HL CHAMPIONSHIP BRACKET
GAMEDAY CENTRAL

DETROIT (3/6/13) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will travel to Valparaiso, Ind. on Saturday, March 9 to begin defense of its 2012 Horizon League Tournament Championship. The No. 2-seeded Titans will start with a semifinal game against No. 3 Wright State at 6:00 p.m. ET at the ARC. The game will be streamed live on WatchESPN.com. Jim Barbar (play-by-play) and Malcolm Huckaby (analyst) will call the game, which will also be shown later on tape delay on ESPNU at 10:30 p.m. ET.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Titan fans can follow every UDM game this season through men's basketball GAMEDAY CENTRAL page located on the Titans Athletic Website that will keep fans one click away from all the action. This page will feature links for live stats (audio and video when applicable) as well as links for all the latest info while also making it easy to find the Titans on social media and to purchase photos and game tickets. The Game Day Central page also carries all the information on each opponent from who is leading the all-time series to who won the last game.

GET ON THE BUS
Titan fans, don't be left out of all the action and make your plans now to “Get on the Bus” with the Detroit Titans for the Horizon League Championship. Under the direction of head coach Ray McCallum, Detroit enters the Horizon League Championship as the No. 2 seed and will play at 6:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, March 9, in Valparaiso, Ind.

The fan bus departs Calihan Hall at NOON on Saturday and the cost is $60 for ground transportation and a game ticket. With a Titan victory, the bus will remain in Valparaiso Saturday night for the first half of the second semifinal game before returning to Detroit.

To reserve your spot on the bus or to purchase a game ticket to Saturday's game, contact Titan Athletics at (313) 993-1700.

LAST TIME OUT
Detroit captured its 20th win of the season with an impressive 79-67 road win over Horizon League foe UIC on Saturday at the UIC Pavilion. The win was also the 12th in league play for the Titans, which ties the most in program history since 1999.

The Titans have 20 wins for the 13th time in program history, three during the Ray McCallum era, and have posted back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since the 2000-01, 2001-02 seasons.

Detroit (20-11, 12-4 Horizon) led at the half, 36-22, and then pulled away late after UIC (16-14, 7-9 Horizon) trimmed the lead to five 49-44 with 9:55 remaining.

Senior Doug Anderson finished with a team-high 22 points and nine rebounds, while junior guard Jason Calliste captured his first career double-double with 18 points and 10 assists. Ray McCallum had a productive afternoon as well with 20 points, four rebounds, and four assists to help lead the Titans their second-straight 20 win season.

The Titans ended the game shooting 50 percent (31-62) from the field, while UIC shot 36.8 percent (21-57) overall. The Flames won the battle on the boards 37-33, but Detroit forced 19 UIC turnovers while dishing out 23 assists.

SERIES WITH No. 3 WRIGHT STATE
The Titans and Raiders have met 45 times with Detroit owning a 24-21 lead in the all-time series. Both teams split during the regular season this year, by winning other on each other's home courts. The Raiders won the first game this season, 64-62, at Calihan Hall, before the Titans responded with an 83-76 win nine days later at the Nutter Center. Detroit and Wright State have met seven times in the Horizon League Tournament with the Titans owning a slight 4-3 advantage. The Raiders won the last meeting in the postseason when then-No. 2 seed Wright State topped the No. 7 seed Titans, 69-50, in the 2010 semifinals.

No. 2-SEED HISTORY
The last time Detroit earned the second seed in the league tournament, the Titans fell in the semifinals to eventual champion UIC, 75-68, in 2002. The previous year Detroit raced all the way to the championship game as the No. 2-seed before falling to Butler, 53-38. Historically, the two seed has performed well in the tournament, advancing to the championship game 15 times (since 1979-80) and winning the whole business seven times (last time: Butler in 2011).

DETROIT IN THE HL TOURNAMENT
The Titans are 33-29 all-time in the Horizon League (formerly MCC) Tournament. Detroit won the 1994, 1999, and 2012 postseason titles. Last season, the Titans beat Loyola, 80-71, in the first round, Youngstown State (93-76) in the second round, Cleveland State (63-58) in the semifinals, before topping Valparaiso (70-50) in the championship game.

