DETROIT (1/12/2022) -- Winners of three in a row and five of the last six, the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will play a pair of games on the road this week starting with a trip to Purdue Fort Wayne on Thursday.

Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and will be broadcast live on ESPN+, while fans can also listen to all the action on WLQV 92.7 FM & 1500 AM FaithTalk Detroit with the Voice of Detroit Mercy basketball Dan Hasty.

The Titans will enter the game at 5-7 overall, but undefeated in Horizon League play at 3-0 with road wins over IUPUI and UIC and a dominating home victory against Milwaukee their last time out. 

Senior Antoine Davis - the Titans' all-time leading scorer with 2,323 points - is currently second in the nation in scoring at 23.6 points per game, while also leading the country in 3-point field goals per game (4.7) and minutes played per game (38:00). He tied his season-high with 39 points his last time out.

The Titans are also coming off a game where they tied their school record with 18, 3-pointers, tied for the sixth-most for a DI program against a DI program this season, and are 17th in the nation averaging 10.3 per game. The defense has also come alive as after allowing 82.8 points in their first five games, Detroit Mercy has given up just 62.1 in their last seven contests

Purdue Fort Wayne is 7-7 on the season and 3-3 in the conference as the Mastodons are coming off a weekend road sweep with wins at Youngstown State and at Robert Morris.

Following the game, the Titans will head to defending HL champion Cleveland State on Saturday. 

ALL-TIME SERIES

• Despite being just 161 miles apart, this is only the fifth career meeting between the two schools.
• Detroit Mercy swept the series last year at home, 82-72 and 83-56, while Purdue Fort Wayne won both previous match-ups, 93-86 at Calihan Hall in 2016 and 91-82 in Fort Wayne in 2017.

AGAINST THE MASTODONS

• Senior Antoine Davis averaged 28.0 points against Purdue Fort Wayne last season with a 30 and 26-point game. He shot 47.1% from the floor and was 12-of-19 (63.2%) from three and a perfect 12-of-12 at the line. 
• Senior Matt Johnson tallied 16.0 points last year with a 24-point game and was 11-of-18 (61.1%) from the field and 8-of-13 (61.5%) from three. 

OFFENSIVE OUTPUT

• The Titans are averaging 85.7 points in their last three games, having reached at least 83 points in each one and scoring a season-high 89 points in the win over Central Michigan, the most points since they tallied 89 in their ESPNU victory at Cleveland State last season.
• In the last three games - all at home - the Titans are shooting 46.8% overall, 45.5% from three and 80.0% at the line, while outrebounding their opponents 39.7-30.7 and posting more assists than turnovers (47-33). 

ROLLING DOUBLES

• The Titans have had two games this season that have seen two players post double-doubles in the same game.
• Antoine Davis (20 pts., 10 ast.) and Madut Akec (18 pts., 12 rebs.) each had a double-double against WMU, the first time the Titans had two players post a double-double in the same game since 2018. 
• With that said, the Titans followed that with another pair as Akec (25 pts., 10 rebs.) and graduate senior DJ Harvey (12 pts., 14 rebs.) accomplished the task their against Central Michigan. 

LONG RANGE TITANS

• The Titans have connected on at least nine 3-pointers in eight games this season and are coming off a game that saw them connect on 18 against Milwaukee, tying a school record and tied for the sixth most this season against Division I competition. 
• Detroit Mercy also had 18 triples against Milwaukee in 2000. 
• The team currently ranks 17th in Division I in 3-point field goals per game (10.3), 42nd in three-point field-goal percentage (37.2%).

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, 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 (1983-85) as he could put just himself on that pedestal if he were to lead the league again this year as he currently sits on top again and second in the country at 23.6 ppg. 
• Davis trails only Iowa's Keegan Murray (24.7) for the nation's lead at the moment. 

STAT RANKINGS

• The Titans currently rank 15th in free throw percentage (78.1%), 17th in the nation in 3-point field goals per game (10.3), 42nd in three-point field-goal percentage (37.2%) and 91st in least turnovers per game (12.1).
• Individually, senior Antoine Davis leads the nation in 3-point field goals per game (4.7) and minutes played per game (38:00), second in scoring (23.6), fifth in total 3-pointers (57), ninth in free-throw percentage (93.3%), 31st in total points (283), 32nd in assists (5.2) and 43rd in three-point field goal percentage (41.9%), while his 39 points at Hofstra and against Milwaukee is tied for the fifth-most in the country and the eight triples he made in both contests is tied for the seventh most. 
• Junior Madut Akec is 39th in double-doubles (5), 45th in rebounding (8.6), 91st in offensive rebounding (2.7) and 100th in field goal percentage (50.0%).

