DETROIT (11/29/2024) -- One of the oldest rivalries in school history will see the fans brush off Thanksgiving Day dinner and get to the hardwood as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball teams will make the short trek to Ypsilanti to face the Eastern Michigan Eagles on Saturday.

Game time is set for 7:00 p.m., at the George Gervin GameAbove Center and will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and the Watch ESPN App.

Detroit Mercy and Eastern Michigan are teaming up to make a difference this holiday season through the Winter Clothes Drive. In the spirit of competition and community, the two schools will collect coats, scarves, hats, and gloves to benefit local families in need. As a special incentive, fans who bring a new or gently worn winter clothing item to either game will receive a free ticket to that game. (One donated item equals one ticket.)

The Titans are 3-5 on the season, with wins over Cleary, Niagara and at Ball State. Junior and Eastern Michigan transfer Orlando Lovejoy - who had a career-high 28 points his last time out - leads the team in scoring at 13.5 points per game. Junior Jared Lary is tallying 9.6 points, while graduate senior Emmanuel Kuac is at 8.6 a night.

EMU is 5-2 on the year and has won three in a row, downing Oakland and Houston Christian on the road and Northern Arizona on a neutral court.

After the games, the Titans will open Horizon League play with home games against Purdue Fort Wayne and Wright State.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES

• Eastern Michigan is one of the oldest rivals in school history. This is the 81st career meeting between the two schools, located just about 35 miles apart. Detroit Mercy has dominated the series overall at 59-21, winning 10 of the last 15, but EMU has come on as of late, taking five of the last six. 
• The Titans are 27-12 all-time playing on the road, splitting the last four meetings in Ypsilanti. 

LONGTIME RIVALS

• Detroit Mercy is 59-21 all-time against Eastern Michigan, with 59 wins, the most over any opponent in school history. The 80 total games are the fourth most against any foe in Titan history, following Loyola (126), Xavier (95), and Marquette (88).

Most Wins In School History
59 Eastern Michigan
58 Loyola Chicago
47 Cleveland State
43 Xavier
40 Youngstown State

LOOKING FOR THE NEXT BENCHMARK

• The Titans have already eclipsed last year's win total of one and snapped a 22-game road slide with a win at Ball State.

IT HAS BEEN A WHILE

• The Titans earned an overtime win against Niagara, the first win in extra time since a 116-109 victory against Houston Baptist (now called Houston Christian) in 2017.  

DOMINATING THE GLASS

• Detroit Mercy has owned the glass this year, outrebounding its opponents in seven of its eight games. The Titans lead the Horizon League and rank 11th in the country with 43.8 rebounds per game, second in the HL and 28th in the country with 14.6 offensive boards and third in the league and 25th in DI with a +10.0 rebounding average. 
• UDM registered a 48-31 advantage at Wake Forest (14-6 on offense). The Titans outrebounded Ball State, 40-30, with 13 offensive boards and collected 15 of the last 20 rebounds in the contest to seal the win. 
• Detroit Mercy took the glass against Niagara, 49-28, the first time it had a margin of +20 or more since a 53-20 advantage at home over Youngstown State in 2016. 
• The Titans pulled down 53 rebounds in the season opener against Cleary, the most since the 53 they had against Youngstown State, and also edged Loyola, 40-39, which included 20 offensive caroms, and Tulsa, 47-44, 16-9 on offense. 

GIVE US ONE MORE CHANCE

• UDM's outstanding work on the glass has led to a 109-58 margin on second-chance points on the season.
• Detroit Mercy had 20 second-chance points in the season opener against Cleary, 22 at Loyola, and tallied a 17-4 margin at Ball State.
• Last year, the Titans had just one game all season long with 15 second-chance points.

PLAYING SOME DEFENSE

• In the win at Ball State, the Titans held a team under 60 points on the road for the first time since a 71-58 triumph at Milwaukee in 2021-22.
• At Wake Forest, the Titans responded from a slow start to force the Demon Deacons into missing 25 of their last 31 from behind the arc and 16 for their last 50 shots overall after starting the contest 8-of-11. Against Tulsa, the defense came back to force the Golden Hurricane into 8-of-25 (32.0%) from the field and 4-of-17 (23.5%) from three in the second half.

