GAMEDAY CENTRAL

DETROIT (11/23/14) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team will travel south to compete in the sub-regional rounds of the Progressive Legends Classic hosted by the University of Toledo. Detroit's first game will be on Monday, Nov. 24 at 4:30 p.m. against the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). The winner of that game will then face the winner of the Bucknell/Toledo matchup in the championship game on Tuesday, Nov. 25. There will also be a consolation game held on Tuesday prior to the championship game.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Fans can follow every Detroit game this season through the 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.
 
LAST OUTING
Senior Juwan Howard Jr. scored a game-high 22 points as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team improved to 2-0 at home with a 66-53 victory over South Alabama on Saturday at historic Calihan Hall.

Howard reached the 20-point plateau for the second straight game, going 14-of-14 from the free throw line. As a team, Detroit was 20-of-23 from the charity stripe, while South Alabama made 12-of-23.
 
Anton Wilson added 11 points, Matthew Grant scored nine points and added five assists, while Paris Bass had eight points, four rebounds and three blocked shots off the bench for the Titans.
 
Detroit shot 34.4 percent (21-of-61) from the floor, compared to a 32.7 percent shooting clip for South Alabama. The Titans forced the Jaguars into 22 turnovers with 11 steals and seven blocked shots.

ABOUT UMES
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team fell behind early to Saint Francis University, but the Hawks fought all the way back to tie the game in the final minutes. However, the Red Flash persevered in the later stages, spoiling the comeback bid with a 57-53 final score. With the last minute defeat, the Hawks fall to 1-4 on the season.
 
Both offenses were very efficient, hitting over 40% of their shots from the floor. The Hawks continued their improvement in free throw shooting, going 9-of-10 on Saturday afternoon. UMES used the full-court pressure to much advantage, creating 11 steals and scoring 19 points off Red Flash turnovers.
 
Mike Myers led the Hawks with 10 points, while Dominique Elliot pitched in eight points to go along with a team-high six rebounds and four steals.
 
TITANS vs. UMES
This will be the first meeting between Detroit and UMES.
 
ABOUT BUCKNELL
Kristijan Krajina and Gregory Graves scored 16 points apiece to help defending Northeast Conference champion Mount St. Mary's rally past Bucknell 73-69 at Sojka Pavilion on Saturday night. Chris Hass scored 17 points and Dom Hoffman had 14 for the Bison. 
 
The Bison shot 54.3 percent, with Hass (5-6) and Hoffman (6-8) combining to go 11-for-14 from the field. Hass was a perfect 5-for-5 in the first half, but he did not get another field-goal attempt until a miss at the final buzzer with Bucknell trailing by four. 
 
Bucknell's last three games came against 2014 NCAA Tournament teams in Michigan, Villanova and Mount St. Mary's. The Bison will play Toledo on Monday.
 
ABOUT TOLEDO
Foul trouble for Toledo's centers, junior Nathan Boothe and sophomore Zach Garber, was too much for the Rockets to overcome on Friday evening in a 78-68 road setback to Pacific-12 Conference foe Oregon
 
Senior guard Julius Brown paced UT's attack with 19 points. Also scoring in double figures for the Rockets were senior forward J.D. Weatherspoon (14 pts.), sophomore guard Jonathan Williams (13 pts.) and senior guard Justin Drummond (11 pts.).
 
Toledo shot 37.9 percent from the field and 11-of-27 (37.9 percent) behind the three-point arc. The Ducks posted a 41.3 FG% (26-of-63), a 33.3 3PTFG% (6-of-18) and converted 20-of-24 free-throw attempts. UT was just 7-of-13 (53.8%) from the charity stripe.
 
TALE OF TWO HALVES
Through the first four games of the 2014-15 season the Titans have witnessed a major disparity between the first and second halves. Detroit has outscored its opponents by 37 points (139-102) in the first half, while being outscored by 27 points (159-132) in the second stanza. The Titans have had the lead going into halftime in three of their four games, with the other game being a 35-35 tie at Oregon in the opening frame.
 
HOWARD IS ALMOST 39
Detroit senior forward Juwan Howard Jr. is closing in on becoming the 39th Titan to join the 1,000-point club. Howard enters Monday's game with 906 points, just 94 shy of reaching 1,000. The last Titan to join the club was Jason Calliste during the 2012-13 season when he finished 31st overall with 1,107 points.
 
UDM SELECTED TO HOST NCAA TOURNAMENT
It was announced Monday (Nov. 17) that Detroit was selected as one of the eight host sites for first- and second-round games in the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. University of Detroit Mercy will serve as the host institution with the games being played at the new Detroit arena March 16 & 18. Exact times and ticket availability for those contests will be released at a later date.

Downtown Detroit last hosted the NCAA tournament in 2009 and 2008, when the men's Final Four and Midwest Regional were played at Ford Field, respectively. The Palace of Auburn Hills welcomed early round games in 2013. In addition to the tournament, the area has welcomed other NCAA events, including the Men's Frozen Four (2010), the Division I Wrestling Championship (2007), and the Women's Bowling National Championship (2009, 2011, 2013).

RED, WHITE AND BLUE
Detroit is just one of 15 teams in the nation to have both an active player and coach with USA Basketball. Senior guard Brandan Kearney was a member of the 2010 USA Youth Olympic Games Team that finished in fourth place with a 5-2 record in Singapore. He also played on the 2009 USA U16 National Team that captured the gold medal with a perfect 5-0 slate at the 2009 FIBA Americas U16 Championship in Mendoza, Argentina.
 
Coach McCallum was an assistant coach for the 2000 USA World Championship For Young Men Qualifying Team and helped coach the USA to a silver medal and a 4-1 slate. His son and former Titan Ray McCallum played on the 2011 USA World University Games Team that finished with a 7-1 record, but dropped its quarterfinal contest and returned home in fifth place.

UP NEXT
Following a much needed Thanksgiving break after playing five games in eight days Detroit will host Bowling Green on Sunday, Nov. 30 to begin a four-game home stand. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:07 p.m. at Calihan Hall and will be televised locally on WADL and nationally on ESPN3. The game can also be listened to on 97.1 The Ticket with the voice of the Titans Dan Leach.