DETROIT (2/10/2022) -- Winners of two in a row and five of the last six, the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will look to keep up its strong play as the Titans visit Youngstown State on Friday.

Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Beeghly Center and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and the Watch ESPN App. 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 coming off a dominating 79-62 road win at Robert Morris as the Titans used an 18-2 first-half run to take the lead and a 13-0 second-half spurt to put the game away. The win moved the red, white and blue to 10-11 on the year and 7-4 in the Horizon League, good for fifth place. The top five seeds will now receive a first-round bye in the upcoming Horizon League Basketball Championships.

Senior Antoine Davis led the way with 26 points and crossed the 2,500-point plateau, the 76th player in NCAA history to accomplish that feat. He enters the game leading the nation in scoring at 23.4 points per game and his 2,508 career points are 70th in the Division I record book. 

Graduate senior DJ Harvey kept up his play with 14 points and nine rebounds and junior Noah Waterman returned from missing the last three games and tallied 11 points.

Youngstown State is 15-10 on the season and 9-6 in the conference for sixth place. The Penguins have won five in a row and are coming off a 78-71 victory over second-place Oakland.

Following the game, the Titans will be at Oakland in a Super Bowl Sunday #MetroSeries match-up with the opening tip set for 1:00 p.m.

ALL-TIME SERIES

• Detroit Mercy has dominated the all-time series to the tune of a 40-12 advantage and winning 14 of the last 17 meetings, with Youngstown winning three in a row from 2018-20, all of which were decided by a total of eight points.
• The Titans are 17-7 all-time on the road and have won seven of the last eight and 12 of the last 14 inside the Beeghly Center, including last year's sweep. 

AGAINST YSU

• Senior Antoine Davis is averaging 24.5 points, 4.2 assists and 2.7 rebounds in six career meetings. He has shot 42.1% overall (53-of-126) and 43.1% from three (28-of-65).
• He has scored over 20 points in five of the six games with a 34-point performance as a sophomore and netted 25 with seven assists and 24 with five helpers last year. 
• Senior Matt Johnson averaged 11.0 points last season shooting 60.0% from the field, while Waterman scored 10 points with four rebounds in the first win over the Penguins last year.  

ROAD WARRIORS

• The Titans began the season with nine-straight road games and now, due to cancellations, they will play 13 of their first 16 and 18 of their first 23 on the road.
• In fact, if there are no other additions or subtractions to the schedule, Detroit Mercy will play just nine of their 27 overall games at home as well as six of their 17 HL games.

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 leads the nation in scoring at 23.4 ppg. 
• The Titans have had one national individual stats leader in school history in Spencer Haywood, who led the country in rebounding at 22.1 rpg. in 1968-69. 

LONG RANGE TITANS

• The Titans have connected on at least nine 3-pointers in 13 games this season and connected on 18 against Milwaukee, tying a school record and tied for the ninth most this season against DI competition. 
• Detroit Mercy also had 18 triples against Milwaukee in 2000. 
• The team currently ranks 14th in Division I in 3-point field goals per game (10.3) and 34th in three-point field-goal percentage (37.4%), tops in the HL in both statistics. 

WHERE WE RANK

• Outside of the long-distance shooting, the Titans are 19th in free throw percentage (77.5%), 89th in fouls per game (15.4) and 99th in turnovers per game (12.1), top four in the HL in all three. 
• Individually, senior Antoine Davis is leading the nation in scoring (23.4), fourth in 3-point field goals per game (4.0), fifth in minutes played per game (37:51), ninth in total 3-pointers (82), 19th in total points (468), 31st in free-throw percentage (88.6%), 34th in assists (5.1) and 75th in three-point field goal percentage (37.8%).
• He leads the HL in scoring, three-point field goals per game, three-point field-goal percentage, and free-throw percentage, while standing second in assists and total points.
• His 39 points at Hofstra and against Milwaukee is a HL and tied for the 13th-most in the country and the eight triples in both is tied for the ninth most. 
• Junior Madut Akec is tied for fourth in the HL and 54th nationally in double-doubles (6), fourth in the HL and 88th in the nation in field-goal percentage (50.7%), and sixth in the league in rebounding (7.2).

RACKING UP THE POINTS

• Senior Antoine Davis now has 70 career 20-point games, 24 career 30-point outings and four 40-point contests in 102 collegiate games and has also scored in double figures in all 102 games - reaching at least 17 points in 83 of them.
• Davis was in double figures for the 102nd straight game with 26 points at Robert Morris and is tied for sixth in NCAA history in that category with Keydren Clark (St. Peters, 2003-06) and six in back of former Arizona standout Sean Elliott (1985-89). 
• He has 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.

ABOUT 2,500 POINTS

• Senior Antoine Davis is the highest active scorer in the country in total points with 2,508, which is 70th in NCAA history. 
• At the moment, only 76 players have reached 2,500 at the DI level.  
• It was his 18th point at Robert Morris on a three that put him at 2,500 career points.
• It was 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 third in conference history in that category, 406 shy of the all-time mark.
• Imagine that record with the idea that Davis and the Titans have seen 11 games canceled and not made up in the last two seasons due to the pandemic.

