DETROIT (2/12/2020) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will start a four-game homestand this week as the Titans host the Penguins of Youngstown State on Thursday.

Game time is set for 7 p.m., on Dick Vitale Court in Calihan Hall and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and locally on WADL-38 with Jeremy Otto on the call as well as over the air on 910 AM Superstation with Dan Hasty providing the action. 

The Horizon League is coming down the stretch run with each having five or six games left and there is a log jam in the middle of the standings with Youngstown State in third place at 7-5, while the Titans are eighth at 4-8.

The Titans are 11 points away from possibly being 8-3 in the HL as they had a double-digit lead late in a one-point loss to Wright State and had the ball at the buzzer for a game-winning shot at Youngstown State, a game-tying shot at Green Bay and suffered just a five-point loss at Cleveland State.

The Titans dropped two games last week to the top two teams in the standings in Wright State and NKU. In the first meeting versus Youngstown State, the game was back and forth and the red, white and blue trailing late when it made a comeback and tied the game, only to fall short by two points as its shot at the buzzer rim out. 

Sophomore Antoine Davis leads the Horizon League and is fifth in the nation in scoring at 23.0 ppg, while junior Dwayne Rose Jr. has recorded back-to-back 20-point games with 20 at Wright State and a career-best 21 at NKU, and is now averaging 11.8 points and 3.7 rebounds, shooting 46.9 percent (23-49), 77.7 percent from three (7-9) and 83.3 percent at the line (30-36) in the last seven games. 

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

ALL-TIME SERIES

• Detroit Mercy has dominated the all-time series to the tune of a 38-11 advantage, which includes winning 12 of the last 14 and 16 of the last 19 meetings. 
• Youngstown State has come back to earn wins in the last two meetings. 
• The Titans are also 21-4 at home against the Penguins with seven wins in the last eight battles at Calihan Hall. 

DAVIS 5th 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 fifth in the country and leading the Horizon League in scoring at 23.0 points per game. 
• He trails Marquette's Markus Howard (27.4) and UTSA's Jhivvan Jackson (27.0), Northeastern's Jordan Rolan (23.4) and Iowa's Luke Garza (23.1).
• He has 16 games with 20 or more points and four 30-point outings on the year.
• Davis had a season-high 35 against SIUE, 31 at #1 Gonzaga and 33 at Ohio. 
• Last year, he topped the HL at 26.1 ppg. and he is the second active leading scorer in Division I in at 25.0 ppg. 

DAVIS' LETHAL SHOT

• Sophomore Antoine Davis hit a season-high seven 3-pointers against SIUE and made six at Milwaukee and five from long range at #1 Gonzaga and against IUPUI.
• He now has 29 games with four or more triples, nine with six or more and has twice connected on 10 in his young career.
• Davis currently has 213 career 3-pointers and is already fifth in school history, just 11 away from fourth place, while his career 3.94 triples per game is the second-highest among all active players in DI. 

GETTING THE FREE ONES

• Detroit Mercy leads the HL and is third in the country in free-throw percentage at 78.9 percent, connecting on at least 20 or more free throws six times this season.
• Some of the best games have included:
• 20-of-22 at Clemson
• 25-of-30 vs. UC Irvine
• 20-of-24 vs. Louisiana Lafayette
• 21-of-24 at Oakland
• 28-of-31 at Milwaukee
• 21-of-26 at Green Bay
• 14-of-15 vs. UIC
• It helps to have two of the best at the line as sophomore Antoine Davis leads the league and is fourth in the nation (90.2%) as he has hit 120-of-133 on the year, while senior Justin Miller is fourth in the HL and 116th in the nation at 81.8 percent.

RACKING UP THE POINTS

• Antoine Davis now has 39 career 20-point games and 13 career 30-point outings in just 54 collegiate contests.
• He has now scored in double figures in all 54 games - reaching at least 17 points in 45 of them - and he also nailed two 3-pointers at NKU to extend his three-point shooting streak to 54-straight games, the fourth-longest streak in the country.
• 1. Mack Smith (Eastern Illinois) – 73    
• 2. Jaylen Minnett (IUPUI) – 62
• 3. Cameron Healy (Albany) - 56
• 4. Antoine Davis (Detroit Mercy) - 54

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 10 points at NKU, Davis is 23rd in school history with 1,337 points, four points shy of Jermaine Jackson and 22nd place. 

DAVIS TABBED TOP 10 FINALISTS FOR JERRY WEST AWARD

• Antoine Davis received some great news today as the high-scoring guard was named a top-10 finalist for the Jerry West Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
• Named after Class of 1980 Hall of Famer and 1959 NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player Jerry West, the annual honor in its sixth year recognizes the top shooting guards in Division I men's college basketball. A national committee of top college basketball personnel narrowed down the watch list from 20 to just 10 candidates.
• Starting Five Fan Voting presented by Dell Technologies will go live on Friday, February 7, via hoophallawards.com. In March, five finalists will be presented to Mr. West and the Hall of Fame's selection committee. The winner of the 2020 Jerry West Award will be presented at The College Basketball Awards presented by Wendy's in Los Angeles, CA on Friday, April 10, 2020, along with the other four members of the Men's Starting Five. 
• Previous winners of the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award include RJ Barrett, Duke (2019), Carsen Edwards, Purdue (2018), Malik Monk, Kentucky (2017), Buddy Hield, Oklahoma (2016) and D'Angelo Russell, Ohio State (2015). 

