DETROIT (1/7/2023) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will look to split its Horizon League southern road trip as the Titans head to NKU on Sunday.
Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. at Truist 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 has dropped two close games in a row, falling at Wright State its last time out, 90-85, and comes into the game at 6-10 overall and 2-3 in the Horizon League.
Junior
Jayden Stone tied his career-high with 24 points at WSU, his fourth 20-point game of the season, while graduate senior
TJ Moss posted a season-best 15 points and tied his season-high with six rebounds.
Graduate senior
Antoine Davis posted a team-high 27 points to move his career point total to 3,130, 20 shy of sixth place in NCAA record book and 35 outside the top 25. His 494 career 3-pointers are also third in NCAA history, 10 away from second and 15 away from Fletcher Magee's NCAA-record 509.
NKU lost at home, 64-63, to Oakland on Friday and is 9-7 on the season and 4-1 in the Horizon League, tied for first place.
Following the game, the Titans will return home for a two-game homestand against Youngstown State and Robert Morris. There is a special ticket promotion for the Jan. 12 game against YSU as all tickets are $3 and there will be a special 30% discount at the Titan Gift store on game day. For tickets,
click here and use the promo code 3KPOINTS.
ALL-TIME SERIES
- The Titans swept the regular season series last year, but NKU got revenge with a win in the postseason as the Norse lead the all-time series, 11-4.
- Detroit Mercy is also 2-6 all-time on the road in the series.
VS. NKU
- Antoine Davis is averaging 20.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists in nine career games against NKU, shooting 42.4% from the field, 32.9% from three and 89.7% at the line. The 20.9 points per game are actually the lowest total versus any Horizon League school, and he is tallying just 16.5 points in the last six meetings after netting 33, 27 and 30 in the three games as a freshman. In fact, he scored just 10 points at NKU as a sophomore, tied for the lowest scoring output in his career.
- Besides that, only Buay Koka and Kyle LeGreair have seen minimal action against Wright State in their careers.
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.
TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
- The non-conference foes combined to go 178-153 (.532) 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 85-63 (.544), with three teams in the NET top 50 and six in the top 150, led by Florida Atlantic at 13-1, Charlotte at 11-4, Cincinnati at 11-5 and Bryant at 10-5.
- Ken Pomeroy has the Titans' non-conference strength of scheduled ranked 47th in Division I.
HUSTLE POINTS
- Detroit Mercy has outrebounded its opponents in six of the last eight games and nine times on the season as the Titans are third in the HL in rebounding at 37.0 per game and top the league and stand 31st in the nation with 13.1 per contest.
- The Titans had a +15 effort (43-28) against Green Bay, which included a 19-8 margin on the offensive glass.
- At Eastern Michigan, Detroit Mercy had a 42-38 advantage on the boards and a 16-11 edge on the offensive glass, with a 14-7 margin on second-chance points.
- At Charlotte, the Titans won the glass, 33-32, with 13 offensive rebounds, leading to 10 second-chance points.
- 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.
- At Cleveland State, the Titans won the glass, 44-31, with 20 offensive caroms for a 19-10 second-chance points margin.
WHERE WE RANK
- Antoine Davis currently leads the HL and is second in the nation in scoring at 24.8 ppg. He also tops the HL and is second in DI in total 3-pointers (65), leads the conference and is second in total points (396), first in the HL and third in 3-pointers per game (4.1) and first in the conference and fourth overall in field goals (131). His 37:40 minutes a game is also first in the league and fourth in the country.
- Jayden Stone is 13th in the league in scoring at 13.1 ppg., and 16th in rebounding at 5.0 per night. Graduate senior Damezi Anderson is seventh in the HL with 2.2 triples per game, and senior Gerald Liddell's seven double-doubles are first in the league and eighth in the nation.
- A note on Liddell is that he is not eligible for league and nation leaders due to games played; otherwise, his 12.8 rebounds per game would be second in the country.
FROM THREE
- The red, white and blue have connected on double-digit triples in 10 games, with a season-high 17 at Charlotte, one shy of the school record.
- Detroit Mercy also hit 15 against Bryant, in just 24 attempts for 62.4%.
- Detroit Mercy saw half of its 24 field goals at Purdue Fort Wayne go in from behind the arc.
- The Titans are second in the Horizon League and 47th in the nation at 37.1% from three, as well as second in the HL and 10th in the country with 10.1 per game.
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 second in the nation at 24.8 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 127 after his 27 points at Wright State.
- 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 90 career 20-point games, 29 career 30-point outings and four 40-point contests in 127 games - reaching 17 points in 112 of them.
- This year, he has a league-best 13, 20-point games and three 30-point outings.
ABOUT 3,000 POINTS
- Antoine Davis is the highest active scorer in the country in total points with 3,130, seventh in NCAA history.
- At the moment, only 11 players have reached 3,000 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 - seven of those being at home - due to the pandemic, at least one game missed due to the Titans not being eligible for the postseason in 2019-20 and one game canceled at California in his freshman year due to smoke from wildfires.
- Also, his current game total of 127 games is consistent with a normal four-year playing career.
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 tied his career and school career best with 10, 3-pointers - the fourth time he has done that - at Charlotte. He also had six against Milwaukee his last time out, back-to-back games of six against Bryant and home versus Charlotte and five in the wins over Ohio, at Purdue Fort Wayne, and at Tulsa and is third in the NCAA with 4.1, 3-pointers per contest.
