Men's Basketball 12.09.22

@DetroitMBB Looks For Sweep Of Charlotte On Saturday

Men's Basketball 12.09.22

@DetroitMBB Looks For Sweep Of Charlotte On Saturday

Junior Kyle LeGreair and the Titans will look for the sweep of Charlotte.

DETROIT (12/9/2022) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will look to close out the week with another win as the Titans battle Charlotte for the second time this season, this time on the road on Saturday.

Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. at Halton Arena and will be aired live on ESPN+. 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.

Detroit Mercy hosted Charlotte back on Nov. 23 and started the game with a 12-0 run en route to a 70-49 victory. Graduate senior Antoine Davis led the way with a game-high 26 points, hitting six 3-pointers. Senior Jordan Phillips posted 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while graduate senior TJ Moss finished with a season-high nine points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The Titans shot over 50.0% for the second-straight game going 26-of-50 overall and 10-of-24 from deep. The defense also held Charlotte to 36.4% shooting with 13 turnovers and outrebounded the 49'ers, 32-20.

Davis comes into the game with 2,965 points, tops in school and Horizon League history, 12th in NCAA history (35 shy of becoming the 11th player to score 3,000 points) and 702 away from Pete Maravich's NCAA-record 3,667. He has reached 20 points in three-straight games and eight times on the season, as he now has 85 career 20-point outings.

Senior Gerald Liddell has started his Titan career with a double-double in three-straight games, the first Titan to have three-straight double-doubles since current NBA G-Leaguer Paris Bass had four-straight late in the 2015-16 season. He tallied a game and career-high 27 points at Tulsa with 12 rebounds and also has two steals in each of his three contests.

Charlotte has won three-straight since the loss in the Motor City and is 7-2 on the year and 4-0 at home.

After the game, the Titans will be idle for eight days due to finals week and will next play at Eastern Michigan on Dec. 18.

ALL-TIME SERIES

This is the second career meeting between the two schools, as the first was a 70-49 victory at Calihan Hall on Nov. 23.
The home and home series is the first time the Titans will play the same non-conference team twice since 2013-14 when they played Toledo, home and away.
A win would give the Titans their first in-season sweep over a non-conference foe since beating Loyola twice in 1978-79.

AGAINST CONFERENCE USA

Charlotte is the second Conference USA opponent on the schedule having also faced Florida Atlantic.
The Titans are 13-5 all-time against current members of the conference.
Florida Atlantic 2-1
Florida International 3-1
Middle Tenn. St. 2-1
Rice 2-0
UTEP 1-0
Western Kentucky 2-2

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 Division I, while the family coaching connection is part of eight in DI.

CONGRATS ON WIN #400

Head coach Mike Davis earned his first triumph as a head coach on Nov. 14, 2000, when his Indiana Hoosiers defeated Pepperdine, 80-68, in Bloomington.
The 70-49 victory over Charlotte marked the 400th win for Davis, who now has 402 triumphs, tied for 149th in NCAA history.

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.
This year so far, the non-conference teams are 54-36 (.588).

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.

OFFENSIVE MINDED

Detroit Mercy has already topped 80 points three times this season after doing so just seven times all of last year.
The Titans have twice made 30 field goals netting 30 against Ohio and Bryant. They have also shot over 50.0% three times, going for 51.7% (30-of-58) against Ohio, 52.6% (30-of-57) against Bryant and 52.0% (26-of-50) versus Charlotte.

HUSTLE POINTS

Detroit Mercy has outrebounded its opponents in its last two games and five times on the season.
In the win at Tulsa, the Titans won the battle of the boards, 41-39, on the strength of 18 offensive rebounds, which led to a 23-13 second-chance points advantage.
In the game before at Cleveland State, the Titans won the glass, 44-31, with 20 offensive caroms.
Detroit Mercy leads the HL and is 67th in the nation with 12.4 offensive rebounds per game.

WHERE WE RANK

Antoine Davis currently leads the Horizon League and is fifth in the nation in scoring at 23.1 ppg. He also tops the HL and is third in total 3-pointers (37), leads the conference and is third in total points (231), second in the HL and sixth in 3-pointers per game (3.70) and second in the conference and sixth overall in field goals (77). His 37:23 minutes a game is also first in the league and fifth in DI.
Junior Jayden Stone is third in the league and 33rd in the country in free-throw percentage (89.3%).

FROM THREE

The red, white and blue have connected on double-digit triples in seven games, with a season-high 15 against Bryant, in just 24 attempts for 62.4%, and have made double-digit triples in 24 of 40 games dating back to last season.
Detroit Mercy saw half of its 24 field goals at Purdue Fort Wayne go in from behind the arc.
The Titans are Horizon League and are 49th in the nation at 37.9% from three as well as second in the league and 29th in the country with 9.7 triples per game.

