DETROIT (11/23/2023) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will shed some Thanksgiving Day turkey by heading back on the road as the Titans visit Southern Illinois Edwardsville on Saturday.
Game time is set for 2:00 p.m., at First Community Arena 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 close setback to Eastern Michigan as they chopped a 17-point deficit down to two with under a minute to go before falling, 76-72. Senior
Jayden Stone had a career-high 34 points and sophomore
Marcus Tankersley was back in double figures with 17.
Detroit Mercy is 5-2 all-time against current members of the Ohio Valley Conference, with a 4-0 record over Western Illinois, 0-2 mark against Tennessee State and the win over SIUE in 2019.
After the game, the Titans will begin Horizon League play as the red, white and blue host rival Oakland at Calihan Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 29. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m., and tickets start at just $10 for children and seniors and $15 for adults and can be purchased by
clicking here.
ALL-TIME SERIES
- The Titans and Cougars have met just once before, on Dec. 21, 2019, as the red, white and blue posted an 81-55 victory at home behind sophomore Antoine Davis' game-high 35 points.
LONG ENOUGH TIME TO WAIT
- Detroit Mercy and Southern Illinois Edwardsville first met during the 2019-20 season and the following year was supposed to be the return visit from the Titans. But between the pandemic and scheduling situations, the two teams are finally finishing the home-and-home series.
A BUNCH OF CAREER HIGHS
A STRUGGLE ON THE ROAD
- Detroit Mercy is 13-87 in true non-conference road games since the 2007-08 season, including 3-36 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.
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), and are already 35-16 this year.
EARNING THOSE HOTEL POINTS
- The Titans started the year with 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.
- Overall, 12 of the first 15 games for the Titans will be on the road.
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.
A PRECIOUS STONE
- Senior Jayden Stone has had a great start to the year and is coming off a career-high 34 points against Eastern Michigan, hitting 12-of-15 from the field and 4-of-7 from three. He also corralled six rebounds, had four assists and tied his career-high with three steals.
- Earlier in the year, he had a then career-high 25 points at Cincinnati, going 9-of-20 from the field and connecting on four triples, and also led the team with 22 points at Ole Miss.
- Stone is averaging a team-high 21.4 points, second in the Horizon League and 17th in the nation, with his 3.4 triples per game also second in the HL and 20th in DI, along with 6.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
- He has now played in 18 career games with the Titans and has netted 20 or more eight times, been in double figures 13 times, and has grabbed five or more rebounds on 12 occasions, including all five games this year.
DEL CADIA NETS CAREER BEST
- Graduate senior Edoardo Del Cadia tied and then set his career high in points, while posting his first career double-double in the first five games.
- He tallied a career-best 16 points and career-tying 10 boards at Ole Miss, to go with three assists, a block and a steal. At Ohio, he had nine points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.
- He tied his then-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 and that was after seven points, six boards and three helpers in the opener at Toledo.
- He is currently averaging 10.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.2 steals, shooting 48.6% from the field (17-of-35).
OLAJUWON IN THE BOOKS
- Redshirt freshman Abdullah Olajuwon has steadily increased his production in the first five games. Before scoring four points with a steal against Eastern Michigan, he had four points, a team-high eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals at Ohio.
- He scored his first basket in the season opener at Toledo, added two more points with six boards at Cincinnati, and had a bucket at Ole Miss.
- He is now 1,318 points behind his dad, Hakeem Olajuwon, who netted 1,332 in three years at Houston from 1981-84.
SCORE IT MARK
- Sophomore Marcus Tankersley scored just seven points in each of the first two games at Toledo and at Cincinnati on 6-of-13 shooting, but he has really picked up the offense since then.
- He exploded for a career-high 19 points at Ole Miss on a career-best 8-of-13 from the field with four rebounds and a career-high five assists. He came back with 14 points and a career-high eight rebounds at Ohio and netted 17 points with three rebounds, three assists and a steal against Eastern Michigan.
- Dating back to last season, he has now scored in double figures in five of the last seven games, shooting 35-of-63 (55.5%) overall.
- He saw action in 24 games, all as a reserve, last season and averaged 2.4 points and 1.2 rebounds, shooting 51.3% from the field (20-of-39) and 93.8% (15-of-16) at the line.
- He really came on at the end of the year, scoring 10 points (4-5 FG, 4-4 FT) with three steals and tying his season high with five boards against Purdue Fort Wayne in the Horizon League Championship opening round and ending the year with a season-best 14 points, hitting 6-of-9 from the field, with three rebounds and three assists in the Horizon League Championship Quarterfinals at Youngstown State.
HARD WORK PAYS OFF FOR TRENTON
- Junior Trenton Johnson - a walk-on - did not see action in the opener at Toledo and played just 15 minutes at Cincinnati, but when the Titans needed another man at Ole Miss, his hard work and dedication paid off.
- Johnson scored his first DI points, finishing with eight on 3-of-4 shooting, 2-of-3 from three, along with three rebounds, two assists and a steal.
- He upped his point total to nine at Ohio, adding three assists and a block and had six points against Eastern Michigan.
- He spent the last two years at Vincennes University, seeing action in 64 games with 27 starts and posted 5.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.
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, 145th in DI NCAA history, one away from 143rd, held by and Mike Deane and Brad Brownell.
- Davis is one of nine current coaches to win 100 games at three different schools (Indiana, UAB, Texas Southern).
DAVIS IN THE BOOKS
- Sophomore Tyree Davis earned his first Division I points, putting in two baskets and ending with four points against Eastern Michigan.
COACH WILLIAMS MAKES HISTORY
- Detroit Mercy hired its first female assistant coach in school history in former high school coach Jerica Williams.
- She is one of 31 women on DI MBB staffs in positions of leadership directly working with the players, although she is the only coach in Division I who has on-the-court instruction and recruiting duties.
- She was the girls' basketball head coach at Detroit Country Day from 2020-2022, where she was named back-to-back Coach of the Year in her first two years as a head coach while leading her team to back-to-back MSHAA Final Fours, before becoming Girls' Basketball Program Lead at the Windward School in Los Angeles, California. In the off-season, she continued working with NBA players on and off the court.
- Prior to that, she served as an Assistant Coach at Cal State Northridge from 2019-2020 and was the Chief of Staff at her alma mater, San Diego State in 2018-19.
- Williams played collegiate basketball from 2006-2010 at UCLA and San Diego State, where she was part of two Mountain West Conference championship teams along with two NCAA appearances. Prior to college, she led her high school team to four straight CIF championships, winning 3 in a row.
- Prior to the home opener on Nov. 21, Detroit Council Member Angela Calloway presented the prestigious Spirit of Detroit Award to her for her outstanding achievement in becoming the program's first-ever female men's assistant coach.
- The Spirit of Detroit Award is issued by the Detroit City Council to a person, event, or organization deemed to have performed an outstanding achievement or service to the citizens of Detroit.
