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University of Detroit Mercy Athletics

Matt Johnson drives a defender
Senior Matt Johnson and the Titans will look to knock off Louisville on Saturday.

Men's Basketball

Detroit Mercy Heads To Louisville For Saturday Matinee

DETROIT (11/19/2021) -- The Titans powerhouse week continues as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will look for a big road win in ACC territory as the red, white and blue collide with the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday. 

Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. (EST) at the KFC Yum! Center and fans can watch the game live on ESPN+/ACC Network + or listen to the Titans on WLQV 92.7 FM & 1500 AM FaithTalk Detroit with the Voice of Detroit Mercy basketball Dan Hasty.

Detroit Mercy is coming off a tough game at Mississippi State, a 77-64 setback, but the Titans were within four with eight minutes left. Senior Antoine Davis led the team again with 16 points, while senior Prince Oduro was perfect from the field going 7-of-7 and ending with 14 points and seven boards. 

Louisville is 2-1 on the season with home wins over Southern and Navy and a loss to Furman. The Cardinals were picked to finish sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in the preseason media poll. Louisville finished seventh last season at 13-7, 8-5 in conference play. 

Detroit Mercy will return home for practice after the game before heading back out on the road next week after Thanksgiving. 

ALL-TIME SERIES
  • Louisville leads the all-time series, 6-1, including a 5-0 mark when at home.
  • The teams first met in 1956, while the lone Titan win was on Dec. 14, 1957, as the Titans claimed a 68-64 victory at home. Ralph Uchison had 18 points and 14 rebounds, while Ray Albee netted 14 points. Mike Walsh scored a game-high 19 points and Don Haase recorded 10 points and four boards. 
  • The team held All-American candidate Don Goldstein to nine points. 

THE WORLD IN 1957
  • Check out some fun facts about the world in 1957, when the Titans defeated Louisville at home. 
  • President Eisenhower was sworn in for a second term
  • The phrase "IN GOD WE TRUST" first appeared on U.S. paper currency
  • The Detroit Lions were the NFL champs
  • The Tonight Show—a late-night talk show hosted by Jack Paar—premiered on NBC
  • The Top Song was All Shook Up by Elvis Presley
  • Bubble wrap, Purina dog chow, Dream Whip, Formula 409, Sweet'n Low, styrofoam coolers, and the Whopper all appeared in the marketplace for the first time
  • A gallon of milk cost $1.00, eggs were 55 cents a dozen, and bread was 19 cents for a 16-ounce loaf

DAVIS VS. LOUISVILLE
  • Head coach Mike Davis is 1-2 all-time against Louisville. He was 1-1 at Indiana with the win coming in 2002, 77-62, at home. He was also 0-1 while at Texas Southern falling 102-71 in 2016. 

TITANS PICKED FIFTH 
  • The Horizon League preseason coaches poll was released with the Titans earning fifth garnering two first-place votes and 350 points, trailing only defending champions Cleveland State (502), Wright State (463), NKU (406) and Milwaukee (396). 
  • Oakland totaled 340 points for sixth place, while Youngstown State collected 214 for seventh. UIC (204), Purdue Fort Wayne (169), Robert Morris (157), Green Bay (146) and IUPUI (85) rounded out the poll. 
  • It was the highest the Titans have been picked in the HL preseason poll since being selected fourth in 2015.

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 senior guard Antoine Davis.
  • From 2010-13, the Titans had head coach Ray McCallum and star guard Ray McCallum, winning the HL title 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 for his senior season in 1968-69.

STAT RANKINGS
  • Last season as a team, the Titans were top 100 in a number of areas, including fifth in both 3-point field goal percentage (39.1%) and free-throw percentage (80.4%) and 10th in 3-point field goals per game (10.2). 
  • The Titans also ranked 11th in least fouls per game (14.3), 50th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.25), 52nd in total 3-pointers (225), 56th in field goal percentage (46.4%) and scoring offense (76.5%), 60th in least turnovers per game (11.5) and 89th in assists per game (14.3).

FROM ALL OVER
  • The Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will feature student-athletes from eight states (Alabama, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Texas) and four countries (Canada, Georgia, Ivory Coast and the Sudan).