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 also named one of the 50 candidates for the Wooden Award for the nation's Most Outstanding Player, the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Year and for the Lou Henson Award for the top mid-major player.
Last season he earned the Lou Henson Award All-American, First Team USBWA All-District V and NABC First Team All-District 12 selection as well as the Co-HL Player of the Year, the first player in conference history to make All-League four times - with everyone of those a first-team selection.

WEARING THE SCORING CROWN

Antoine Davis owned the scoring crown in the Horizon League last year at 23.9 points per game, third in the nation, as he became the first player in HL history to top the league in scoring four times, passing Loyola Chicago's Alfredrick Hughes, who did it in three-straight seasons (1983-85).
He also finished top-four nationally for the fourth-straight year (26.1 for third in 2019, 24.3 for fourth in 2020 and 24.0 for third in 2021).
Davis is currently fifth in the nation at 23.1 points per game.

ANOTHER NCAA RECORD FOR DAVIS

Antoine Davis scored 29 points against Bryant, but it was his 3-pointer in the first half that got him to 11 points and secured the NCAA record for the most consecutive games in double figures with 116-straight and he has now extended that mark to 121 after his 23 points at Tulsa.
He broke the mark held by Chris Clemons (Campbell, 2015-2019) and Lionel Simmons (La Salle, 1987-90).
As a freshman, Davis broke the NCAA record for 3-pointers in a season by a rookie with 132, passing Stephen Curry's 122 he had at Davidson in 2007-08.

RACKING UP THE POINTS

Antoine Davis now has 85 career 20-point games, 26 career 30-point outings and four 40-point contests in 121 games - reaching 17 points in 107 of them.
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.

ABOUT 2,900 POINTS

Antoine Davis is the highest active scorer in the country in total points with 2,965, 12th in NCAA history.
At the moment, only 14 players have reached 2,900 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 points in the Horizon League as he is now the all-time leader in the conference.
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 3.85, three-point field goals per game.
He posted back-to-back season-highs of six against Bryant and Charlotte and had five in the wins over Ohio, at Purdue Fort Wayne, and at Tulsa and is sixth in the NCAA with 3.70, 3-pointers per contest.
Davis has made a three in 116 of his 121 collegiate games with 66 career games with four or more triples, 23 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 as he passed former Titan All-American Rashad Phillips (348) for both records.
He is currently third in NCAA history in total 3-pointers at 466, 38 away from Oakland's Travis Bader for second and 43 away from Fletcher Magee's NCAA-record 509.

CASHING IN ON THE FREE ONES

Graduate senior Antoine Davis led the HL and was 23rd in the nation in free-throw percentage (88.2%) last year, good for sixth in school history as he is also first with 91.7% in 2021, 90.1% for fourth in 2020 and 85.7% for ninth in 2019.
He owns the school record at 88.4% (513-of-580), eighth among active players and tied for 31st all-time in NCAA history.
He has had numerous streaks of 10 or more free throws in his career with a career-best of 57-straight between the end of his junior and the start of his senior year.

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

With his 39 points at home against Milwaukee as a senior last season, Antoine Davis became the Titans' all-time leading scorer passing Rashad Phillips (2,319) with his 36th point and now has a HL record 2,965 points, passing Loyola Chicago's Alfredrick Hughes' (1981-85) 2,914.
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).

DAVIS DISHING IT OUT

Antoine Davis can not only score, but he can get his teammates involved as he is fifth in school history with 510 assists, 38 away from Rashad Phillips and fourth place.
The all-time record is 615 by Kevin McAdoo as he is now 105 shy of that mark.
He has 49 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.
If he were to reach 3,000 career points, he would be just the second player in NCAA history to amass 3,000 points and 500 assists, joining St. Peter's Keydren Clark (2002-06), who recorded 3,058 points with 501 career helpers.

PLAYING ALL 40

Graduate senior Antoine Davis played all forty minutes for the second time this year at Cleveland State. He also played all forty at Florida Atlantic.
He has now played 40 or more minutes 31 times in his career and is currently leading the Horizon League and fifth in the nation with 37:23 minutes a game.
Last season, he tallied 36.59 minutes per game, second in the HL and 13th in DI.