ONE LETHAL SHOT

• Antoine Davis comes into the game fifth all-time in NCAA history with 3.90, three-point field goals per game.
• He has connected on a 3-pointer in 36-straight games and 98 of his 102 collegiate games. He has 54 career games with four or more triples, 21 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 398 career triples as he passed former Titan All-American Rashad Phillips (348) for both records with his second trey at UIC.
• He is currently 21st in NCAA history in total 3-pointers just two outside of the top 20 and 15 shy of the top 15. 

DAVIS DISHING IT OUT

• Antoine Davis can not only score, but he can get his teammates involved as he is eighth in school history with 446 assists, five away from Ray McCallum and seventh.
• He has 46 games with five or more assists - including nine this season - and as he set his career-best with 10 at IUPUI and against Western Michigan.

MADUT DOING IT ALL

• Junior Madut Akec is having a breakout season averaging 13.5 points and team-highs with 7.2 rebounds, 33 steals and shooting 50.7% overall.
• He is fourth in field goal percentage, fifth in rebounding, seventh in steals and free-throw percentage (81.0%) and 13th in scoring in the Horizon League.  
• He has also scored in double figures in 17 games and is tied for fourth in the HL with six double-doubles and seven 10+ rebounding outings. 
• He tallied 15 points with four boards and three steals at NKU. He also had 11 points at Milwaukee and 16 - 12 in the second half - at Green Bay.  
• Akec posted 15 points and a career-high 15 boards with four steals and two assists at Purdue Fort Wayne. 
• 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 had one of his best collegiate games posting his first career double-double with a season-high 14 points and career-best 12 rebounds against Central Michigan.
• He was 4-of-7 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and 4-of-4 at the line.
• After battling COVID and some injuries, he has turned in on in the last five games averaging 15.1 points and 8.2 rebounds, shooting 57.1% (28-of-49) overall and 42.8% from three (12-of-28), going in double digits in all five with a career-high 20 at Wright State. 
• Prior to that, he was tallying just 4.8 points and 5.0 rebounds on 32.1% shooting and just 9-of-27 (33.3%) from distance. 
• He started his streak with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists against UIC and followed that with a double-double against Michigan-Dearborn with a then season-high 15 points and career-tying 12 rebounds, hitting 4-of-8 from three. 
• He netted a career-high 20 points with seven rebounds at Wright State, a 15-point, nine-rebound effort at NKU and tallied 14 points and nine rebounds at Robert Morris. 
• He started his collegiate career playing two seasons at Notre Dame before playing the last two years at Vanderbilt. 
• He was one of the top recruits in the nation coming out of high school. 

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.
• He has been in double figures seven times this season, but has picked up his play in the last six games, averaging 10.1 points on 41.1% shooting (21-of-51) and 38.4% from three (10-of-26). 
• In the last six, he has netted double figures three times with 13 points against UIC, 19 points, eight assists and five boards against Michigan-Dearborn and 15 points at NKU.  
• At Mississippi State, he scored 13 points and handed out four assists and then had 10 points at UIC.  
• He had 10 points and four assists in the home win over Milwaukee and added seven points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals at 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 and is the rare graduate senior who will have two years of eligibility after the NCAA granted an exception last season due to COVID.
• In high school, he earned First-Team All-State honors from the BCAM, while collecting second-team accolades from the Detroit Free Press at West Bloomfield.

HL'S SIXTH MAN RETURNS 

• Matt Johnson was selected the HL Sixth Man of the Year last season and once again has been a steady contributor.
• He is coming off a nine-point, four-rebound, four-assist and two-steal effort at Robert Morris. 
• Johnson tallied 15 points, seven rebounds and a career-best six assists against Michigan-Dearborn. He scored a season-high 16 points and tied his career-best with eight boards against UIC.
• He had seven points with five rebounds, three assists and three steals at Cleveland State and scored 10 points with five rebounds, two assists and two steals at Louisville.
• 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).
• 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 netted 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.

HIGH WATERMARK

• Junior Noah Waterman - who missed time early with an injury and just came back from health and safety protocols - tallied just 3.0 points in his first seven games on 26.6% shooting (8-of-30), but now been in double figures four times in his last six games, tallying 9.1 points on 51.4% (18-of-35), including 11-of-26 (42,3%) from three in that span
• He just had 11 points and four rebounds at Robert Morris. 
• He scored 10 points with a season-high seven boards and two blocks at Green Bay. He had 12 points with four boards against Milwaukee and 12 points, five boards and two blocks at Purdue Fort Wayne. 
• 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. 
• His play this year has been steady as he is known to hit some deep shots as well as play tough and smart inside. 
• 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 92 of his 136 career field goals.
• He is coming off a season-high seven boards at Robert Morris. 
• He had a season-high with 15 points against UIC, going 5-of-6 from the field and 4-of-5 from three. 
• He had a then season-high 11 points at Kent State and 15 points versus Western Michigan.
• 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.
• 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.