Milwaukee (15-10, 8-5 HL) at Detroit (13-12, 7-6 HL)
Date: Fri., Feb. 10, 2012
Tip Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Detroit, Mich.
Arena: Calihan Hall (8,295)
All-time Series: UWM leads, 21-16
Last Season: UWM, 2-0
Jan. 1- Milwaukee 84, @Detroit 81 (ot)
Jan. 28- @Milwaukee 72, Detroit 67
This season:
Jan.14- @Milwaukee 84, Detroit 74
ON TAP
Detroit returns home to host a Friday-Sunday series. Milwaukee is the opponent Friday night for an ESPN3 contest at 7:00 p.m. followed by a 1:00 p.m. tip on Feb. 12 against Green Bay. The Titans have six wins in their last eight contests to shake off a 1-4 start to league play.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
Milwaukee, since its win over Detroit earlier in the season, has lost four of its last six games to fall from the top spot in the HL standings to a tie for third. UDM is just a game back of the Panthers with Youngstown State also tied at 8-5 in third. The Panthers have a pair of players scoring in double figures, led by Kaylon Williams' 11.4 average. James Haarsma adds 10.5 points and a team-best 5.9 rebounds per night.
THE SERIES WITH UWM
Milwaukee leads the all-time series 21-16 between the schools. UWM took both contests last season, escaping Calihan Hall with an overtime win on Jan. 1 (84-81) then a five-point win at U.S. Cellular (72-67) four weeks later.
Ray McCallum averages 19.7 points per game against UWM in his young career, including 23 in this season's earlier meeting.
THE FIRST MEETING THIS SEASON
Hot perimeter shooting pushed the host Milwaukee Panthers past Detroit, 84-74, Jan. 14 at U.S. Cellular Arena. Milwaukee made 10 triples in the first half en route to a 20-point cushion at the break. Detroit was led by
Ray McCallum's 23 points. The sophomore also had four assists, two steals and two rebounds.
Chase Simon added 14 points while
Eli Holman etched his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
WHAT'S NEXT?
UDM hosts Green Bay in a Sunday afternoon tilt on FOX Sports Detroit before hitting the road on Wednesday for a battle with Wright State. The Titans will play three of their final four games on the road.
LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore
Ray McCallum led all players with 20 points to lead the visiting Titans to a 65-61 win at Butler in front of a sellout crowd of 10,000 Saturday afternoon. The win snapped a 12-game losing streak for UDM at Hinkle, dating back to 1999.
Eli Holman led a Detroit bench attack that outscored BU's reserves, 23-6. Holman put in 13 points and had seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
Chase Simon contributed 11 points and four assists in the win.
DUNK ANDERSON
Junior
Doug Anderson can dunk, simply put. The high-flyer has 44 dunks on 84 field goal makes this season. One of his latest jams earned him the top play on ESPN SportsCenter's top 10 on Thurs., Feb. 2 for a ferocious right-handed rim-rocker that left Kevin Van Wijk in his wake. He has at least one slam in every game this season except three. He had a season-high five dunks against Alabama State (Dec. 22), part of ten Titan throwdowns in the win.
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.
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN3 gets Friday's contest with Milwaukee while Fox Sports Detroit will air the Feb. 12 home game against Green Bay. 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.
I'LL ORDER THE VENTI
Sophomore
Ray McCallum ordered-up his seventh 20-point game of the season in the 65-61 win at Butler Saturday. It gave him the most 20-point efforts on the team this season and was his 11th of his young career.
SHOOTING UP THE CHARTS
Senior
Chase Simon cracked the top 20 in Detroit's all-time scoring list last week and has his sights set on No. 19. Simon, who has 1,255 career points in a Detroit uniform (98 at Central Michigan) to his credit, is just three points shy of Mike Lovelace (1990-93). He needs 87 to move past Jermaine Jackson (1996-99).
PUT THE DAWGS OUT
Detroit swept the season series with the Butler Bulldogs for the first time since the 1997-98 season with Saturday's win. It also marked the first victory at Hinkle for UDM since the 1998-99 season, snapping a 12-game slide.
SURGING GENERAL
The Titans are surging in their last eight games, picking up six wins to rebound from an 0-3 start in Horizon League play. Detroit has five league games remaining and can still surpass last season's 10-8 conference mark. Before this recent run, Detroit was No. 262 in the Rating Percentage Index (RPI). Fast forward one month later and UDM has improved more than 70 spots to No. 191.
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!
Head Coach Ray 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.