- Davis has made a three in 122 of his 127 collegiate games, with 69 career games with four or more triples, 25 with six or more, 11 games with seven or more, and has four ties connected on 10 in his career, tying a school record as well as breaking a conference tournament record.
- Davis is already the school career record holder as he passed former All-American Rashad Phillips (348).
- He is currently third in NCAA history in 3-pointers at 494, 10 away from Oakland's Travis Bader for second and 15 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 is currently third in the Horizon League and 31st in DI at 89.6%.
- Davis owns the school record at 88.8% (542-of-610), ninth among active players and tied for 23rd all-time in NCAA history. His 542 free throws are also now first in school history.
- He has had numerous streaks of 10 or more in his career as he has currently made 19 in a row and 37 of his last 39.
- Davis had 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 3,130 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 Titan history with 523 assists, 25 shy of Rashad Phillips and fourth place.
- The all-time record is 615 by Kevin McAdoo as he is now 92 shy of that mark.
- He has 49 games with five or more assists and posted a nine-assist effort in the season opener against Rochester.
- His career-best is 10 at IUPUI and against Western Michigan last season.
- He is now 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.
WHAT A START FOR LIDDELL
- Gerald Liddell - who missed the last game due to an undisclosed injury - 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 seven double-doubles in his first eight games. He was the first Titan to have seven-straight since Ryvon Covile registered seven in a row to end the 2006-07 season.
- vs. Green Bay 19 points, 11 rebounds
- at Cincinnati 18 points, 13 rebounds
- at EMU 18 points, 14 rebounds
- at Charlotte 13 points, 18 rebounds
- at Tulsa 25 points, 12 rebounds
- at Cleveland St. 18 points, 13 rebounds
- at Purdue Fort Wayne 16 points, 16 rebounds
- His all-around game has seen him tie his career-high with four steals at EMU, three rebounds, two blocks and a steal, playing all 45 minutes at Charlotte, a season-high three blocks and two steals at Tulsa and three more blocks against Green Bay.
- He has at least two steals in five games and has blocked at least one shot in seven, and if he were eligible for conference leaders, he would be third in the nation in rebounding at 12.8, sixth in the HL in scoring at 16.8, second in the league with 1.5 blocks and third with 1.8 steals.
- The 18 rebounds he pulled down at Charlotte were the most by a Titan since Eli Holman had 18 versus Milwaukee in 2010.
- He came into the year with a high in boards of 14 against Alabama A&M, while his previous high in points was 22 against NC Central, both done last year as a member of Alabama State.
- Liddell started his career at Texas before transferring to Alabama State.
- At ASU, 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.
- 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 HS in Cibolo, Texas, he was ranked No. 41 in the nation by 247Sports and No. 47 by ESPN.
HOOSIER IN THE MOTOR CITY
- Graduate senior Damezi Anderson has been a consistent player for the Titans all season long.
- He has scored in double figures in eight games on the year, with 12 points and eight rebounds at Wright State, 15 points and six rebounds against Green Bay, 15 points in the win over Ohio, 16 with seven boards in the victory at Purdue Fort Wayne and 14 at Charlotte.
- He also has 10 games with four or more rebounds, with a career-high nine against Rochester and at Cleveland State.
- He began 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.
- On the season, he is tallying 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds - 17th in the HL - shooting 39.3% from the field and 34.3% from three and ranking seventh in the HL with 2.2 per game.
- 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 has missed three games this season due to illness - had one of his best games, tying his season-high with 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds at Eastern Michigan.
- He had another strong game with five points and seven rebounds versus Green Bay.
- Oliver posted 12 points and five rebounds in the opener against Rochester and had 10 points against Bryant as he is averaging 5.5 points and 4.3 rebounds, shooting 43.9% overall.
- He played in 95 games 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 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.
FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER
- Junior Jayden Stone - who has missed four games with an illness on the season - had a massive game in the season opener, posting his first double-double with a career-high 15 points and 12 rebounds.
- Stone has been in double figures in seven games with four 20-point outings and has also grabbed at least five rebounds in six affairs.
- He just tied his career-high with 24 points, going a career-best 10-of-19 from the field, with eight rebounds at Wright State and that was after netting 16 against Milwaukee.
- He had a game-high 22 points with six rebounds, two assists and two steals at BC, 24 points with six assists against Bryant and a team-high 20 with five boards at Washington State.
- On the season, he is averaging 13.1 points, shooting 46.9% overall, 47.7% from three and 85.7% at the line to go with 5.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists.
- The Perth, Australia, native transferred to Detroit Mercy after two years at Grand Canyon, where he played in 30 games and averaged 3.4 points and 1.4 rebounds.
- He was one of the top prospects in the state of Alabama, earning the 2019 Alabama 2A Player of the Year.
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.
- After a slow start, he has turned it on in his last five games, tallying 7.4 points, 3.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds after posting 4.1 points, 1.7 assists and 2.1 rebounds in his first 11. He has also handed out at least three assists eight times on the season and has five games with five or more rebounds.
- Moss has topped his career high the last two games with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists against Milwaukee and 15 points with six boards at Wright State.
- He had four points, a team-high five assists and three rebounds against Green Bay and that came after a season-best six assists and six rebounds at Cincinnati.
- At Purdue Fort Wayne, he had eight points with a career-high four steals, three assists and two blocks.
- 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.
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