TOUGH SCHEDULE
  • A nine-game road trip will start the season for the Titans as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team's non-conference is one filled with tough match-ups
  • The opponents totaled a 116-101 record last year and has teams from the SEC, ACC and Mountain West, conferences that produce multi NCAA Tournament teams. 
  • The nine-straight games away from Calihan Hall is the second-longest streak away from the Motor City since the end of the 2000-01 campaign when the Titans played 10-straight with two road games to end the season, three neutral site games in the conference tournament, and then five games in the NIT as they made a run to the semifinals.  

CASHING IN ON THE FREE ONES
  • Senior Antoine Davis, who claimed fourth in DI in free-throw percentage with a league-best and school-record 91.7% (88-of-96) last season, currently owns the school record at 89.0% (371-of-417) and comes into the game hitting a school-record 57-straight free throws, the longest current streak in the country. 
  • His 89.0% is the fourth-highest among active returning players in the nation. 

RACKING UP THE POINTS
  • Senior Antoine Davis now has 60 career 20-point games, 20 career 30-point outings and four 40-point contests in just 85 collegiate games and has also scored in double figures in all 85 games - reaching at least 17 points in 67 of them.
  • He enters the season with a chance at the NCAA record for most consecutive games in double figures, held by La Salle's Lionel Simmons (1986-90) and Campbell's Chris Clemons at 115 (2015-19). 
  • Last year, he recorded a HL-best 15, 20-point games, five 30-point outings and a conference high-tying 46 points, just two off his career-high and a HL Tournament record with his 46 coming against Robert Morris in the first round of the playoffs. 
  • The 46 points was tied for the league and nation high with Cleveland State's D'Moi Hodge (vs. Purdue Fort Wayne). 
  • Last season he also reached at least 23 points in 13-straight games, the best 20-point streak by a Titan since Spencer Haywood's 16-straight in 1968-69 - and to Haywood's resume, most of those were 30-point games. 

PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
  • Antoine Davis was named the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year.
  • It was the second time he has earned that honor as he was also tabbed with the accolade as a sophomore.
  • Last season, the Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American led the Horizon League in scoring and was third in the nation at 24.0 points per game, a number that has him ranked as the second leading returning scorer in the county this year.
  • He also led the HL and was second in the nation in 3-point field goals per game (3.77), marking the third-straight year that Davis has been top 10 nationally in 3-point field goals per game. He was among the nation's leaders in a bevy of other categories including: fourth in free-throw percentage with a league-best and school-record 91.7%, 12th in total 3-pointers (83), 22nd in total points (527), 23rd in total field goals (178), 59th in the nation in assists per game (4.8), 64th in the country in 3-point field goal percentage (37.2%) and 92nd in DI in total assists (105).

AD THE QUICKEST TO 1,000 & 2,000, ON A QUEST FOR SCHOOL RECORD
  • Antoine Davis scored 27 points at Notre Dame in the 2019-20 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 game.
  • 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.
  • Last year, he passed DeBusschere again (1,978) for third in Titan history as he crossed the 2,000-point plateau in his 81st game, quicker than the other two 2,000-point scorers in John Long (2,167 total - 2,000 in game 102) and Rashad Phillips (2,319 total - 2,000 in game 116). 
  • He now has 2,093 career points, just 76 behind Long for second place and 226 in back of Phillips for the all-time school mark. 

ABOUT 2,000 POINTS
  • Senior Antoine Davis has 2,093 career points, the fourth leading active scorer in the country in total points, although all of his have come against DI competition. 
  • At the moment, 608 NCAA players have amassed over 2,000 career points at the DI level and if he is able to get to 2,500, only 73 players have achieved that mark.
  • Only 12 players have reached 2,000 career points in the Horizon League as he is eighth in conference history in that category, 823 shy of the all-time mark. 

ONE LETHAL SHOT
  • Antoine Davis comes into the year fifth all-time in NCAA history with 3.82, three-point field goals per game.
  • He has connected on a 3-pointer in 81 of his 85 collegiate games and also has 45 career games with four or more triples, 15 with six or more, eight games with seven or more, and has thrice connected on 10 in his career, tying a school record as well as breaking a conference tournament record. 
  • He was the league leader and second in the nation in 3-point field goals per game (3.77) last season, and that marked the third-straight year that he has been top 10 nationally in 3-point field goals per game. 
  • His 323 career 3-pointers is also second in school and Horizon League history, trailing former Titan Rashad Phillips' 348, while also fourth among active players in the NCAA in that category. 

