DETROIT (2/12/2022) -- A busy week will conclude with a third road game in five days, but it will be a shorter trip as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will make its way on I-75 to battle #MetroSeries-rival Oakland on Sunday.

Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. at the O'Rena 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.

Detroit Mercy and Oakland branded the annual rivalry called the #MetroSeries in 2014, a year after the Golden Grizzlies joined the Horizon League. 

The game is also vital for playoff seedings in the upcoming Horizon League Championship as Oakland is in second place at 17-8 overall and 10-4 in the conference, while Detroit Mercy is 10-12, 7-5 in league play for seventh. With the standings based on winning percentage this season, there is still a lot that can be determined as either team can finish in the top five for a first-round bye or outside of its and have to play the extra playoff game.  

Detroit Mercy is coming off a setback at Youngstown State, 82-69, as the nation's leading scorer Antoine Davis scored 28 points, while Oakland - who fell at YSU on Wednesday, 78-71 - edged Robert Morris, 71-68, its last time out.

Davis - the Titan and Horizon League record holder with 399 career 3-pointers, which is 21st in NCAA history - now has a school-record 2,536 points, 55th in NCAA history and third in the HL record book and is currently the nation's leading scorer at 23.6 ppg.

This will also be the final road game of the regular season for the red, white and blue as the Titans began the season with nine-straight road games and, due to cancellations, have played 13 of their first 16 and now 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.

Following the game, the Titans will end the regular-season slate with four home games starting with Wright State on Friday, Feb. 18.

ALL-TIME SERIES

• This is the 31st career meeting between the two schools, located roughly 26 miles apart.
• Oakland leads the series, 16-14, and has won 10 of the last 11 and 15 of the last 17 since joining the Horizon League in 2013- 14. These two teams met four times last season as they were matched up an extra weekend due to COVID protocols in other programs. 
• The Titans are 2-8 on the road with their wins coming in 2017, 93-88, and last year, 82-72. 

AGAINST OAKLAND

• Senior Antoine Davis is tallying 22.8 points, 4.2 assists and 1.6 rebounds in eight career games against Oakland. He is shooting just under his career numbers at 39.5% overall (58-of-147), 33.7% from three (29-of-86) and 90.2% at the line (37-of-41). 
• He has had five games with 20 or more, including 27 with seven assists and 25 with seven helpers in the two games on the road. 
• Junior Noah Waterman is averaging 12.8 points and 5.3 rebounds in the four games last season, scoring 19 points in one of the home 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 23.6 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 (10.1) and 39th in three-point field-goal percentage (36.6%), tops in the HL in both statistics. 

WHERE WE RANK

• Outside of the long-distance shooting, the Titans are 16th in the nation in free throw percentage (77.6%), 83rd in fouls per game (15.4) and 87th in turnovers per game (11.9), top four in the HL in all three. 
• Individually, senior Antoine Davis is leading the nation in scoring (23.6), fourth in 3-point field goals per game (4.0), fifth in minutes played per game (37:47), sixth in total 3-pointers (83), ninth in total points (496), 29th in free-throw percentage (88.7%), 35th in assists (5.0) and 81st in three-point field goal percentage (36.7%).
• 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 71 career 20-point games, 24 career 30-point outings and four 40-point contests in 103 collegiate games and has also scored in double figures in all 103 games - reaching at least 17 points in 84 of them.
• Davis was in double figures for the 103rd straight game with 28 points at Youngstown State and is now sixth in NCAA history in that category five 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.

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 2,536, third 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 2,500 POINTS

• Senior Antoine Davis is the highest active scorer in the country in total points with 2,536, which is 55th 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, 378 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 37-straight games and 99 of his 103 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 at 399, just one outside of the top 20 and 14 shy of the top 15. 

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 IS STARTING TO PLAY

• 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 six games averaging 15.2 points and 7.5 rebounds, shooting 58.9% (33-of-56) overall and 45.2% from three (14-of-31), going in double digits in all six 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, 14 points and nine rebounds at Robert Morris and 14 points at Youngstown State. 
• 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. 

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 seven games, tallying 9.1 points on 46.5% (20-of-43), including 13-of-32 (40.6%) from three in that span
• He just had 11 points and four rebounds at Robert Morris and eight points, five boards, an assist, block and steal at Youngstown State 
• 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. He had a career-high 22 in game two against Robert Morris, where he was a career-best 8-of-11 from the field with 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.