MILWAUKEE (2/22/2020) — After starting the Horizon League season with five of seven on the road, the University of Detroit Mercy men’s basketball team will be back on Dick Vitale Court in Calihan Hall for seven of its next nine games starting with a visit from IUPUI on Thursday, Jan. 23.
Game time is set for 7 p.m., and will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and locally on WADL-38 with Jeremy Otto on the call as well as over the air on 910 AM Superstation with Dan Hasty calling the contest.
The day will feature the jersey retirement of Earl “The Twirl” Cureton’s jersey at halftime of the contest.
Cureton was a 12-year NBA veteran and a two-time NBA champion who for the Titans from 1977-80, playing two seasons after sitting out following his transfer from Robert Morris. He helped U-D back to the NCAA Tournament in his first year as the Titans went 22-6, capturing wins over Oregon, Georgetown and Marquette before coming back to lead another winning season with 14 victories in his senior campaign.
The Titans are coming off a 1-1 weekend in Wisconsin with a 90-84 victory at Milwaukee and a tough 83-80 setback at Green Bay.
Sophomore Antoine Davis continues to pace the Titans on offense as he is still is third in the nation in scoring at 23.6 points per game, but has seen some other teammates step up. Sophomore Marquis Moore is coming off his third-straight game in double figures with 13 points and six rebounds at Green Bay and that was after a career-high 18 at Milwaukee, while junior Dwayne Rose Jr. has tallied double figures in back-to-back games with a career-high 16 against the Panthers.
Sophomore Chris Brandon Brandon has been dominant on the boards in his last nine games, pulling down at least 10 rebounds in six contests and is averaging 12.1 in that span with a pair of double-doubles and a career-high 18 caroms at Oakland.
The Titans are just 11 points away from being 6-1 in the HL with their closes losses so far as they have dropped games to Wright State and Youngstown State when they had the ball in their hand for a game-tying or winning shot and also had the ball at Green Bay for a game-tying shot. Detroit Mercy has also had leads against WSU, CSU and Green Bay.
IUPUI has dropped three in a row and is 5-15 on the season and 1-6 in the Horizon League.
Tickets start at just $10 and can be purchased by visiting detroittitans.com/tix.
ALL-TIME SERIES
- Despite being just about a four and a half-hour drive, the Titans and Jaguars had never faced each other before IUPUI joined the Horizon League two years ago, and the teams have split the first four meetings with each team going 2-0 at home.
- IUPUI moved to Division I in 1998-98 and was independent for two seasons before joining the Mid-Continent (now the Summit League) in 2000-01.
DAVIS 3RD IN NATION IN SCORING
- After finishing third in the nation in scoring last season, sophomore Antoine Davis has his name right back on top of the nation’s leaders as he ranks third in the country and leading the Horizon League in scoring at 23.6 points per game.
- He trails only Marquette’s Markus Howard (28.2) and UTSA’s Jhivvan Jackson (25.8).
- He has 13 games with 20 or more points and four 30-point outings on the year.
- Davis had a season-high 35 against SIUE, 31 at #1 Gonzaga and 33 at Ohio.
- Last year, he topped the HL at 26.1 ppg. and he is the second active leading scorer in Division I in at 25.2 ppg.
GETTING THE FREE ONES
- Detroit Mercy leads the HL and is fifth in the country in free-throw percentage at 78.7 percent, connecting on at least 20 or more free throws six times this season.
- Some of the best games have included:
- 20-of-22 at Clemson
- 25-of-30 vs. UC Irvine
- 20-of-24 vs. Louisiana Lafayette
- 21-of-24 at Oakland
- 28-of-31 at Milwaukee
- 21-of-26 at Green Bay
- It helps to have two of the best at the line as sophomore Antoine Davis – who had made 38-straight free throws until missing his first against Wright State – leads the league and is fifth in the nation (92.9%) as he has hit 104-of-112 on the year, while senior Justin Miller is fifth in the HL and 154th in the nation at 79.8 percent.
RACKING UP THE POINTS
- Antoine Davis now has 36 career 20-point games and 13 career 30-point outings in just 49 collegiate contests.
