Game notes vs. Valparaiso

Gametracker

After a convincing win on the road at Loyola to start the 2010 calendar year, Detroit returns home for a two-game televised home stand starting with the Horizon League's ESPNU Game of the Week against Valparaiso on Friday. Game time is slated for 7:05 p.m. 

Detroit native Michael Reghi (Cass Tech HS) will handle the play-by-play with former Marquette All-American Jim Chones providing the color. The game WILL NOT be web streamed on the Horizon League Network, but fans who can't make it down to Calihan Hall can view all the action with a live stats feed on CSTV's gametracker. 

Fans can still take advantage of UDM's and Ticketmaster's Entertainment Stimulus Package "Holidays at the Hall", which includes a 4-Pack of Upper General Admission tickets and 4 fountain drinks (a $50 value) for only $20. For more information and to purchase tickets, contact the Titan ticket office at 313-993-1700. 

Detroit (10-5, 3-1 HL) is coming off a huge 59-42 win at Loyola, in which the Titans turned a three-point halftime deficit into a 17-point victory thanks to shooting 58 percent in the second half while holing the Ramblers to just 20 percent. Sophomore Eli Holman had a team-high 14 points and tied his career high with six blocks. Senior Thomas Kennedy added 10 points and junior Xavier Keeling matched his career best with nine rebounds. 

Valparaiso comes into the game at 6-9 overall and 1-2 in the conference. Like UDM, the Crusaders split a pair of Horizon League games last week defeating Milwaukee at the buzzer, 55-54, before dropping a 64-58 decision to Green Bay. Valpo is the highest scoring team in the league at 71.7 points per game thanks to a pair of high-scoring transfers in Brandon Wood and Cory Johnson. Wood, a junior college transfer from Highland CC, is leading the league in scoring at 20.3 ppg., while Cory Johnson, an Iowa State transfer, is posting 15.1 ppg., and 6.1 rpg. 

DETROIT VS. VALPARAISO
While the two religious institutions are just 245 miles apart from each other, UDM and Valparaiso have met just 10 times, with each team coming away with five victories. 

Valparaiso is in its third year in the Horizon League and won the first three games as conference foes, but UDM ended that slide with a thrilling 56-55 triumph at home last year. 

ALREADY IMPROVED
Detroit's 10 victories are more than UDM has had in each of the last two seasons (7).
In Horizon League play, the Titans' 3-1 mark in the league has also already surpassed their victory total from last season. 

A win by the Titans would put Detroit at 4-1 in the HL, its best start in conference action since going 4-1 during the 2004-05 season. 

ELI PLAYING LANDLORD
Sophomore Eli Holman has given the Titans something they have not had in awhile, a big time defensive presence in the middle that runs the paint. Holman is currently leading the Horizon League, and is 26th in the nation, with 2.5 blocks per game. 

He has at least one block in 11 of Detroit's 12 games with the only contest he did not record a swat at UIC, where he played just eight minutes due to foul trouble. He set a career high with six blocks against Shawnee State and tied that mark his last time out at Loyola. The six are also the most by anyone in the HL this season 

His 31 blocks on the year are more than a single player has had at Detroit since the 2006-07 season when Ryvon Covile had 43. 

If Holman keeps up this pace, he would end up with roughly 74 blocks, putting him fourth on the UDM all-time single season list, behind Terry Tyler, who owns the first three spots.

X ON THE GLASS
Xavier Keeling tied his career high with nine rebounds at Loyola. The boards were also a season high for the Titan power forward, who at 6-7, 235lb received offers from not only basketball, but major Division I football programs too as a defensive end coming out of high school. 

HOLMAN, WODDY AMONG NCAA LEADERS
As of the latest NCAA statistics, released on Jan. 3, Eli Holman is 10th in the country in field goal percentage (61.2%), 25th in blocked shots (2.6) and 53rd in rebounding (9.1). 

Meanwhile, Woody Payne is 23rd in the country in steals at 2.4 per game. 

The Titan defense also ranks 34th in the country in 3-point field goal defense (29.4%), 52nd in steals (8.5), 67th in field goal defense (39.9%) and 80th in field goal percentage (45.9%).

HORIZON LEAGUE LEADERS
The Titans have one individual Horizon League leader and are on top of three defensive categories as a team. Sophomore Eli Holman currently leads the league in field-goal percentage (.612) and blocks (2.5). He is also second in rebounding (9.1) and double-doubles (5). 

Senior Woody Payne is second in the conference in steals (2.4) and assists to turnover ratio (1.7, 50-A, 30-T). 

As a team, UDM leads the league in field-goal percentage defense (.399), 3-point field-goal percentage defense (.294) and block shots (4.0). Detroit is also second in steals (8.5), field-goal percentage (.459) and rebounding (36.7) and fourth in scoring defense allowing just 65.0 points per game.