Complete game notes (.pdf)
GAME 24
Detroit (12-11, 6-5 HL) at Valparaiso (15-8, 8-3 HL)
Date: Thurs., Feb. 2, 2012
Tip Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Valparaiso, Ind.
Arena: Athletics-Recreation Center
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Live Stats: valpoathletics.com
Live Video: Horizon League Network
All-time Series: Valpo leads, 10-7
Last Season: Valpo, 3-0
Jan. 16- Valpo 78, @Detroit 68
Feb. 10- @Valpo 82, Detroit 74
*Mar. 4- Valpo 88, Detroit 78*
*Horizon League tournament
This season: Jan. 6- Valpo 73, @Detroit 71
ON TAP
Detroit heads back to the road for a swing through Indiana, beginning Thursday. The Titans will look to break free from a muddled middle of the Horizon League standings that currently has a game-and-a-half separating third from eighth place. The Titans have won five of their last six and are one of the hottest teams in the league.
SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS
Valpo sits in second place in the league ladder, just a half-game back of Cleveland State. The Crusaders are led by juniors Kevin Van Wijk (15.4 ppg) and Ryan Broekhoff (14.7 ppg). Broekhoff leads the Horizon League with 8.8 rebounds per contest.
THE SERIES WITH VALPO
Valpo owns a 10-7 edge in the all-time series, including wins in the last four meetings. The Crusaders downed Detroit in both regular season meetings last year before ending its season with an 88-78 win in the Horizon League Quarterfinals on Mar. 4. The last Detroit win in the series came in the 2010 HL First Round, an 89-82 road victory for the Titans.
THE FIRST MEETING THIS SEASON
A layup by Erik Buggs as the buzzer sounded gave visiting Valparaiso a 73-71 win over Detroit on Jan. 6 at Calihan Hall. After senior Eli Holman gave the Titans a 71-69 lead with under a minute to play, Jay Harris hit a jumper with 26 seconds left to tie it and Buggs' coast-to-coast lay-in gave the Crusaders the win. Ray McCallum led the Titans with 22 points while Valpo's Will Bogan went 7-of-8 from deep for 23 points to lead all scorers.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Detroit takes the trek down I-65 to face two-time national finalist Butler on Saturday. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 from Indianapolis, the host city of Super Bowl XLVI, which occurs a day later.
LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Ray McCallum scored a season-high 26 points as the Titans earned a 70-66 win over UIC Friday in Horizon League play. UIC scored seven of the game's first nine points, but Detroit held the Flames without a field goal for 6:38 and found themselves on top, 14-7. After a Gary Talton triple to tie the score at 19, UDM again held the visitors scoreless for over six minutes and closed the half on a 16-3 spurt for a 37-22 advantage heading into the locker room. The Titans hung on through a fierce late rally and earned a season series split with UIC.
SCOREBOARD, SCOREBOARD
Thursday's match-up features the top two scoring teams in the Horizon League. Detroit sets the pace, scoring 72.8 points per night while Valparaiso averages 71.3 points per contest. These teams are also the top two in terms of field goal percentage (Valpo- 47.3, Detroit 45.5). The top three scorers in the league coming into the week will be on display (Ray McCallum- 15.6, Kevin Van Wijk, 15.4, Ryan Broekhoff- 14.7).
HOOSIER HOSPITALITY?
No team, since Valparaiso joined the Horizon League in 2007, has gone through the Indiana stretch with two wins. Valparaiso and Butler have combined to give every visiting team at least one loss since becoming travel partners. 32 teams have attempted the feat, but with a 72-66 win over Cleveland State on Jan. 15, Valpo kept the streak intact. Detroit is 0-8 at the Indiana schools since Valpo joined the league.
TIMES SET
Detroit learned it would play James Madison in the Sears BracketBusters on Feb. 18. That game is set for a 2:00 p.m. tip. Also, the Feb. 10 game vs. Milwaukee, aired on ESPN3, will start at 7:00 p.m. from Calihan Hall.