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 89.3% (410-of-459).
• He is ninth in the nation in free-throw percentage at 93.3% (42-of-45) on the year. 
• Going back to last season after he was just 3-of-6 in the second game against Wright State, he has made 103 of his last 108 attempts (95.3%), spanning 27 games. He saw his school record and active NCAA-best 57-straight free throw streak come to an end at Louisville. As a sophomore, he had a streak of 37 in a row at one point. 
• His career 89.3% is also tied for the second-highest among active returning players in the nation and 19th all-time in NCAA history. 

RACKING UP THE POINTS

• Senior Antoine Davis now has 66 career 20-point games, 22 career 30-point outings and four 40-point contests in just 94 collegiate games and has also scored in double figures in all 94 games - reaching at least 17 points in 76 of them.
• Davis was in double figures for the 94th straight game with 39 points against Milwaukee as he is now two behind Oregon State's Tres Trinkle (2016-20) for sixth place as he entered the season with a chance at the NCAA record, 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 reached at least 23 points in 13-straight, the best 20-point streak by a Titan since Spencer Haywood's 16-straight in 1968-69 - but to Haywood's resume, most of those were 30-point games.

AD THE QUICKEST TO 1,000 & 2,000 & NOW OWNS THE SCHOOL RECORD

• With his 39 points against Milwaukee, senior Antoine Davis became the Titans all-time leading scorer passing Rashad Phillips (2,319) with his 36th point and now has 2,323, fourth in Horizon League history. 
• 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 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). 

ABOUT 2,000 POINTS

• Senior Antoine Davis has 2,323 career points, the highest active scorer in the country in total points.
• 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 sixth in conference history in that category, 591 shy of the all-time mark.

ONE LETHAL SHOT

• Antoine Davis comes into the year fifth all-time in NCAA history with 3.97, three-point field goals per game.
• He has connected on a 3-pointer in 90 of his 94 collegiate games and also has 52 career games with four or more triples, 20 with six or more, 10 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. 
• Davis is already the school and career 3-point record holder at 373 career triples as he passed former Titan All-American Rashad Phillips (348) for both records with his second trey at UIC.
• The NCAA record book registers the top 30 for all-time 3-pointers and No. 30 stands at 379 by a familiar name to head coach Mike Davis in Robert Vaden, who was recruited and played for coach Davis at Indiana and at UAB. 

MADUT DOING IT ALL

• Junior Madet Akec is having a breakout season averaging 15.3 points and team-highs with 8.6 rebounds, 19 steals, four blocks and shooting 50.0% overall.
• He is third in field goal percentage and rebounding, seventh in scoring, free-throw percentage (81.4%) and steals in the HL.  
• He has also scored in double figures in 10 games and is tied for third in the HL with five double-doubles and six 10+ rebounding outings.  
• He just missed another double-double with nine points and 10 boards in the win over Milwaukee. 
• He netted a career-high 25 points - 20 in the second half - with 10 rebounds against Central Michigan for his fifth double-double of the year, where he was 7-of-12 from the field and a career-best 10-of-11 at the free-throw line. 
• Akec had a double-double with 18 points and a team-high 12 rebounds against WMU the week before.  
• He scored a then career-high 20 points with seven rebounds at IUPUI and added 19 points - 17 in the second half and 10 in a row at one point - and eight boards at UIC.  
• He made an immediate impact with the Titans at Wyoming, posting his first career double-double with a then career-high 14 points and then career-best 13 rebounds.
• He came back upping his then career-high to 15 points with seven boards, two assists, two blocks and a steal at Toledo and exceeded his career-high with 19 points and five steals to go with a team-high 10 boards at Louisville. 
• He competed in 33 games at USF the past two seasons, redshirting as a freshman, and tallied 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds, while shooting nearly 50.0% (14-of-31).  
• A native of Tonj, South Sudan, he grew up in Melbourne, Australia, before prepping at Victory Rock in Florida.
• 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.