JUST KUAC THIS

• Emmanuel Kuac is back for his second graduate season and already looks healthier than he did all of last year.
• He posted a team-high 18 points, connecting on 6-of-8 from the field and 5-of-7 from three, against Toledo and had a 13-point performance at Ball State, where he was 5-of-10 overall and 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
• Kuac netted seven points at Loyola and against Rhode Island and had 12 points, six rebounds, two assists, and a steal versus Niagara.
• For his career, Kuac has made 98 field goals, 49 of those from three, including 30 of his 50 field goals as a Titan. 
• Kuac missed the first 12 games of last year's season, recovering from an injury he sustained before arriving at UDM. However, he never fully recovered, recording 4.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 19 games. 
• He showed what he could do when healthy at Milwaukee, shooting 9-of-19 and 7-of-13 from three en route to a career-high 27 points, a season-high eight rebounds, a career-tying three steals, and a block.

313 IS WHERE O WANTS TO BE

• Junior Orlando Lovejoy hails from Detroit, evidenced by his 313 tattoo on his right arm.
• He has turned his play on in the last five games, scoring in double figures in four of them, averaging 16.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, handing out 20 assists against just seven turnovers.
• He is coming off a career game in which he scored 28 points on 10-of-20 shooting and a perfect 8-of-8 at the free-throw line against Rhode Island. He also dished out seven assists, collected four rebounds, and registered two steals. 
• Lovejoy tallied a team-high 15 points, grabbed a season-best eight boards, and handed out six assists at Wake Forest. He had 19 points, seven rebounds with five assists, and a steal at Ball State, going 5-of-12 from the field and tying his career-best with a 9-of-10 effort at the charity stripe. 
• Prior to that, he scored 12 points against Toledo, nine points, five rebounds, three assists, and a career-high five steals at Loyola, and six points, six rebounds, and a team-high five assists against Niagara. 
• On the year, he is leading the team at 13.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists, shooting 40.7% overall and 80.0% at the line. 
• He was a four-time All-State selection in high school and spent the last two seasons at Eastern Michigan, playing in 53 games with 29 starts and posting 7.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.2 steals.
• Last season, he tallied 9.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists with 32 steals, scoring in double figures in 12 games, including a career-high 19 points at NIU.
• He also scored 16 points at Michigan and against Toledo and had a career-best eight assists at Central Michigan.

LARY HAS FOUND A HOME AT UDM

• Junior Jared Lary has moved around a bit for basketball, playing at three high schools and two colleges, but he is now starting to thrive at Detroit Mercy. 
• He has shown that he can do a little of everything through eight games, tallying 9.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
• He had 10 points, a season-tying six rebounds with a block against Rhode Island. Lary recorded a team-high 12 points, three rebounds, two steals, and an assist versus Tulsa after 10 points, four rebounds, and a steal at Wake Forest. He netted a season-high 15 points - all in the second half - shooting 6-of-9 overall and 3-of-4 from three, with four rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block at Ball State and posted 11 points, six rebounds, two steals, and a block against Niagara, including the game-tying basket down the stretch to send the game into overtime.
• Last year at Aquinas, he registered 11.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 30 games, shooting 45.7% from the field and 74.2% at the free-throw line, with 30 triples. He had 17 double-figure scoring games, with three 20-point performances, including a career-high 22 against Cleary. 
• He was at Lincoln Memorial for two years, redshirting as a freshman, and playing 18 games in 2022-23, averaging 3.6 points and 1.7 boards, shooting 41.9%.
• As a prep, he started to gain attention at Grand Rapids Christian before transferring to Lutheran East in Cleveland, Ohio. 

GEETER READY TO MAKE HIS OWN LEGEND

• After stops at Providence and Eastern Michigan, junior Legend Geeter is ready to make himself at home in his hometown. 
• Geeter is coming off his second double-figure scoring game, finishing with 11 points, a season-high six rebounds, and a career-high four steals with a block against Rhode Island. He recorded a career-high 14 points against Niagara, going 3-of-5 from the field and 8-of-8 at the free-throw line, and had eight points, four rebounds, and two steals at Ball State, going 2-of-2 from distance. 
• Geeter - who was coached in high school by Titan assistant coach LaMonta Stone and was a top-50 recruit in the nation - started his career in the BIG EAST at Providence but did not see action in any games.
• He spent the last two seasons at Eastern Michigan, playing in 57 games with 40 starts and averaged 5.5 points, 3.8 rebounds,1.2 assists, with six blocks, and 44 steals.
• He scored in double figures five times last year, including a then-career-tying 13 points with five rebounds at Florida Atlantic and 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals against Bowling Green. He also had 13 points at Illinois State and a career-high 10 rebounds against Winthrop in 2022-23. 

A DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR OKORO

• Freshman Stephen Okoro talked about being a Dennis Rodman-type player on his recruiting trip, and so far, he has lived up to that, averaging a team-high 4.9 rebounds on the season.
• He pulled down a game-high nine boards against Tulsa, with four off the offensive glass.
• He had four rebounds, two points, a block, and an assist in 10 minutes at Wake Forest, four rebounds with two assists at Ball State in eight minutes, and five rebounds with a block in nine minutes against Toledo.
• Okoro had three points and a team-best six boards at Loyola and made an impact in his Titan debut against Cleary. He played just 16 minutes and came away with a double-double of 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, connecting on 6-of-8 from the field.
• He is the first Titan to have a double-double in his debut since senior Gerald Liddell at Purdue Fort Wayne in 2022, while the last freshman to accomplish the task was Marquis Moore at IUPUI in 2019.
• A native of Imo State, Nigeria, he prepped at Combine Academy (NC) last year. As a senior at Principia High School in Missouri, he was named the District Player of the Year and Honorable Mention All-State after tallying 13.5 points, 14.1 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game. 

WHAT NADEAU ABOUT NOTHING

• Freshman TJ Nadeau was in double figures for the second time this season as he tallied a season-high 13 points with a season-best nine boards at Wake Forest. 
• He posted his first collegiate double-digit scoring performance with 10 points against Toledo.
• In Florida, he registered five points, six rebounds, an assist, and a steal against Rhode Island and had seven points, four rebounds, an assist, and a steal in the season opener before hitting a couple of 3-pointers to end with eight points at Loyola. 
• Nadeau hails from South Lyon and had a great career at Detroit Catholic Central. He tallied over 1,000 points in his prep career, including 18.0 points and 8.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game as a senior.

GRANT READY TO KEEP FAMILY LEGACY GOING

• Redshirt freshman Grant Gondrezick II came to Detroit Mercy after a stop at Elon and a stellar high school career.
• In his collegiate debut against Cleary, he had five points and a team-high five assists with a steal. He also had five points and two helpers at Wake Forest and four points, two boards, and a steal against Tulsa. 
• He did not see any action at Elon but was a high scorer at Benton Harbor, posting nearly 2,000 career points. As a senior, he netted 997 total points, averaging 25.3 points, 4.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 2.5 steals. He earned First Team All-State and was named to the Mr. Basketball Top 10 Watchlist for 2023.
• His dad, Grant Gondrezick, played college basketball at Pepperdine and then two seasons in the NBA for the Suns, while his mother, Felicia, won the 1988 NCAA Championship at Louisiana Tech.
• His older sister, Kalabrya, played college basketball at Michigan State, while his other sister, Kysre, was Miss Basketball in Michigan, played for Michigan and West Virginia and currently plays in the WNBA.
• His uncle, Glen, his dad's brother, played at UNLV and spent six seasons in the NBA with the Knicks and Nuggets. 

 
NATE THE GREAT

• As the Titans opened the year with a 2-1 week, the Horizon League took notice as rookie Nate Johnson was named the Under Armour Freshman of the Week on Nov. 11.
• The true freshman showed his all-around skills in his first three collegiate games, averaging 10.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists, hitting 10-of-23 (43.5%) from the field, with four triples.
• He started his collegiate career with nine points, seven rebounds, and three assists in the win over Cleary. He came back and added 13 points and three boards at Loyola, then tallied nine points, seven rebounds, two assists, and a steal in the come-from-behind win over Niagara.

KALAMBAY'S PLAY

• Freshman Ryan Kalambay is another Canadian import for Detroit Mercy.
• He had two points, three rebounds, two blocks, and a steal against Rhode Island. He had his second-straight game with five rebounds, three points, two steals and a block against Tulsa after pulling down five rebounds with a block at Wake Forest.
• In the season opener, he showed some muscle, scoring eight points and collecting two rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block in just 13 minutes.

PUTTING IN THE MILES

• Freshman Miles Mitchell was a candidate to redshirt at the start of the season, but after not playing the first three games, he has come off the bench, providing a spark on offense and defense.
• Mitchell finished with eight points and had four rebounds in just 13 minutes against Rhode Island. He scored four points with two boards in nine minutes against Toledo and had two points, three caroms, a block, and a steal at Wake Forest.
• He is 8-of-11 from the field (72.7%) on the year, with all of those field goals coming around the basket.