@DetroitMBB Heads To Florida Atlantic For Paradise Invitational

Men's Basketball 11.18.22

@DetroitMBB Heads To Florida Atlantic For Paradise Invitational

Graduate senior TJ Moss and the Titans will visit Florida for a pair of games over the weekend.

DETROIT (11/18/2022) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will look for an in-season tournament title as the Titans visit Florida Atlantic for the Paradise Invitational this weekend.

Detroit Mercy will take on host FAU on Saturday, Nov. 19, and Bryant on Monday, Nov. 21, at Eleanor R. Baldwin Arena.

Game time for the opening game against the Owls is set for 6:00 p.m. and will be aired on C-USA TV. 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 come into the game at 2-1 on the season with home victories over Rochester and Ohio and a nail-biting loss at Boston College. A win would give the red, white and blue their best start since going 4-1 to begin the 2009-10 campaign.

A win would end a nine-game slide in non-conference road game defeats and give head coach Mike Davis victory #400.

Graduate senior Antoine Davis scored a game-high 28 points the last time out in the 88-74 win over Ohio. He was part of four players in double figures, along with graduate senior Damezi Anderson and junior Jayden Stone's 15 points and senior Jordan Phillips' 13. As a team, Detroit Mercy shot 51.7% overall and was 11-of-26 from three and 17-of-21 at the free throw line.

Davis comes into the game 18th in NCAA history with 2,805 points and seventh with 441 career triples and can tie a NCAA record by reaching double figures in scoring for the 115th consecutive game.

FAU IS 3-1 on the year after winning at Florida, 76-74, on Monday, and dispatching Bryant in the opening game of the tournament on Thursday, 85-74.

ALL-TIME SERIES
This is the third career meeting between the two schools, with the Titans earning the win in the first two contests.
Both games have tipped in the Motor City with a regular season home game in 1993 and part of the $2K Sports Classic - Wounded Warrior Project subregional in 2013.

All-Time Series
12/20/93 - W, 83-73 at Detroit Mercy
11/22/13 - W, 77-44 at Detroit Mercy

I KNOW YOU

Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May is well acquainted with the Detroit Mercy coaching staff.
May was a student manager at Indiana when Davis was an assistant coach from 1997-2000.
May then served as an administrative assistant and video coordinator at IU from 2002-05 when Davis was the head coach and Titan assistants Donnie Marsh and Kerry Rupp were assistant coaches and Titan assistant Mike Davis Jr. was a student-athlete.
He was also an assistant coach at UAB from 2007-09 when Davis was the head coach and Marsh was an assistant and was an assistant coach under Rupp at Louisiana Tech from 2009-11.

LOOKING FOR #400

Head coach Mike Davis earned his first win as a coach on Nov. 14, 2000, when his Indiana Hoosiers defeated Pepperdine, 80-68, in Bloomington.
He has 47 wins as a Titan head coach and his next win will be career victory #400.

THE WORLD IN 1993

The Titans and Owls first met in 1993 and the world has changed a lot in the past 29 years.
Popular Halloween costumes included Princess Jasmine and Barney the Dinosaur
Jurassic Park was the most popular film and Home Improvement was the most popular television show
The Dallas Cowboys were the Super Bowl champs, the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series, and the Montreal Canadiens clinched the Stanley Cup
A 22-ounce loaf of white bread cost 79 cents, Ritz Crackers were $1.99 for a 16-ounce box, hot dogs were $1.49 for a one-pound package and a two-liter bottle of Coke Classic cost 99 cents
The average price for a gallon of gas was $1.16 a gallon

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 graduate 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.
The father-son coaching player duo is part of 23 at the Division I level, while the family coaching connection is part of eight in DI.

TOUGH SLATE

The non-conference foes combined to go 176-152 (.536) last season with four teams reaching the postseason, including the semifinals of the NIT.
Ohio and Florida Atlantic made the CBI last year. Bryant earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament, while Washington State advanced to the semifinals of the NIT.

FREQUENT FLYER MILES

The Titans' non-conference road schedule will see them travel 5,230 miles, which includes 1,687 to Washington State and 1,116 to Florida Atlantic.

HIGHEST PRESEASON HONOR

Graduate senior Antoine Davis was named the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year.
He was the Co-HL Player of the Year last season, the fifth Titan to be selected the HL Player of the Year, and the first player in conference history to make All-League four times - with every one of those a first-team selection.
He led the HL in scoring at 23.9 points per game, shooting 42.9% from the field, 37.9% from three and 88.2% at the free-throw line to go with 3.6 rebounds per game and 28 steals. He led the league and was second in the nation in three-point field goals per game (3.90), HL leader and 23rd in the nation in free-throw percentage (88.2%), league leader and 58th in DI in three-point field-goal percentage (37.9%) and third in the league with 4.4 assists.

