Titans Open Up Progressive Insurance #HLMBB Championship On Thursday Vs. Robert Morris

DETROIT (2/24/2021) -- It is officially postseason time as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will look to start its run to a conference title and NCAA bid when the fifth-seeded Titans host 12th-seeded Robert Morris on Thursday, Feb. 25, in the first round of the Progressive Insurance Horizon League Basketball Championship.

Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be streamed online on ESPN+ and the Watch ESPN App with Jeremy Otto and Earl Cureton on the call. Fans can also listen to the action on the radio on WLQV 92.7 FM & 1500 AM FaithTalk Detroit with the Voice of Detroit Mercy basketball Dan Hasty.

The Titans are 35-36 all-time in the Horizon League postseason tournament with eight appearances in the title game (1988, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2012) and three conference championships (1994, 1999, 2012). Detroit Mercy is also looking to stay perfect at home as it is 6-0 all-time in playoff games in Calihan Hall.

Detroit Mercy enters the game at 11-9 overall and 10-6 in the Horizon League as the Titans come into the event as one of the hottest teams in the league winning eight of the last nine and 10 of their last 12 games. A win would guarantee the red, white and blue its first winning season since 2015-16, while the 10 Horizon League wins on the season were the most since going 12-4 in 2012-13.

The Titans saw three players earn Horizon League honors as Antoine Davis was voted First Team All-HL, just the second Titans to earn three First Team honors, while Bul Kuol was named Third Team and Matt Johnson the Sixth Player of the Year.

The game marks the first time in school history that the Titans will play an opponent in three-straight games as Detroit Mercy swept the Colonials last week, 85-74 and 80-61. It is also the third time the Titans ended the season and began the postseason with the same foe as they lost at Evansville in the season finale before beating the Purple Aces in the first round of the MCC Tournament in 1985-86, while in 2017-18, the Titans dropped their last game at home to Green Bay before falling in the first round of the HL Championship at Little Cesars Arena.

ALL-TIME SERIES

These two programs are relatively close to each other at just a four-hour drive, but this is the fourth career meeting with the Titans winning all three, two last weekend and once in 2009 in a neutral site regular-season tournament in Albany, NY.
The game marks the first time in school history the Titans will play a team three-straight times.

AT HOME IN THE PLAYOFFS

Detroit Mercy is a perfect 6-0 at home when it has hosted a conference tournament game, with the last being a 77-67 win over eighth-seeded Youngstown State in 2014-15.

THE 5TH-SEEDED TITANS

The Titans return to the postseason after not competing in the conference tournament last year due to an APR penalty.
The fifth seed is the highest the Titans have been since they earned the fifth seed in 2014-15.
This is the eighth time in school history that the Titans have been the fifth seed as they are 6-7 all-time, reaching the semifinals with a pair of wins in 2003 and the title game with a pair of wins in 1996.

THE HL HISTORY OF THE 5TH SEED

The fifth seed in the Horizon League Basketball Championship is 33-39 all-time, reaching the title game in 1996 (Detroit Mercy) and 2002 (Loyola) and winning it all once in 2014 (Milwaukee).

FROM THREE

The Titans have connected on double-digit 3-pointers in nine of their last 12 games and 10 times this season, actually, all 10 times have been in the last 14 games.
They nailed 17 in the first win against Green Bay and 16 in the first win against Purdue Fort Wayne and are now 137-of-320 (42.8%) in the last 12 games after shooting just 31.0% (62-of-200) in their first eight games.
Detroit Mercy is now leading the HL and 18th in DI with 9.9 triples per game, while it's 38.3% from behind the arc is second in the league and 19th in the country.