WHAT A START FOR LIDDELL

Gerald Liddell had to wait seven games to play as his eligibility was cleared by the NCAA, but it might have been worth the wait as the senior transfer has posted three-straight double-doubles, the first Titan to do that since Paris Bass had four-straight in the 2015-16 season.
He is coming off a career-high 27 points with 12 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and an assist in the win at Tulsa.
He tallied 16 points and a career-high 16 rebounds with two assists, two steals and a block at Purdue Fort Wayne and followed that with 18 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block at Cleveland State.
His previous high in boards was 14 as a member of Alabama State against Alabama A&M last year, and the 16 rebounds were the most by a Titan since Chris Brandon had 17 versus Cleveland State in 2020.
Meanwhile, his previous high in points was 22 against NC Central last season.
Liddell started his career at Texas before transferring to Alabama State.
Last season at Alabama State, he saw action in 25 games with 19 starts and averaged 10.3 points, a team-high 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists to go with 24 steals and 24 blocks. He shot 43.8 % overall and 37.0 % from three, reaching double figures in 13 games and posting five double-doubles, scoring a career-high 22 points with 11 boards against North Carolina Central and tallying double-doubles in four of his last five games, including netting 13 points with a career-best 14 rebounds against Alabama A&M.
In his three years with Texas, he saw action in 35 games with 10 starts and averaged 2.9 points and 2.3 rebounds. His best year was as a sophomore as he played in 15 games with 10 starts until a back injury cut his season short. Liddell recorded 4.1 points and 3.1 assists and started the year with a then career-best 14 points against No. 23 Purdue.
As a prep at Steele High School in Cibolo, Texas, he was ranked as the No. 41 overall prospect in the nation by 247Sports and No. 47 by ESPN.

WHAT DO YOU SAY ZAY

Freshman Isaiah Jones played in just one game, three minutes against Rochester in the season opener, but with the team down a few players, the rookie delivered on the opening weekend of conference play, earning HL Freshman of the Week.
Jones came off the bench tallying 14.0 points and 5.5 rebounds. He shot 58.8% from the field (10-of-17) and 53.3% (8-of-15) from three in the two games.
He started with 11 points and four rebounds in the win at Purdue Fort Wayne end ended with 17 points - connecting on five triples - seven rebounds and two assists at Cleveland State.
Jones followed that up with five points in the win at Tulsa, but it was his three with 50 seconds left that gave the Titans a 73-72 lead en route to the 76-72 victory.

FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER

Junior Jayden Stone - who missed two games with the flu and just came back at Tulsa - had a massive game in the season opener, posting his first double-double with a career-high 15 points and 12 rebounds. Since then, he has twice passed his career high with a game-high 22 points with six rebounds, two assists and two steals at Boston College and 24 points with six assists against Bryant. At Washington State, he netted a team-high 20 with five boards.
On the season, he is averaging 13.0 points - tied for seventh in the HL - shooting 47.8% overall (33-of-69), 50.0% from three (13-of-26) and 89.3% (25-of-28) at the line to go with 4.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
The Perth, Australia, native transferred to Detroit Mercy after playing his first two years at Grand Canyon, where he played in 30 games and averaged 3.4 points and 1.4 rebounds to go with 25 assists to just 16 turnovers.
He was one of the top prospects in the state of Alabama, earning the 2019 Alabama 2A Player of the Year.

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 three against Rochester.
He followed that with 11 points and four boards at Boston College,15 points and four rebounds versus Ohio, 16 points and seven rebounds at Purdue Fort Wayne and eight points with a career-tying nine boards at Cleveland State.
On the season, he is tallying 9.0 points and 4.5 rebounds, shooting 38.8% from the field and 35.1% from three.
He started his career at Indiana before ending up at 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.

A.J. LOOKING FOR ONE FINAL RUN

A.J. Oliver - who missed two games with an illness and returned at Tulsa - had two points with five rebounds in 19 minutes in the win over the Golden Hurricane.
He posted 12 points and five rebounds in the season opener and had 10 points against Bryant and five points and five rebounds versus Charlotte.
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, Oliver 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, 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, 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.

LONE STAR PHILLIPS IS BACK

Senior Jordan Phillips - who has missed the last two games with an undisclosed injury - 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.
Since then, he has been a consistent player for the Titans, scoring in double figures in five games, grabbing at least four rebounds in five games and handing out a pair of assists in three contests.
He netted six points with seven rebounds at Boston College, 13 points, three caroms and two assists versus Ohio, 16 points with four rebounds at Florida Atlantic, 11 points with three boards and two assists against Bryant and 11 points with eight rebounds in the win over Charlotte.
He is currently posting 10.8 points and 5.3 rebounds, shooting 40.3% from the field and 42.9% from three.
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.

MEET MR. MOSS

TJ Moss joined the Titans after a successful prep career in high school and playing at South Carolina and McNeese State and has flashed his ability to be an all-around player.
At Purdue Fort Wayne, he had eight points with a career-high four steals, three assists and two blocks.
He scored a season-high nine points with five rebounds, three assists and two steals versus Charlotte and had four points, four assists, two rebounds, a block and a steal versus Bryant.
He played in 64 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, 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.
As a prep, he was a four-star prospect on ESPN.com and was once hailed as the 26th-best prospect nationally by 247Sports.

TAKING THE DIAPER OFF

With the Titans down Jayden Stone (illness) and A.J. Oliver (illness) at Purdue Fort Wayne and then adding Jordan Phillips (injury) to that list at Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy needed a couple of freshmen to step up and they did.
Aside from Jones, Marcus Tankersley - who was also recovering from an illness - scored 10 points with five rebounds and an assist at Cleveland State.