Game notes vs. Valparaiso - Horizon League Network - Gametracker

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March Madness has arrived in the Motor City as Detroit will hit the road for the first round of the 2010 Speedway Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship on Tuesday when the seventh-seeded Titans face the No. 6 seed Valparaiso. Game time is set for 8:00 p.m., at the ARC.

The game will be broadcast live on the Horizon League Network with a live stats feed available through CSTV's gametracker. Both links are available on top of the page.

Detroit and Valparaiso split the regular season with each team winning on its own home court. The Titans won at Calihan Hall by 10, 77-67, on Jan. 8, while the Crusaders held on to edge UDM by four, 74-70, in Valparaiso.

The Titans come into the game riding a three-game winning streak, which includes sweeping both games on the road last week at Cleveland State and Youngstown State. Overall, Detroit finished the regular season at 18-13, the most victories since winning 18 during the 2003-04 season. UDM also ended up 9-9 in the conference, the most league wins for the red, white and blue since earning nine in 2004-05.

Valparaiso (15-16, 10-8 HL) earned a share of fourth place in the conference with Milwaukee and Cleveland State, but was allocated the sixth seed due to tiebreakers. The Crusaders are coming off a 74-69 setback at home to Butler, their second straight loss following an 87-70 decision at Bowling Green in BracketBusters. Valpo is the highest scoring team in the league at 73 points per game, led by the conference's top scorer in Brandon Wood (17.5). The Crusaders yield the most points in the HL too, giving up 73.8.

The first round will also feature three other games with No. 3 Green Bay hosting No. 10 Youngstown State, No. 4 Milwaukee entertaining No. 9 UIC and No. 5 Cleveland State facing No. 7 Loyola. Game time for all those match-ups will be at 7:00 p.m., local time. The winner of the Titan-Crusader contest will meet the winner of the Phoenix and Penguins in the second round on Friday at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

DETROIT VS. VALPARAISO
Despite being just four hours apart from each other, UDM and Valparaiso have met just 12 times, with each team walking away with six wins.

UDM won in Detroit this season, 77-67, but fell on the road, 74-70.

The Crusaders have won the last three in Valparaiso, with the Titans' last victory on Feb. 14, 1991, a 79-68 triumph. Overall, Detroit is 2-3 all time on the road against Valpo.

TITANS IN THE TOURNAMENT
UDM owns two Horizon League tournament titles (1994, 1999), which is tied for third among current conference members. Butler tops the list with five followed by Milwaukee, which has three. Along with Detroit, UIC owns a pair of championships, while Cleveland State, Green Bay, Loyola and Wright State each have one to their credit.

Ex-member Xavier, which was in the league from 1979-1995, actually has the most championships with six.

UDM is 26-27 all-time in conference tournament action, tied with Butler (26-25) for the most victories by any member of the Horizon League, past or present.

The Titans are 1-5 in true roads games in the championships and have dropped four straight on enemy courts. The lone victory came in 1999 when Detroit upended UIC, 55-51.

THE X-MAN GETTING HOT
Junior Xavier Keeling was a big reason why the Titans won back-to-back conference road games since 2004. Keeling averaged a team-high 17.5 ppg., shooting 55 percent (11-of-50), including 5-of-8 from three-point range.

He poured in a game-high 21 points at Cleveland State on Feb. 25, going 6-of-10 from the field, including a career-best 5-of-6 from three.

He followed that with 14 points and five rebounds against Youngstown State.

KENNEDY'S MARK
Senior Thomas Kennedy posted his second career double-double at UIC on Dec. 31 with 11 points and 10 rebounds. The boards tied a career high for him as well.

He has also scored in double figures 22 times this season and 39 times in his career.

Kennedy is averaging 15 points in the last three games (vs EMU, at Cleveland State, at Youngstown State), shooting 14-of-24 from the field (58%) and 3-of-5 from three-point range.

He is currently tied for third on the team in scoring (11.6) and is fourth in rebounding (4.7).

A WINNING CAMPAIGN
Detroit's 18 victories are more than UDM has had in any of the last four seasons. The Titans also clinched their first winning campaign since going 18-13 in 2003-04.

This season has marked an 11-win improvement over last year, making it the biggest turnaround in Titan history. Prior to that, the biggest turnaround between seasons was nine wins, done by the 1959-60 squad (11 wins to 20) and the 1997-98 team (16 wins to 25).

SECOND YEAR CHARM
Head coach Ray McCallum seems to have the right recipe for improving teams in his second year. In his two other head coaching jobs, McCallum's second-year teams increased their win totals and advanced to post-season play.

At Ball State, he took the Cardinals from a 16-12 mark to a 19-11 finish, advancing to the NCAA Tournament, while at Houston, he led the Cougars to a nine-win increase (9-20 to 18-15) and a trip to the NIT.