Men's Basketball 11.12.23

Titans To Tangle With Ole Miss On Tuesday

Men's Basketball 11.12.23

Titans To Tangle With Ole Miss On Tuesday

Junior Mak Manciel and the Titans will visit SEC-member Ole Miss on Tuesday.

DETROIT (11/12/2023) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will make the 800-mile trek down south as the Titans play at Ole Miss on Tuesday.

Game time is set for 8:00 p.m., at The Pavilion at Ole Miss, and will be broadcast live on the SEC Network+/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 come into the game at 0-2 with road losses at Toledo and at Cincinnati.

Senior Jayden Stone leads the team at 20.0 points, shooting nearly 50.0% from the field and from three, with 5.5 rebounds per contest. Graduate senior Donovann Toatley is averaging 15.5 points, 4.5 assists and 2.5 steals, while graduate senior Edoardo Del Cadio is tallying 10.0 points and 4.5 rebounds a game.

Ole Miss is 2-0 on the year with home wins over Alabama State and Eastern Washington.

Following the game, the Titans will conclude their season-opening four-game trip with a contest at Ohio on Saturday.

TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE SLATE

The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will have 11 non-conference games, with several against multi-bid leagues.
Nine of the 11 contests will have the Titans on the road as the red, white and blue face teams from the AAC, ACC, BIG 10, SEC and the WCC, among others.
The 11 foes totaled a 202-161 (55.6%) record last season, with four making postseason trips in NC State (NCAA), Northwestern (NCAA), Toledo (NIT), and Cincinnati (NIT).

AGAINST THE SEC

Detroit Mercy is just 2-13 all-time against current members of the SEC, with a 34-26 win at home against Kentucky in 1938 and an 86-62 triumph at home over Mississippi State in 1968. In the win over the Wildcats, Chester Laske scored 13 points to lead U-D, while in the victory over MSU, the 11th-ranked Titans - led by Spencer Haywood - downed the Bulldogs in the first game of the Motor City Basketball Tournament as Haywood poured in 32 points and grabbed 24 rebounds.
Out of the 15 games, only three have been at home, while two were neutral and the other 10 on the road.
The last battle against a SEC squad was in 2021, a 77-64 setback at Mississippi State.

EARNING THOSE HOTEL POINTS

The Titans are starting the year with at least four straight away from Calihan Hall for the fourth time in school history and the third time under head coach Mike Davis.
In 2020-21, Detroit Mercy started the year with nine straight on the road, while in 2019-20, the red, white and blue played seven in a row away from the Motor City.
It also happened in 2006-07 when the Titans played their first five outside of Detroit.

A STRUGGLE ON THE ROAD

Detroit Mercy is 13-85 in true non-conference road games since the 2007-08 season, including 3-34 under head coach Mike Davis.
The three wins were at Tulsa last season, at Western Michigan in 2020 and at Eastern Michigan in 2018.
It should be noted that under coach Davis, the Titans have scheduled very aggressively against high-major teams and consistent mid-major powers.

STONE FINALLY REACHES NEW HIGH

Senior Jayden Stone tallied a career-high 25 points at Cincinnati, going 9-of-20 from the field and connecting on four triples.
At Toledo, he netted 15 points, shooting 6-of-12 from the field.
He played in 13 games last season and netted 20 or more five times, including 24 points on three occasions.

DEL CADIA TOUCHES CAREER-BEST

Graduate senior Edoardo Del Cadia tied his career best with 13 points at Cincinnati, hitting 4-of-5 from the field and 2-of-3 from behind the arc before fouling out after playing just 22 minutes.

TOATLEY'S BIG DAY

Graduate senior Donovann Toatley had a big day in the season opener at Toledo, going for a career-high 20 points, tying his career-best with three steals and assisting on six baskets.
Toatley's previous high was 19 points, accomplished four times, with the last against Western Carolina as a member of Tennessee Chattanooga in 2018-19.
Through two games, he also has a team-high nine assists against just three turnovers and a team-best five steals.

OLAJUWON IN THE BOOKS

Redshirt freshman Abdullah Olajuwon scored his first basket in the season opener at Toledo and added two more points at Cincinnati.
He is now 1,328 behind his dad, Hakeem Olajuwon, who netted 1,332 in three years at Houston from 1981-84.

WIN #411 & COUNTING

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.
Last season, he won his 400th career game in the 70-49 victory over Charlotte at Calihan Hall.
He now has 411 career wins, 142nd in DI NCAA history, one away from 141st and Mike Deane.
Davis is one of nine current coaches to win 100 games at three different schools (Indiana, UAB, Texas Southern).

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 a pair of Davis' in head coach Mike Davis and assistant coach Mike Davis Jr.
For the last five years, Antoine Davis joined his dad and his brother on the team as a student-athlete and became one of the greatest scorers in NCAA history.
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 current father-son coaching player duo is part of seven in DI.

FROM ALL OVER

Detroit Mercy's roster features student-athletes from five states (Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Maryland, Indiana) and five countries outside the states (Australia, Canada, Croatia, France, Italy).
Edoardo Del Cadia is believed to be the first Titan from Italy, while Jayden Stone is the first Titan from Australia and Alex Tchikou the first from France.

WHO ARE THESE GUYS

Detroit Mercy will have to replace four starters, including the two-time Horizon League Player of the Year Antoine Davis.
The Titans welcome back just five letterwinners from a year ago and one starter in Jayden Stone, who missed the second semester.
With those returners, the Titans bring back just 19% of minutes played (1,273/6,650) and 11.9% of points scored (302/2,527) from a year ago, some of the lowest amounts in the nation.

HIGHLY THOUGHT OF

Detroit Mercy has a few players who were top recruits as preps.
Alex Tchikou was a four-star prospect by Rivals, 247sports and ESPN out of high school, ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 36 overall player and the #6 power forward in the 2020 class and ESPN had him #56 nationally and #11 power forward.
Emmanuel Kuac was a top-five prospect in Canada, a three-star recruit by 247Sports and Rivals and ranked as the #5 player in his class in Utah by 247Sports.
Donovann Toatley was named one of the D.C. area's top playmakers by prephoops.com and the No. 8 point guard per BigShots.net in DMV (D.C.-Maryland-Virginia) while also listed as DMVelite 18 standout.
Ryan Hurst finished fifth in the state for the Mr. Basketball award and was a Division 1 First Team All-State selection by the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.
Oton Jankovic was ranked the #21 overall player in the state of Florida and the 57th-best power forward in the nation by 24/7 Sports.

FAMILY CONNECTIONS

The Titans contain a few family connections that have played college and professional sports.
Edoardo Del Cadia's dad was a pro basketball player in Italy
Kyle LeGreair's God brother is Chris Douglas-Roberts, who played college basketball at Memphis.
Mak Manciel's dad played college basketball at Central Michigan.
Jayden Stone's dad played college basketball at Cal State Northridge.
Abdullah Olajuwon's dad is Hakeem Olajuwon, who played 18 years in the NBA, winning two championships with the Houston Rockets in 1994 and 1995 before being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008
Ryan Hurst's cousin, Jaden Hardy, was drafted in the 2022 NBA Draft in the second round by the Sacramento Kings and currently plays for the Dallas Mavericks.
Trenton Johnson's dad played college basketball at Tennessee State
Tyree Davis' dad, Ricky Davis, played 12 years in the NBA and averaged 13.5 points per game, including a career-high 20.6 with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002-03.
Tobin Schwannecke's two older brothers ran track at Wagner and Michigan.