DAVIS NAMED TO BOB COUSY, LOU HENSON AWARD WATCH LIST
  • Antoine Davis began the year on a couple of national award watch lists in the Bob Cousy Award and Lou Henson Award. 
  • The Bob Cousy - given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame - annual honor is now in its 19th year and recognizes the top point guards in Division I men's college basketball. 
  • The Lou Henson National Player of the Year award is presented annually to the top mid-major player in Division I.

AMONG THE BESTS
  • Senior Antoine Davis ended last year leading the Horizon League and ranking third in the country in scoring at 24.0 points per game, just 0.5 shy of the leader, marking the third-straight season he finished in the top four nationally in scoring (26.1 for third in 2019 and 24.3 for fourth in 2020).
  • He also became just the second player in HL history to lead the conference three times joining Loyola's Alfredrick Hughes (1983, 1984, 1985) as he could set put just himself on that pedestal if he were to lead the league again this year.

DAVIS DISHING IT OUT
  • Senior Antoine Davis can not only score, but he can get his teammates involved as he stands 10th in school history with 354 career assists. 
  • He has 36 career games with five or more assists with a career-high of nine at Wright State in 2020. 

PLAYING ALL 40
  • Senior Antoine Davis led the Horizon League and was second in the country in minutes per game (38:34) trailing only American's Jamir Harris, who played in only 10 games on the season but was deemed the statistical leader by the NCAA in the pandemic year. 
  • He has played 40 or more minutes 20 times in his career, including eight of the 22 games last season. 

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 has won the 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 2,093 career points, 354 assists and 116 steals.  
  • Compared to his brother, current assistant coach Mike Davis Jr., Antoine has him beat as well as he recorded 143 career points, 33 assists and 25 steals in three seasons at UAB from 2006-09. 

WHAT AN AKEC DEBUT
  • Junior Madet Akec made an immediate impact with the Titans in his debut at Wyoming, posting his first career double-double with career-high 14 points and a career-best 13 rebounds.
  • He came back upping his career-high to 15 points - all in the second half - with seven boards, two assists, two blocks and a steal at Toledo and was in double figures again with 10 points at Mississippi State.  
  • A teammate of current Titan Prince Oduro at South Florida, he competed in 33 games at USF the past two seasons, redshirting as a freshman. 
  • In his first year, he played in 18 games, with five starts, and averaged 2.1 points and 2.1 rebounds.
  • He then saw action in 15 games last season and averaged 1.7 points and 2.5 rebounds.
  • A native of Tonj, South Sudan, he prepped at Victory Rock in Bradenton, Florida, where he tallied 19.3 points and 9.9 rebounds as a senior, shooting 48.0-percent from three-point range.
  • His brother, Deng Adel, played basketball at Louisville and played in the NBA with Toronto, Cleveland and Brooklyn and is currently playing overseas in Wales.

A MCADOO IS BACK
  • Kevin McAdoo had the distinction of making the first basket of the season, hitting a triple at Wyoming and then had a career game, tying his career-high with 23 points and hitting five 3-pointers at Toledo. 
  • Last time out at Mississippi State, he scored 13 points and handed out four assists. 
  • The name McAdoo is special in Titans' history as his father, Kevin McAdoo Sr., is the school's all-time assist leader with 615 earning four varsity letters between 1982-86.
  • He played last year at Bradley after playing his first two years at Eastern Michigan. 
  • Last season, he saw action in 17 games with eight starts and averaged 6.0 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, while posting a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio. 
  • He tallied a season-best 13 points at Missouri State and notched 10 points to go along with a career-best five assists at Valparaiso.
  • In his first two years at EMU, he played in 59 games with 21 starts and recorded 6.7 points and 1.0 assists, shooting 42.4% overall and 34.4% from behind the arc. 
  • As a sophomore, he netted 8.6 points and 1.5 assists along with 30 steals and knocking down 40 triples, second on the squad. He scored a personal-best 23 points in the 2017-18 season finale against Sam Houston State and 20 points at Central Michigan in 2018-19.
  • As a prep, he earned four letters at West Bloomfield High School and averaged 25.0 points, 5.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds, leading his team to the final four and earning Third-Team All-State honors in his senior campaign. 