- He has now scored in double figures in all 49 games – reaching at least 17 points in 44 of them – and he also nailed one 3-pointer at Green Bay to extend his three-point shooting streak to 49-straight games, the fourth-longest streak in the country.
- 1. Mack Smith (Eastern Illinois) – 66
- 2. Jaylen Minnett (IUPUI) – 56
- 3. Cameron Healy (Albany) – 50
- 4. Antoine Davis (Detroit Mercy) – 49
DAVIS QUICKEST TO 1,000 POINTS
- Sophomore Antoine Davis scored a team-high 27 points at Notre Dame, 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 – a NBA Hall-Of-Famer who was named one of the top 50 players in NBA history – as the fastest Titan to reach 1,000.
- DeBusschere accomplished the feat in his 43rd collegiate on his way to 1,985.
- Davis is 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.
- With his 17 points at Green Bay, Davis is now 25th in school history with 1,233 points, just two shy of 24th place.
DAVIS’ LETHAL SHOT
- Sophomore Antoine Davis hit a season-high seven 3-pointers against SIUE and made six at Milwaukee and five from long range at #1 Gonzaga.
- He now has 26 games with four or more triples, nine with six or more, and has twice connected on 10 in his young career.
- Davis currently has 195 career 3-pointers and is already seventh in school history, just seven away from sixth place, while his career 3.98 triples per game is the highest among all active players in DI.
CLEANING THE GLASS
- Sophomore Chris Brandon has been a beast on the glass in his last nine games, pulling down at least 10 rebounds in six contests and is averaging 12.1 in that span with a pair of double-doubles. He also has at least four offensive rebounds in seven of those games with nine at Oakland and seven at Cleveland State and at Green Bay.
- He is coming off a nine-point, 15-rebound game at Green Bay and that followed his second career double-double of 12 points and 14 boards at Milwaukee.
- He pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds at Cleveland State and had eight points, six rebounds and a career-tying four blocks against Wright State.
- He posted his first career double-double with 10 points and 12 boards along with four blocks at #1 Gonzaga.
- Brandon had a day to remember at Oakland as he grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds to go with six points and three blocks and had 10 boards against SIUE.
- The 18 boards are the most since Eli Holman had 18 against Milwaukee in 2010.
- On the season, he leads the team in rebounding at 7.4 per night – fifth in the HL – while his 3.15 offensive rebounds is fourth in the HL and 52nd in the NCAA.
BRADLEY BUCKETS GOES FOR 20
- Graduate student Brad Calipari was back in double figures for the fifth time this season as he posted 11 points off the bench at Cleveland State and added eight at Youngstown State and six at Green Bay.
- He had a team and career-high 20 points, hitting a career-best five 3-pointers against Toledo.
- That was after draining four triples and ending with 12 points at Notre Dame.
- Calipari has hit at least two 3-pointers in 10 games and connected on four or more in four contests.
- He had 13 points hitting 4-of-6 from long range at Wyoming and came back with a then career-high 16 points with four more triples in the win over UC Irvine.
- Calipari transferred to Detroit Mercy and will have the rare two years of eligibility as a graduate student as he graduated from Kentucky in just three years with a degree in Business and is enrolled in the Liberal Studies masters program.
- He spent three seasons at Kentucky and played in 27 games with the Wildcats, under the direction of his dad head coach John Calipari, and was part of 88 wins as the Wildcats advanced to the Elite 8 in 2017 and 2019 and the Sweet 16 in 2018.
BRANDON SHOWING OFF
- Chris Brandon has come alive, showing off his high energy and athleticism to grab rebounds, score and block shots.
- Brandon is second in the Horizon League with 1.25 blocks per game and 25 total swats on the year.
- He had a game-high 18 rebounds at Oakland and added 12 points and 14 rebounds at Milwaukee and nine points and 15 rebounds at Green Bay.
- The second-year forward had 10 points (5-5 FG), nine rebounds and two blocks against NKU and eight points with six boards and four blocks versus WSU.
- He tied his career-high with four blocks at #1 Gonzaga to go with 10 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double-double.