ON THE TUBE
The next four Titan games will all be broadcast by television entities and a fifth happens for the season finale. Fox Sports Detroit will air both the Feb. 2 game at Valpo and the Feb. 12 home game against Green Bay. ESPN2 will handle the Butler game on Feb. 4 and ESPN3 will be the destination for the Feb. 10 contest with Milwaukee. The Feb. 25 regular season finale at Youngstown State will be the Horizon League's "Game of the Week" and will air locally on WADL-TV 38.
"D"-TROIT BASKETBALL
Detroit has put the clamps down defensively during this stretch of five wins in its last six games. UDM has averaged just 61.8 points allowed in the five wins and held Wright State to 53 and squandered only 52 (season low) to Loyola during that run. All told, Detroit has held opponents to under 60 points six times this year (5-1 record).
TOP 20 NOW AWAITS
Senior Chase Simon moved into 21st place on the all-time scoring list last Wednesday and remains just five points shy of cracking the top 20. Simon, who has 1,230 career points in a Detroit uniform (98 at Central Michigan) to his credit, is inching up on No. 20 on the list, Tony Tolbert-- who also transferred to UDM (from Michigan).
RAY EARNS WEEKLY HONOR
Sophomore Ray McCallum picked-up his first Horizon League Player of the Week honor this season after an outstanding week in leading Detroit to a pair of wins. McCallum, on the strength of a season-high 26 points in the win over UIC on Friday, averaged 19.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last week. It was the second honor of his young career and he became the first Titan to win it this season.
PUT UP YOUR DUKES
Detroit drew James Madison as its BracketBusters opponent this season and the Titans will welcome the Dukes to Calihan Hall Sat., Feb. 18 at 2:00 p.m. It will be the first all-time meeting between the schools. JMU, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, is 10-12 overall as of Jan. 30, including a 6-6 mark in road and neutral contests. The Dukes are 3-8 and in ninth place in the league. They are led by A.J. Davis and Humpty Hitchens, who average 16.1 and 15.8 points per game, respectively.
FIVE TITANS NAMED TO AD HONOR ROLL
Five Detroit Titan men's basketball players were among the 241 total student-athletes to be named to the 2011 Athletic Director's Honor Roll. These student-athletes achieved a 3.0 grade point average for either of the semesters in the 2011 calendar year. Sophomores Evan Bruinsma (Business Administration) and Ray McCallum (Communication Studies) each grabbed their second AD honor roll award after earning the distinction last season as well. This year they joined seniors Donavan Foster (Criminal Justice) and Nick Minnerath (Communication Studies) and freshman P.J. Boutte (Undecided) on the list.
SHOTS FROM THE HEART-- ELITE EIGHT!
Coach McCallum is perfect through three rounds of the CollegeInsider.com "Shots from the Heart" head coach's bracket to benefit the Skip Prosser Foundation. Coach made all 25 shots in each of the first three rounds and has advanced to the "Elite 8", where he will match-up against either James Madison head coach Matt Brady or defending champion Fred Hoiberg of Iowa State. The tournament will be pared down to four in the coming weeks with the finals at the end of February. The Free Throw Champions of both the head and assistant coach's brackets will be recognized as part of the 2012 CollegeInsider.com Awards Banquet in New Orleans, site of the 2012 Men's NCAA Basketball Championship. Follow detroittitans.com for updates on Coach Ray's progress in the tourney. For more on the "Shots from the Heart", got to http://collegeinsider.com/shots.
REJECTION ROW
A pair of current Titans are in the top four all-time in career blocked shots: Eli Holman sits third with 150 swats and LaMarcus Lowe moved into fourth with 135 career blocks. Holman needs five to pass Brian Humes for second-most all-time while Lowe is just 15 away from his fellow teammate. The career leader is Terry Tyler, who threw aside a whopping 359 shots in his career from 1976-78.
Career Block Leaders at Detroit
1. Terry Tyler, 1976-78 359
2. Brian Humes, 1984-87 154
3. Eli Holman, '09-pres. 150
4. LaMarcus Lowe, '10-pres. 135