AT THE TOP

Detroit Mercy led the HL and was ninth in the NCAA in free-throw percentage at 78.2% last season and are currently fourth in the nation and tops in the HL again hitting 80.1% on the year (246-of-307).
Part of that success is junior Antoine Davis, who is leading the league and ninth in the country hitting 91.1 % (82-of-90) and owns a career 88.7%, first in school history and the 10th highest among all active Division I players.
The Titans also have six other players who are hitting over 70.0% at the line on the year and quite a few are on a hot streak as Davis has hit a school-record 45 in a row, Willy Isiani has made all nine of his on the season and 10 in a row dating back to last year and Matt Johnson and Dwayne Rose Jr. have made their last eight at the line.

SOME HOT SHOOTING

Detroit Mercy has tallied at least 50.0% shooting from the field in six of the last nine games and eight of the last 13, reaching as high as 66.0% in the win against Green Bay.
The Titans are currently third in the Horizon League and 82nd in the nation at 45.7%, but is at 47.9% in Horizon League action and 49.7% in the last 12 games.

KEEPING THE BALL & STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE

The Titans currently rank 50th in the nation and fourth in the HL averaging just 11.5 turnovers per game.
Detroit Mercy has less than 10 turnovers eight times on the year with a season-low of seven at Notre Dame.
They also rank 10th in the country and second in the league averaging just 14.4 fouls per game.
In fact, in 10 of the 20 games on the year, teams have gone to the line 10 or fewer times against the Titans, including Green Bay going 1-of-2 in one game, Purdue Fort Wayne was 4-of-9 and 3-of-4 and last week, Robert Morris was just 7-of-9 and 5-of-10.

HELPING A TITAN OUT

As a team, the Titans are registering 14.3 assists per game, fourth in the Horizon League and 101st in DI.
They have at least 15 assists in 10 games on the season, reaching 20 in the first game at Oakland and a season-high 21 in the win at Oakland in game two.

JUST ON FIRE

Antoine Davis had a slow start to the season averaging just 16.3 points, shooting 31.1 % from the field (37-of-119) and 10.4% from three (5-of-48) in the first six games
After having one of his shooting games in his career in the second game against Wright State, where he was 3-of-18 from the field and 0-of-7 from three, he has turned it on over his last 14 contests
Davis is averaging 26.2 points and 5.3 assists, while shooting 45.8% from the field (120-of-262) and 44.2% from behind the arc (64-of-148) in the last 14 games.
He has also made 45-straight free throws spanning seven games, a new school record and eclipsing his mark of 38 in a row that he had last season.
He has also now reached at least 23 points in 12-straight games, the best 20-point streak by a Titan since Spencer Haywood's 16-straight in 1968-69.

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 24.7 points per game is tops among all active players and his 1,978 points is the sixth-most among active players and the most in the junior class.
He is leading the HL and third in the nation in scoring at 23.2 points and is already just the fourth player in HL history to lead the league in scoring twice and the third to do it in back-to-back years (YSU, Kendrick Perry-2012, 2014, Detroit Mercy, Rashad Phillips-2000, 2001, Loyola, Keith Gailes-1990, 1991, Loyola, Alfredrick Hughes-1983, 1984, 1985) and is looking to become the second to do it three times (Alfredrick Hughes, Loyola).

RACKING UP THE POINTS

Junior Antoine Davis now has 58 career 20-point games, 19 career 30-point outings and three 40-point contests in just 80 collegiate games and has also scored in double figures in all 80 games - reaching at least 17 points in 65 of them.
On the season, he has scored in double figures in all 20 games with a league-best 14 ,20-point games and also a league-high four 30-point outings. He tallied a season-high 35 points - tied for the fifth-highest in the league - at Cleveland State and also posted 30 points in games against Green Bay, Purdue Fort Wayne and at Oakland.
He is now tied for 14th all-time in scoring in the Horizon League at 1,978 points, while his 24.7 points per game is second in school history and tied for second in HL history.