HL'S SIXTH MAN RETURNS 
  • A transfer from St. Bonaventure, Matt Johnson was selected the HL Sixth Man of the Year last season and returns to the Titans for another year. 
  • He started the season with nine points and five boards at Wyoming and tied for the team-high with four assists at Mississippi State. 
  • He was just the second Titan to ever receive the HL Sixth Player Of The Year following Eli Holman in 2012. 
  • He saw action in all 22 games with eight starts and averaged 8.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists, while shooting 43.2% from the field, 39.2% from three and 94.4% at the free-throw line (17-of-18).
  • He ended the year fourth on the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.
  • He scored in double-digits eight times with three 20-point performances.
  • Johnson posted a then career-high 20 points (7-14 FG, 4-6 3FG) along with five rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal in his Titan debut at Michigan State and followed that up with 15 points and five boards at Notre Dame. 
  • He grabbed a career-high eight rebounds and scored 10 points against Wright State in game one and then tied his then career-best with 20 points to go with six rebounds in game two. 
  • Later in the season, he recorded a career-high 24 points on a career-best 9-of-14 from the field with six 3-pointers to go with six rebounds in the second victory over Purdue Fort Wayne.
  • Before last season, he transferred from St. Bonaventure, where he played in 22 games with one start and scored just 37 total parts. 
  • He also played at two junior colleges prior to St. Bonaventure spending his freshman year at Pensacola State and sophomore at Howard College. 

DJ LOOKING TO END HIS CAREER ON A HIGH NOTE
  • Graduate senior DJ Harvey joined the Titans this season for one more shot at making a run to the NCAA Tournament.
  • Harvey just tied his career-high pulling down nine boards at Toledo and then netted six points with five boards at Mississippi State.  
  • He started his collegiate career playing two seasons at Notre Dame before playing the last two years at Vanderbilt. 
  • After sitting out his first season with the Commodores, saw action in 23 games with 10 starts in 2020-21 and tallied 6.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game and that jumped to 14.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in the SEC Tournament. 
  • He shot 38.9 % overall, 36.8 % from three and 88.9 % from the free-throw line with 11 assists and 11 steals, netting double figures eight times, including a season-high 17 points and five rebounds in a win over Texas A&M in the first round of the SEC Tournament. 
  • Prior to that, he played 47 games with Notre Dame and averaged 8.6 points and 3.7 rebounds, shooting 38.5 % with 47, 3-pointers. 
  • Some of his big games as a member of the Fighting Irish included posting 18 points at Florida State, 18 points and a season-high eight rebounds against Georgia Tech, 19 points on a career-best four 3-point field goals against Jacksonville, 19 points with five boards versus Purdue and a career-high 19 points with six rebounds and a steal at Illinois.
  • As a prep, he averaged 17.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists as a senior at DeMatha High School as he helped the program to 118 wins in his four years. He was ranked as the No. 1 player in the state of Maryland by 24/7 Sports and MaxPreps and nationally as No. 21 (MaxPreps), No. 43 (SI.com), No. 43 (Scout), No. 44 (247Sports), No. 47 (ESPN) and No. 51 (Rivals).

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Players Mentioned

Antoine Davis

#0 Antoine Davis

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6' 1"
Senior
Matt Johnson

#13 Matt Johnson

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6' 4"
Senior
DJ Harvey

#4 DJ Harvey

G/F
6' 6"
Graduate Student
Kevin McAdoo

#21 Kevin McAdoo

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6' 2"
Graduate Student

Players Mentioned

Antoine Davis

#0 Antoine Davis

6' 1"
Senior
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Matt Johnson

#13 Matt Johnson

6' 4"
Senior
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DJ Harvey

#4 DJ Harvey

6' 6"
Graduate Student
G/F
Kevin McAdoo

#21 Kevin McAdoo

6' 2"
Graduate Student
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