- He had three blocks and two steals along with his 18 boards at Oakland, and against Toledo, he finished with nine rebounds and four blocks, two of which were coming down the court and breaking up a Rockets’ fast-break attempt.
- One of the most athletic players in the Horizon League, he finished with 12 points and eight rebounds at Clemson.
- He is now averaging 5.8 points and 7.4 rebounds, while shooting 67.6 percent (50-of-74) on the season.
- Last year, he shot 60.8 percent from the field, mostly on getting to the rim and putting back offensive rebounds.
ANTOINE EARNS JOHN R. WOODEN AWARD NOMINATION
- Sophomore Antoine Davis was named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list.
- The John Wooden Award presented by Wendy’s® is chosen by a preseason poll of national college basketball experts and the list is comprised of 50 student-athletes who are the early front-runners for the Wooden Award All American Team™ and Most Outstanding Player Award.
MILLER TIME
- Senior transfer Justin Miller had a special moment with a little more than three minutes to go at top-ranked Gonzaga as he posted his 1,000 career collegiate point.
- He ended the contest with 17 points, five caroms and three assists.
- Miller has reached double figures in seven of the last 10 games. He netted 16 points with six rebounds at Youngstown State and that was after scoring 14 points with seven caroms and a season-high three steals at Cleveland State.
- He posted his second Titan double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds versus Wright State.
- Before that, he had a season-high 18 points, six rebounds, season-best five assists and two steals against NKU.
- At Clemson, he made his presence felt with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds before tallying 14 in the win over UC Irvine.
- In his career, he has scored in double figures in 52 games – including 20 or more four times – with a career-high 22 points on the road at Kansas.
- For the Titans, he is second on the team in scoring (10.2) and rebounding (5.9).
MOORE FOR MARQUIS
- Sophomore Marquis Moore finally got over his high watermark of 12 points by scoring a career-best 15, hitting three 3-pointers with six rebounds and three assists at Youngstown State and then raised that to 18 points at Milwaukee, where he was 9-of-10 at the line with nine rebounds and a career-best five steals.
- He is coming off his third-straight game in double figures with 13 points and six rebounds at Green Bay.
- He has now been in double figures in scoring six times in the last nine games and is averaging 10.5 ppg., in that span.
- Prior to that, he had scored 12 points four times this season and twice last year.
- He posted 12 points with eight rebounds against NKU and also had 12 points at Oakland and against SIUE, where he knocked in four 3-pointers.
- Moore tallied his second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Eastern Michigan and recorded eight points and nine boards at Wyoming.
- He now has seven games on the year with five or more rebounds with six double-digit scoring efforts.
- Last season, he had a season-best 11 rebounds at Milwaukee.
- He also registered his first collegiate double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds against IUPUI and posted 12 points and eight rebounds in the Horizon League Championship quarterfinals at NKU.
BIG WILLY STYLE
- Sophomore Willy Isiani had his best game of the season scoring 13 points and grabbing a career-high seven rebounds in the win over UC Irvine and nailed five treys en route to 15 points at Ohio.
- He had 11 points and tied his career-best with seven rebounds against Northeastern, and that was after 11 points, four rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals against Toledo. At Notre Dame, he scored 11 points with a couple of 3-pointers.
- He continues to show his prowess from three as 28 of his 37 field goals this season and 48 of 61 in his career have been from behind the arc.
- He tallied a season-high 20 points last season nailing six more from downtown at IUPUI and finished the year with 14 in the HL quarterfinals at NKU.
- A native of Tbilisi, Georgia, he is believed to be the first Titan from the country of Georgia.
HOORAY FOR GORMAN
- Junior walk-on Jordan Gorman came into the Oakland game with just 20 points on the season, but he connected on five 3-pointers and ended with a career-best 15 points against the Golden Grizzlies.
ROSE RAISING HIS GAME
- Junior Dwayne Rose Jr. has started to pick up his scoring, netting double figures in both games last week with a career-high 16 points, five rebounds and two assists at Milwaukee and 13 points at Green Bay.
- He also posted 10 points against Toledo, getting to the rim by beating his defender with some quick moves around the basket.
- He scored seven points and handed out three assists versus NKU and added eight points and four rebounds against Wright State.
