Gametracker

Horizon League Network

A busy two-week span on the hard court kicks off this week for the UDM men's basketball team as the Titans will play five games in the next 10 days, starting with a Horizon League contest against UIC at home on Thursday. The game is part of a Titan doubleheader with the women hosting Cleveland State at 5:00 p.m. with the men to follow at 7:35 p.m.

Matt Dery, “The Voice of the Titans,” will have all the action live from Calihan Hall on WDTW-AM 1310.

Detroit (4-12, 0-7 HL) will look to end a five-game losing streak as well as an 11-game conference slide dating back to last season. Last year, the Titans swept homecoming weekend with a 68-60 victory against UIC and a 56-53 triumph over Loyola on homecoming day.


ABOUT UIC
UIC comes into the contest at 9-8 with some quality non-conference victories on the road against Vanderbilt (74-55) and Georgia Tech (66-60), but has struggled in league play with a 2-5 mark. 

The Flames are led by senior guard Josh Mayo who tops the team and the Horizon League in scoring at 17.4 points per game. He is also third in the conference in assists (3.8), second in free throw percentage (.891) and seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.372).

Senior Scott VanderMeer, who stands at 7-1 255 pounds, currently leads the conference in rebounding (9.1) and blocked shots (2.7). 

Sophomore Robo Kreps is third on the team with 10.2 ppg., while sophomore forward Tori Boyd is second on the team with 4.2 rebounds per game and fourth in scoring with 9.8 ppg.
UIC could be without the services of two starters as junior forward Jeremy Buttell has missed the last two games with an ankle injury, while junior guard Spencer Stewart was inactive with a foot injury last game. 

Jimmy Collins is in his13th season at UIC as is the Flames all-time winningest coach with 203-179 career record.

DETROIT VS. UIC
Detroit owns the overall series, 21-9, including an 11-3 mark in the Motor City. Last season, the Titans dropped a 75-65 decision on the road before coming up with a 68-60 victory in Calihan Hall.

DOUBLE UP
Junior Thomas Kennedy recorded his first career double-double scoring a team-high 17 points with a career-high 10 boards against Wright State his last time out. 

It was the first double-double of the season for Detroit as well as the first since Michael Harrington had 10 markers and 11 caroms against Milwaukee on Jan. 31, 2008.

DOMINATING THE GLASS
UDM has won the battle of the glass in 12 of its 16 games on the year. Detroit outrebounded an opponent just 11 times last year, including just four times on the road, which it has already surpassed this season. 

Against Wright State its last time out, UDM had its largest rebounding margin of the season with a +15 against the Raiders (37-22), which included an 18-8 advantage on the offensive glass.

BLUE COMING THROUGH
After not playing in the Titans' first seven games of the year, junior college transfer Eugene Blue has seen action in eight of UDM's last nine games, coming away with a season's best five rebounds at Valparaiso and eight points at-then No. 21/20 Butler.

In fact in the last two games, Blue is averaging 6.0 ppg., while in the last three contests, the Flint native is grabbing 4.0 rpg.

FULLY ADJUSTED
Junior Thomas Kennedy seems to have found his rhythm at the Division I level after a two-year junior college stint. In the first eight games of the season, Kennedy was averaging just 7.5 ppg., and was shooting 40 percent (27-of-67) from the field and did not attempt one free throw. 

In the last eight games, Kennedy is averaging 14.3 ppg., which includes five of his seven double digit scoring outings of the season. He is also shooting 49 percent (44-of-89) as well as hitting on 22-of-27 free throws (81%).