They also rank 56th in the country averaging just 16.0 fouls per game. 

TWO FOR 20

• The Titans had two players reach 20 points in the season opener at Michigan State and this past Sunday against Wright State.
• Junior Antoine Davis led the team with 24 and senior Matt Johnson had 20 at MSU and graduate senior Bul Kuol netted 21 and Johnson 20 against the Raiders. 

EVERYONE MUST HELP OUT

• The Titans had five players pull down at least five rebounds at Notre Dame and three players also recorded three assists. 
• In the win at Western Michigan, the Titans played just seven players and five scored in double figures. 
• Overall on the season, five times in six games have the Titans had four players reach double figures in scoring. 

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 24.4 points per game is tops among all active players and his 1,611 career points is 15th most among active players and the highest by any junior in DI.

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 66 collegiate games and has also scored in double figures in all 66 games - reaching at least 17 points in 51 of them.

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 238 career 3-pointers, second in school history, while his career 3.6 triples per game is the second-highest among all active players in DI trailing only Dru Kuxhausen of McNeese State (3.92). 
• The 3.66 mark is also ninth all-time in NCAA history. 
• His uncharacteristic 0-of-9 effort at Michigan State, 0-of-6 game at Western Michigan and 0-of-7 versus Wright State marked just the second, third and fourth time in 66 collegiate games that he failed to hit a three. The other was an 0-of-5 mark against Cleveland State last season.

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 1,611 career points, ninth in school history, and is 389 points shy of 2000 - something only two Titans have done (John Long and Rashad Phillips).

DAVIS DISHING IT OUT

• Junior Antoine Davis does not just score, but he also does a good job of helping his team and he handed out 4.5 assists per game, fourth in the HL and 89th in the nation, last season. 
• He has 261 career assists, good for 3.9 per game. 
• Davis is coming off a season-high six helpers against Wright State. 

SOMETHING TO PROVE

• A transfer from St. Bonaventure with one year of eligibility, Matt Johnson has been a key factor, scoring in double digits and grabbed at least five rebounds in five of his first six games as a Titan. 
• He certainly made a name for himself in his first game tallying 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, pulled down seven rebounds with a career-best five steals against Kent State and just tied his career high with 20 points and recorded a collegiate-best eight boards in the two games against Wright 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 six games, he already has 81 points and has knocked down 15 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
• 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.

A LONG JOURNEY FOR KUOL

• Graduate senior transfer Bul Kuol has already made a major impact on the team. 
• Kuol has posted double digits in scoring five times already, while also setting career high in blocks and steals. 
• Kuol netted a career-best 21 points - hitting 7-of-15 shots and 4-of-8 from three, in game two against Wright State to go with a high watermark of four thefts.
• He also handed out a career-high five assists in the first game with three swats.  
• He netted 18 points with six caroms at Notre Dame and was active in the season opener on defense, ending the game with 12 points and four boards 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.

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, a season-best 19 points hitting 8-of-12 shots in the first game versus Wright State and 10 points with seven boards and five helpers in the second game.  

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 and netted 10 points with a key 3-pointer late in the game in a win at Western Michigan. 
• 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. 

CLEANING THE GLASS

• Junior Chris Brandon returned to the team against Wright State after missing the first four contests of the season due to a wrist injury.
• After playing just 10 minutes in the first game, he started to return to fashion in game two scoring six points with six rebounds and two blocks. One of his dunks was No. 3 on ESPN's SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays of the game on Dec. 20. 
• He elevated his game to another level last year as he saw action in all 31 games with 18 starts and had career highs posting a team-high 8.1 rebounds and 44 blocks to go with 6.3 points and 20 steals. He also shot a career-best 63.4 percent from the field, a team-high and second in school history. 
• Brandon was fourth in the HL with 3.13 offensive rebounds per game (44th in DI) and fifth in total rebounding at 8.1 (110th in DI) as he recorded a team-high four double-doubles on the year and pulled down at least 10 rebounds in 12 contests, including 10 times in conference action. 
• He posted his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds along with four blocks at #1 Gonzaga. He scored a career-high 18 points (9-10 FG) and blocked a career-best six shots with 12 rebounds against IUPUI and pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds - the most boards by a Titan since 1992 - with six points, three blocks and two assists at Oakland. 

WHY HE'S ALL-DEFENSIVE

• Junior Chris Brandon was named to the Horizon League All-Defensive Team last season, the first Titan to earn All-Defensive honors since Eli Holman in 2011. 
• He totaled a HL-best 44 blocks and was second in the conference with 1.43 bocks per game, tallying a block in 21 games with at least three blocks in seven games and a career-high six swats against IUPUI. 

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 is starting to learn the post position grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds with eight points at Western Michigan, posting a career-high five assists with six rebounds and two steals at Michigan State and 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 64 of 87 in his career have been from distance.

FROM ALL OVER

• The Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will feature student-athletes from seven states (Alabama, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Texas) and four countries (Australia, Canada, Georgia, Sudan).