Men’s Basketball Head Coach Mike Davis embraces a tough non-conference schedule at Detroit Mercy media day. Photo courtesy of the Rolco Sports & Entertainment Network
By Raymond Rolak
It is the 114th season for Titan basketball
The University of Detroit Mercy men’s basketball head coach, Mike Davis starts his second year and it will be his 19th as a Division-I head coach. Coach Davis stated that he is looking forward to the tough non-conference schedule that the Titan’s face.
Detroit Mercy has a roster of 13, sparked by sophomore Antoine Davis, who is the leading returning scorer in the country at 26.1 points per game. He broke the NCAA freshman record held by Stephen Curry with 132, 3-pointers. Post-season, he was recognized as a freshman All-America and a finalist for National Freshman of the Year. Antoine is the son of Coach Mike Davis.
Sophomore Antoine Davis (University of Detroit Mercy), is the leading returning scorer in the country at 26.1 Photo courtesy of Detroit Mercy SID office
Last week Davis was named the Preseason Horizon League Player of the Year. He is the first Titan to earn the preseason honor since Ray McCallum in 2012. Last season, Davis was the Horizon League Freshman of the Year and a finalist for the USBWA Wayman Tisdale Award for National Freshman Player of the Year.
Davis ended his season leading the Horizon League in scoring at 26.1 points per game, third in the nation, and tallied 784 points. This was a Titan and Horizon League freshman record and just one point off the school record for points in a season.
Antoine was also named to the 20-man Jerry West Shooting Guard Watch List by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Back in the Titan fold are some other experienced sophomores in Chris Brandon, Willy Isiani, Marquis Moore and Boe Nguidjol. All had playing time last season.
The big game on the home schedule will be the Metro-Series contest against Oakland at historic Calihan Hall on Jan. 31. It is part of the Horizon League’s Wildcard Weekend on ESPNU.
Tuesday, December 10th has the Titans travelling to South Bend to take on Notre Dame.
The non-conference home schedule will feature match-ups with Eastern Michigan (Dec. 7), Toledo (Dec. 14), Northeastern (Dec. 19) and SIU Edwardsville (Dec. 21).
The Lady Titans are entering their fifth season under head coach Bernard Scott and 43rd season as a program overall. “I’m really excited about the team and the young ladies we have on the team,” Scott said. He further added, “It was a great summer. Having eight new faces, it just added a fresh start to the program. All of those young ladies brought energy along with the returners. It was probably the best summer we’ve had since I’ve been here, it was a very productive summer and right now it shows because we are further ahead than we’ve been in the past.”
The Lady Titans will work around senior forward Zoey Oatis (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech), who was among the Horizon League leaders in steals and blocks a year ago. Eight newcomers will be on hand to support her.
Alumni and senior citizen season tickets are just $100 and with a choice of Upper Reserved or General Admission level seats and also include season passes to women’s basketball. For more information or to purchase season tickets, contact Director of Ticket Operations & Sales Justin Hairston at 313-993-1700 ext. 7301 or at [email protected].
Road Trip, Nov. 24-26 MGM Grand Main Event in Las Vegas
Games at Clark High School & T-Mobile Arena near the campus of UNLV
The Titans join a field that includes California-Irvine and Louisiana-Lafayette as part of the Welterweight Division of the MGM Grand Main Event in Las Vegas. UC-Irvine was 31-6 overall and 15-1 in the Big West, advancing to the NCAA Tournament and beating Kansas State in the first round. Louisiana Lafayette was 19-13 last season and 10-8 in the Sun Belt. This portion of the tourney will be played at Clark High School near the campus of UNLV.
The battle for the Heavyweight Championship of the MGM Resorts Main Event will tip-off with Colorado vs. Wyoming and TCU vs. Clemson in first-round match-ups on Sunday, Nov. 24 at T-Mobile Arena. The sixth-annual men’s college basketball tournament, being played on a weekend for the first time, starts at 5:00 p.m. PT. Colorado-Wyoming followed by TCU-Clemson at 7:30 p.m.
Brooks Downing, President and CEO of bdG Sports, the tournament promoter had this to say, “This may be our best field yet as excitement is extremely high at Clemson and TCU heading into the new season.” The consolation and championship games will be played on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. PT, respectively.