NATIONAL NOTICE

Antoine Davis has garnered some national attention on preseason watch lists.
He was named a Preseason Third Team All-American by Dick Vitale.
Davis is one of the 20 candidates for the 2023 Bob Cousy Award by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
He was recently named one of the 50 candidates for the Wooden Award for the nation's Most Outstanding Player.
He was also named a top 50 candidate for the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Year.
Last season he earned the Lou Henson Award All-American, First Team USBWA All-District V and NABC First Team All-District 12 selection.

RACKING UP THE POINTS

Antoine Davis now has 79 career 20-point games, 26 career 30-point outings and four 40-point contests in 114 games - reaching at least 17 points in 94 of them.
Davis' 114-straight games in double figures is third in NCAA history and one behind Chris Clemons (Campbell, 2015-2019) and Lionel Simmons (La Salle, 1987-90) for the all-time NCAA record.
Last year, he posted 20 or more points 18 times, second most in the league, with a conference-best six 30-point outings, including a season-high 39 points at home against Milwaukee and on the road at Hofstra, the highest scoring mark in the HL and tied for the 25th best outing in Division I on the year. As a junior, 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.

ABOUT 2,700 POINTS

Antoine Davis is the highest active scorer in the country in total points with 2,805, 18th in NCAA history.
At the moment, only 27 players have reached 2,700 at the DI level.
It was his 18th point at Robert Morris last season on a three that put him at 2,500 career points, which was just the fourth time that a student-athlete has posted 2,500 with his dad as head coach following Pete Maravich (Press Maravich), Doug McDermott (Greg McDermott) and Allan Houston (Wade Houston).
Only 12 players have reached 2,000 career points in the Horizon League as he is second in conference history in that category, 109 shy of the all-time record.
Imagine that record with the idea that Davis and the Titans have seen 13 games canceled and not made up in the last two seasons due to the pandemic, at least one game missed due to the Titans not being eligible for the postseason in 2019-20, one game canceled at California in his freshman year due to smoke from wildfires, one contest he sat out against a non-DI as a senior and a game missed as a freshman and sophomore due to an injury.

ONE LETHAL SHOT

Antoine Davis comes into the game fifth all-time in NCAA history with 3.87, three-point field goals per game. He just drained five in the win over Ohio, nailed four in the season opener against Rochester and three at Boston College.
He has now connected on a 3-pointer in 48-straight games and 110 of his 114 collegiate games. He has 62 career games with four or more triples, 22 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 conference leader and fifth in the country in total 3-pointers (113) last season, third in school history to join his 132 for second in 2019, 101 for fifth in 2020 and 83 for eighth in 2021.
Davis is already the school and career 3-point record holder at 441 career triples as he passed former Titan All-American Rashad Phillips (348) for both records.
He is currently seventh in NCAA history in total 3-pointers at 441, just nine away from moving into the top five and 67 behind Fletcher Magee's NCAA record of 509.

DAVIS DISHING IT OUT

Antoine Davis can not only score, but he can get his teammates involved as he is sixth in school history with 488.
The all-time record is 615 by Kevin McAdoo as he is now 127 shy of that mark.
He has 48 games with five or more assists - including nine last season - and posted a nine-assist performance in the season opener.
His career-best is 10 at IUPUI and against Western Michigan last season.

7-UP

Graduate senior A.J. Oliver is one of six players in Division I that will be in his seventh year of college basketball.
He enrolled at Clemson as a freshman mid-season in 2016-17, but did not see action that year. He then played 19 games for the Tigers in 2017-18 before transferring to Old Dominion, where he sat out the 2018-19 season before playing the last three seasons with the Monarchs.
The other players in their seventh year are:
DeAndre Dishman - Middle Tennessee
Juan Munoz - Hawaii
DeJuan Clayton - California
Jailyn Ingram - Georgia
Michael Henn - Penn State

A.J. LOOKING FOR ONE FINAL RUN

Graduate senior A.J. Oliver will look for one more run to the NCAA Tournament in his final collegiate season and he posted 12 points and five rebounds in the season opener and just had six points and a team-high six boards against Ohio.
He played in 95 games with 54 starts at Clemson and at Old Dominion from 2017-22 and averaged 6.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game, shooting 35.0 % from the field, 37.1% from three and 79.1% at the free-throw line.
Last season at ODU, he saw action in all 32 games with 11 starts and tallied 2.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.
In 2020-21, he started all 21 contests he appeared in and ranked third on the team with 9.7 points and led the squad with an 88.6 free-throw percentage and 33 triples.
In his first year at ODU, he played in 22 games with 21 starts and was third on the team with 11.3 points per game, led the team with 51, 3-pointers while also pulling down 4.9 rebounds per game, pouring in a career-high 21 points against FAU and grabbing a career-high 12 boards versus UTSA.
Oliver joined Clemson mid-season in 2016-17 and did not play, but then got in 19 games for the Tigers in 2017-18, posting 2.1 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. His best game came in the ACC Tournament against Boston College, as he finished 3-for-4 from the field, including a perfect 3-for-3 on three-pointers for a season-best nine points off the bench before netting six points and registering six rebounds against Auburn in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER

Junior Jayden Stone had a massive game in the season opener, posting his first double-double with a career-high 15 points and 12 rebounds. He followed that up with a game-high 22 points with six rebounds, two assists and two steals at Boston College and 15 points with five caroms versus Ohio.
The Perth, Australia, native transferred to Detroit Mercy after playing his first two years at Grand Canyon, where he played in 30 games the past two seasons and averaged 3.4 points and 1.4 rebounds to go with 25 assists to just 16 turnovers. He shot 39.3% from the field and 30.2% from behind the arc, along with 82.1% at the free-throw line, scoring a career-high 14 points against Abilene Christian, hitting 5-of-7 from the field.
He was one of the top prospects in the state of Alabama, earning the 2019 Alabama 2A Player of the Year and First Team All-State as a junior.

HOOSIER IN THE MOTOR CITY

Graduate senior Damezi Anderson had a great start to his Titan career with a career-high 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists, going 6-of-13 from the field and 5-of-12 from behind the arc.
He followed that with 11 points and four boards at Boston College before, fouling out with more than 10 minutes left in the game, and 15 points and four rebounds versus Ohio.
On the season, he is shooting 15-of-29 from the field and 11-of-24 from three.
He started his career at Indiana before ending up at fellow Jesuit institution Loyola.
He did not play in 2021-22 at Loyola and saw action in four games the year before. Prior to that, he played for Indiana for two seasons, appearing in 39 games and averaged 2.1 points and 1.6 rebounds, including 2.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in 18 games as a sophomore.
Coming out of high school, he was ranked #92 in the country by 247Sports and No. 114 in the nation by Rivals and was the No. 2 player in the state of Indiana.

LONE STAR PHILLIPS IS BACK

Senior Jordan Phillips saw injuries limit him to just three games last year, but he started this season with a bang recording his second career double-double by tying his career high with 18 points and 10 rebounds to go with two steals against Rochester.
He netted six points with seven rebounds and an assist at Boston College and added 13 points, three caroms and two assists versus Ohio.
A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he transferred to the Titans after appearing in 64 games in his three seasons at Arkansas and UT Arlington.
He spent the last two years with the Mavericks and averaged 6.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 47 games, shooting 34.0% from the floor, 33.0% from behind the arc and 76.0% at the free-throw line.
As a sophomore, he tallied 7.4 points and scored in double figures in nine of his 26 games, posting his first career double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds against Little Rock and had a season-high 17 points versus Louisiana, a game in which he earned #5 on SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays on Jan. 15 for an and-one dunk.
In 2019-20, he played in all 32 games with 21 starts and recorded 6.3 points and 3.5 rebounds. He netted a career-high 18 points at eventual Sun Belt champion Little Rock, connecting on a career-best four 3-pointers and had 14 points hitting three 3-pointers at #14 Oregon and also had 14 points with a career-best seven boards versus UC Santa Barbara.
As a freshman, he saw limited minutes in seven games at Arkansas and that was after coming out as a prep ranked as the 37th-best shooting guard in the country and just outside the top-100 rankings.

MEET MR. MOSS

Graduate senior TJ Moss has joined the Titans after a successful prep career in high school and playing at South Carolina and McNeese State and played 53 minutes in the first three games as he is returning from an undisclosed injury in the preseason.
He is coming off his best game with five points and a team-high four assists against Ohio in 22 minutes.
He played in 64 college games with eight starts prior to transferring to Detroit Mercy.
Last year, he suited up in nine games at McNeese State and averaged 7.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, while collecting eight steals. He scored a career-high 17 points at TCU, where he was 5-of-12 from behind the arc, and had five assists and three steals.
He spent his first three seasons at South Carolina in the SEC, where he played in 55 games for the Gamecocks, posting 3.3 points, 1.8 assists and 1.3 boards with 30 steals in his time. After playing in just seven games as a freshman before an injury ended his season, he saw action in 30 games and tallied 6.9 points, 5.0 assists and 2.9 rebounds as a sophomore, scoring a season-high 10 points against Kentucky.
He came back the next year to play in 18 games and dropped a season-best 15 points at Tennessee and also had seven assists against Arkansas and six assists in the SEC tournament against Mississippi.
As a prep, was a four-star prospect on ESPN.com and was once hailed as the 26th-best prospect nationally in the Class of 2018 by 247Sports.

TAKING YOU TO THE PARK

Graduate senior Arashma Parks is a Titan and looking to give the red, white and blue a presence in the middle and he is doing just.
At Boston College, he grabbed a career-high nine rebounds off the bench and just scored six points with two rebounds against Ohio.
He played the last four years at Temple of the American Athletic Conference, appearing in 49 games with 14 starts.
As a senior, he played in 19 games with 13 starts and averaged 1.1 points and 2.7 rebounds, along with tallying six assists.
After missing his freshman year due to an injury, he came back as a sophomore to play in 22 games and posted 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds, putting in a career-high 10 points against St. Joseph's.