ONE LETHAL SHOT

Antoine Davis hit a season-high 8-of-11 from three in his 30-point performance against Purdue Fort Wayne and that was after nailing 7-of-11 in the second win over Green Bay a couple of weeks earlier.
In fact, he has hit at least four in 11 of the last 13 and five in seven of those.
He now has 42 career games with four or more triples, 14 with six or more, seven times with seven or more, and has twice connected on 10 in his career, tying a school record.
Davis has 302 career 3-pointers, second in school history and fourth in HL history, while his career 3.79 triples per game is the highest among all active players in DI and the seventh-best mark all-time in NCAA history.
Earlier this season, he was an uncharacteristic 0-of-9 at Michigan State, 0-of-6 game at Western Michigan and 0-of-7 versus Wright State and that marked just the second, third and fourth time in 80 collegiate games that he failed to hit a three. The other was an 0-of-5 mark against Cleveland State last season.

DAVIS DISHING IT OUT

Junior Antoine Davis has 336 career assists - 11th in school history - good for 4.2 per game, and is currently sixth in the Horizon League at 4.8 per night.
Davis has at least three assists in 18 games, including 15 straight, and has at least five in five of his last 10 outings, tying his season-high with eight in the first win over Green Bay as well as both games last week against Robert Morris, just one-off his career-best.

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 1,978 career points, fourth in school history and seven behind DeBusschere for third place (who did it in 80 career games) and 22 points shy of 2000 - something only two Titans have done (John Long and Rashad Phillips).

A LONG JOURNEY FOR KUOL

Graduate senior transfer Bul Kuol has posted double digits in scoring 17 times with four 20-point outings, while also setting career highs in every category.
Last weekend, he finally picked up that elusive double-double tallying 18 points and a career-best 11 rebounds against Robert Morris in game one and then came back with 16 points in game two.
He averaged 16.0 points and 6.5 rebounds at Cleveland State, scoring 18 points with eight boards, three assists, two steals and a block in the win.
He tallied a career-high 29 points against Purdue Fort Wayne as he was a career-best 12-of-21 from the field with five 3-pointers and three steals.
Against Green Bay, he scored 22 points in the game two win and he averaged 20.5 points and 6.0 rebounds for the series.
In the first home game with Oakland, he tallied a then career-high 28 points on 7-of-14 from the field, a career-best 6-of-12 from three and 8-of-8 at the line.
Kuol netted his first 20-point game with 21 points - hitting 7-of-15 shots and 4-of-8 from three, 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.
He is now second on the team and 13th in the Horizon League averaging 15.4 points, hitting 45.5% in the field, 42.1% from behind the arc and 77.0% at the line.

HIGH WATERMARK

Sophomore Noah Waterman is coming off his best weekend as he averaged 20.5 points and 5.5 rebounds shooting 66.7% (14-of-21) overall and 60.0% (9-of-15) from three against Robert Morris.
He tallied 19 points with five rebounds in game one and a career-high 22 with six rebounds in game two.
He has now scored in double figures in seven of his 13 games and is shooting 53.6% overall and 51.6% from three.
He scored 17 points with five rebounds and two blocks in the win at Cleveland State, knocking down three big 3-pointers in the final three minutes to seal the win.
At Oakland, he recorded 18 points and a career-high eight rebounds with two blocks in the win, while at home against Oakland, he tallied 19 points with three rebounds, three assists and two steals in just his second game as a Titan.
A transfer from Niagara, Waterman played in seven games with five starts until an injury ended his season last year.
In high school, he was 6-2 but hit a growth spurt and is now almost seven feet.
With the NCAA blanket waiver that was announced in mid-December, Waterman became immediately eligible to play.

SOMETHING TO PROVE

A transfer from St. Bonaventure, Matt Johnson has scored in double digits eight times, grabbed at least five rebounds in eight games and handed out at least three assists in three contests.
He also has three 20-point performances including a career-high 24 against Purdue Fort Wayne as he was a career-best 9-of-14 with six 3-pointers to go with six boards.
He certainly made a name for himself in his debut tallying a then 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 tied his then career-high with 20 points and recorded a collegiate-best eight boards against Wright State.
His previous career-high in scoring was 12 points at George Washington last season as a member of St. Bonaventure, where he scored just 37 points all year.