DJ COLLECTS DOUBLE-DOUBLE

• Graduate senior DJ Harvey battled an undisclosed injury to start the season, but he is coming off one of his nest collegiate games ever posting his first career double-double with a season-high 14 points and career-best 12 rebounds. He was 4-of-7 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and made all four of his free throws. 
• He tallied eight points and five rebounds at Kent State and then netted seven points with eight boards versus Western Michigan. 
• Harvey tied his then 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 SEC Tournament. 
• Before that, he played 47 games with Notre Dame averaging 8.6 points and 3.7 rebounds, shooting 38.5 % with 47 triples.
• Some of his big games as a member of UND included 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 and a career-high 19 points with six rebounds and a steal at Illinois.

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. 
• At Mississippi State, he scored 13 points and handed out four assists and then had 10 points at UIC.  
• He was back in double figures for the first time in four games with 10 points and four assists in the win over Milwaukee. 
• 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 letters between 1982-86.
• He played last year at Bradley after playing his first two 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 and 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.

HL'S SIXTH MAN RETURNS 

• Matt Johnson was selected the HL Sixth Man of the Year last season and returns to the Titans for another year. 
• He has been a steady contributor again netting seven points with four rebounds, two assists and a steal against Central Michigan and a season-high 11 points with five rebounds, two assists and two steals versus Western Michigan. 
• He started the season with nine points and five boards at Wyoming and tied for the team-high with four assists at Mississippi State before scoring 10 points with five rebounds, two assists and two steals at Louisville
• He added 10 points at Hofstra and seven points, four rebounds and two assists at Northeastern and 10 points at UIC.  
• He saw action in all 22 games with eight starts last season 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, scoring 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 with six caroms 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 against Purdue Fort Wayne.
• Prior to Detroit Mercy, he played at St. Bonaventure and also at two junior colleges, Pensacola State and Howard College. 

HIGH WATERMARK

• Junior Noah Waterman - who missed four-straight games after the opener with an undisclosed injury at Northeastern - was a great addition to the Titans last year.
• He has started to regain his form scoring 12 points with four boards against Milwaukee.
• That was after netting six against Central Michigan.
• He has connected on 12 field goals this season with nine from distance, including seven-straight 3-pointers in his last three games. 
• He became eligible mid-season last year and played in 15 games with 12 starts and was third on the team in scoring (11.9), fourth in rebounding (4.5) and tied for the team lead with 10 blocks. 
• He shot 55.5% from the field and 52.8% from the outside (38-of-72), scoring in double figures in eight games.
• In the second meeting with Oakland on the road, he posted 12.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game recording 18 points and a career-high eight rebounds and two blocks in the win, hitting 7-of-11 shots and 4-of-8 from three.
• He netted 17 points with five rebounds and two blocks in the win at HL champions Cleveland State, going a career-best 5-of-7 from three with three of those in the final three minutes to seal the win and ended the regular season against Robert Morris netting 19 points in game one and a career-high 22 in game two, where he was a career-best 8-of-11 from the field with a career-tying five triples. 
• He then had 19 points and pulled down five rebounds in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals at NKU. 
• A transfer from Niagara, Waterman played in seven games with five starts until an injury ended his freshman year.
• In high school, he was 6-2 but hit a growth spurt and is now almost seven feet allowing him to play as a guard with his shooting skills. 

BIG WILLY STYLE

• Senior Willy Isiani is back and as one of the most experienced Titans in his fourth year - all under coach Davis. 
• He had a then season-high 11 points at Kent State and then 15 points versus Western Michigan, the most since he netted 15 against the Golden Flashes last year. 
• He scored eight points with four rebounds against Milwaukee, eight points hitting a pair of three's at IUPUI and that was after six points on a pair of 3-pointers at Hofstra.
• He has also grabbed at least three boards in four games, including seven points and five rebounds at Northeastern. 
• Known as a shooter, he started to learn the post position grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds with eight points at Western Michigan last season, posting a career-high five assists with six rebounds and two steals at Michigan State and 10 boards with two blocks at Notre Dame last year. He also notched 15 points with seven boards and three assists against Kent State.  
• A native of Tbilisi, Georgia, who is believed to be the first Titan from the country of Georgia, has connected on the three ball on 77 of his 115 career field goals.