Anticipation will meet reality Saturday when the Detroit Titans men's basketball team will finally get a chance to take the court as a team as UDM hosts Hillsdale College in the first of two exhibition contests for the 2010-11 season. The match-up between the Titans and Chargers will start at 4:30 p.m. inside historical Calihan Hall.

Head Coach Ray McCallum returns to the sidelines for his third season, guiding a team that has heightened expectations following a turnaround of 13 games last season, the fourth-best jump in Division I.  The 20 wins marked the first time UDM had etched that mark since the 2000-01 season. 

Newcomers played a big role in the “Titan Turnaround” of 2010 and they'll play a big role again this winter as third-year Coach McCallum continues to retool his roster with an eye on even bigger and better things in the future.

To go with a nationally-ranked recruiting class, the Titans will build around two key veterans who were members of the Horizon League's 2010 All-Newcomer Team in juniors Chase Simon and Eli Holman. The 6-6 Simon, who transferred from Central Michigan, was a second-team All-HL honoree leading Detroit in scoring at an even 14 points per game, which included eight 20-point games and a pair of 30-point explosions. Meanwhile, the 6-9 Holman, who transferred from Indiana, led the league in three major categories, rebounding (8.9), field goal percentage (.614) and blocked shots (2.5). Both will be significant contributors to Detroit's success again this season.

So, too, will a strong group of newcomers, beginning with a point guard who was a McDonald's and Parade High School All-American and shares the head coach's name. Ray McCallum, the coach's 6-foot-1 son, chose to play for his father's team over offers from his other final four options, Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma and UCLA. He is a proven distributor and scorer who led his high school to the state championship and will make an immediate impact to the Titan backcourt.

Junior college All-Americans Chris Blake, a 6-5 guard who can score, and Nick Minnerath, a versatile 6-8 forward, also look to play huge roles during the year. Blake, who originally signed with Florida State out of high school, averaged 18.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 2.2 assists last at Trinity Valley (TX) Community College.  Minnerath averaged 21.0 points per game in 2010 to rank 21st on the NJCAA Division II scoring list. He also pulled down 8.3 rebounds to lead his team, while shooting 55.6 percent from the field.  Another big man who will see minutes will be 6-11 center LaMarcus Lowe, a Western Michigan transfer who led the Mid-American Conference in blocks in 2009 as a freshman.  Jason Calliste, a top 100 recruit out of high school in 2009, will also be back after sitting out last season.

The Titans come off a year in which they finished first in the Horizon League in field goal percentage defense (.414) and rebound margin (+4.0), while standing second in field goal accuracy (.459) and third in scoring (.694).

Hillsdale is an NCAA Division II institution, a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).  UDM's other exhibition opponent is also hails from the GLIAC as Lake Superior State will visit Calihan Hall in a week's time.