2020 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award Candidates 

• Antoine Davis, Detroit Mercy
• Isaiah Joe, Arkansas
• Kamar Baldwin, Butler
• Ty-Shon Alexander, Creighton 
• Anthony Edwards, Georgia 
• Joe Wieskamp, Iowa
• Tyrese Maxey, Kentucky 
• Skylar Mays, LSU 
• Myles Powell, Seton Hall 
• Desmond Bane, TCU

CLEANING THE GLASS

• Sophomore Chris Brandon has been a beast on the glass in his last 14 games, pulling down at least 10 rebounds in nine contests and is averaging 11.5 in that span with four double-doubles. He also has at least four offensive rebounds in eight of those games with nine at Oakland and seven at Cleveland State and at Green Bay.
• He tallied 12 points and 14 boards at Wright State and five points with 14 rebounds at NKU. He had a huge game with a career-best 18 points - hitting 9-of-10 shots - and 12 rebounds and a career-high six blocks against IUPUI.
• He posted nine points and 15 rebounds at Green Bay and that followed 12 points and 14 boards at Milwaukee. 
• He posted his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 boards along with four blocks at #1 Gonzaga. 
• Brandon had a day to remember at Oakland as he grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds, the most since Eli Holman had 18 against Milwaukee in 2010.
• On the season, he leads the team in rebounding at 8.0 per night - fourth in the HL - while his 3.02 offensive rebounds is fourth in the HL and 60th in the NCAA. 

BRANDON SHOWING OFF

• Chris Brandon has come alive, showing off his high energy and athleticism to grab rebounds, score and block shots.
• Brandon leads the HL with 1.48 blocks per game and 37 total swats on the year. 
• He posted career highs with 18 points (9-10 FG) and six blocks along with 12 rebounds at IUPUI. 
• He had a game and career-highh 18 rebounds at Oakland and posted four blocks at #1 Gonzaga to go with 10 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double.
• He had three blocks and two steals along 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, he finished with 12 points and eight rebounds at Clemson and just had 12 points and 14 rebounds at WSU.  
• He is now averaging 6.7 points and 8.0 rebounds, while shooting 68.5 percent (74-of-108) on the season, although he does not have enough field goals to qualify for the leaderboard (need 5 made per game).
• Last year, he shot 60.8 percent from the field, mostly on getting to the rim and putting back offensive rebounds.  

BRADLEY BUCKETS GOES FOR 20

• Brad Calipari has been in double figures five times this season as he posted 11 points off the bench at Cleveland State and added nine against IUPUI and eight at Youngstown State and at NKU. 
• 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. 
• Calipari has hit at least two 3-pointers in 13 games - including six times in HL play - 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. 

MILLER TIME

• Senior transfer Justin Miller had a special moment 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 17 points, five caroms and three assists.
• With 11 points at NKU, he has reached double figures in 11 of the last 15 games.
• He had 15 points against Oakland. He registered 16 points with six boards at Youngstown State and that was after 14 points with seven caroms and a season-high three steals at Cleveland State.
• He posted his second Titan double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds versus Wright State.
• Before that, he had a season-high 18 points, six rebounds, season-best five assists and two steals against NKU. 
• At Clemson, he made his presence felt with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds before tallying 14 vs. UC Irvine. 
• In his career, he has scored in double figures in 56 games - including 20 or more four times - with a career-high 22 points on the road at Kansas. 

MOORE FOR MARQUIS

• Sophomore Marquis Moore finally got over his high watermark of 12 points by scoring a career-best 15, hitting three 3-pointers with six rebounds and three assists at Youngstown State and then raised that to 18 points at Milwaukee, where he was 9-of-10 at the line with nine rebounds and a career-best five steals. 
• He scored 16 points against UIC and tallied his second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Eastern Michigan.
• He now has nine games on the year with five or more rebounds with eight double-digit scoring efforts. 

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 33 of his 44 field goals this season and 53 of 68 in his career have been from behind the arc. 
• A native of Tbilisi, Georgia, he is believed to be the first Titan from the country of Georgia.

ROSE RAISING HIS GAME

• Junior Dwayne Rose Jr. has started to pick up his scoring, netting double figures in five of the last seven games, including back-to-back games of 20 or more. 
•  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. 
• He was in double figures in both games in Wisconsin with 16 points, five rebounds and two assists at Milwaukee and 13 points at Green Bay.
• He also had 13 points, six rebounds and two steals against Oakland. 
• In the last seven games, he is averaging 11.8 points and 3.7 rebounds, shooting 46.9 percent (23-49), 77.7 percent from three (7-9) and 83.3 percent at the line (30-36).