AMONG THE BEST IN THE STATE
Detroit enters Saturday's game as one of three DI teams in the State of Michigan to record 20 wins this season and to have an RPI ranking among the top 100. The Titans (20-11, RPI 57) trail only Michigan (24-5, RPI 9) and Michigan State (22-7, RPI 8) for the best record in the Mitten. Detroit also holds a higher RPI ranking than 51 other schools from the seven power conferences (SEC 10, A-10 10, ACC 8, PAC-12 7, BIG EAST 6, Big XII 5 and B1G 5).

1. UM   (25-5, RPI 9)
2. MSU  (23-7, RPI 8)
3. UDM (20-11, RPI 57)
4. WMU (18-11, RPI 115)
5. OU  (16-15, RPI 133)
6. EMU (14-16, RPI 217)
7. CMU (11-18, RPI 273)

McCALLUM NAMED HL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Detroit junior guard Ray McCallum was tabbed the Horizon League Player of the Year in voting by the League's coaches, sports information directors and media. McCallum is the first player to earn both preseason and postseason honors since 2001.

Picked as the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year in both 2011 and 2012, McCallum led the Horizon League in scoring with 19.2 ppg, ranking 22nd nationally. Running the point for the No. 2-seeded Titans, McCallum handed out 4.7 assists per game while grabbing 5.1 rebounds and 1.8 steals. The junior was the first player since fellow Titan Rashad Phillips in 2000-01 to earn both preseason and postseason Player of the Year.

MINNERATH NAMED TO HL FIRST TEAM
Detroit senior forward Nick Minnerath earned First Team honors, in voting by the League's coaches, sports information directors, and media.

Minnerath, who finished fifth in the league in scoring with 15.1 ppg, while leading the Titans on the boards with 6.1 rpg, returned this year from a season-ending knee injury last year. He recorded the most points in a single game this season in the Horizon League with 36 against Valparaiso on Jan. 17.

SENIOR DRIVEN
This season Detroit seniors Doug Anderson and Nick Minnerath have combined to average 27.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Together the two Titan seniors are responsible for 34 percent of the scoring and 32 percent of the rebounding for Detroit.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Ray McCallum currently leads the Titans in three categories this season scoring (19.2 ppg), assists (4.7 apg), and steals (1.8 spg.) while also climbing up the career record board in all three. McCallum has 1,597 points (11th), 449 assists (7th) and 166 steals (4th) in his career. The last Titan to rank among the top-10 in all three of those categories was Rashad Phillips '01. Phillips finished his spectacular career with 2,319 points (1st), 548 assists (4th), and 190 steals (2nd). McCallum needs five points to reach that plateau.

ALL ALONE
Ray McCallum is also close to becoming the first Titan ever to record 1,500 points (1,597), 500 rebounds (477), 500 assists (449), and 150 steals (166) in a career.

ONE OF THE BEST IN THE NATION
The Titans are one of the best teams in the nation in turnover margin where they rank sixth (+5.2) overall. Detroit has forced 500 turnovers, while only committing 339 through 31 games this season. VCU (+8.3), Eastern Kentucky (+6.2), Arkansas (+6.0), Louisville (+6.0), and Louisiana Tech (+5.6) are the only teams with a higher turnover ratio than the Titans.

RACKING UP SOME POINTS
As a team the Titans lead the Horizon League and rank fifth in the nation in scoring with 78.9 points per game. The Titans average 84.0 points per game at home, compared to 74.1 per game on the road, but the defense has stayed steady only giving up 69.3 at home and 72.6 on the road.

RED, WHITE AND BLUE
The Titans have worn three different uniform colors this season and have a winning record in two. Detroit is 11-3 in white uniforms this season, 6-4 in red, and 3-4 in blue.

McCALLUM NAMED COUSY AWARD FINALIST
Detroit junior guard Ray McCallum was named a finalist for the 2013 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award. This marks the second straight year that McCallum has been named to the final 20 of the Bob Cousy Award.

The annual honor, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guards in men's college basketball. Over 80 candidates have been nominated for the 2013 Bob Cousy Award.