CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (12/9/2017) -- The University of Detroit Mercy women's basketball squad continues its road trip Sunday afternoon in Illinois, playing the Fighting Illini for a 3 p.m. ET game at the State Farm Center. The contest is set to be streamed live on the Big Ten Network Plus.
Illinois is the third Big Ten team the Titans are facing during the 2017-18 season and first on the road. Detroit Mercy is facing Illinois for the third time in program history and first time in a true road game.
It's the final non-conference road game for the Titans, which close the non-conference slate with a pair of games at Calihan Hall -- Dec. 17 against Eastern Michigan and Dec. 21 against Toledo.
Quick Hits
Detroit Mercy and Illinois are meeting for the third time in women's basketball and the first time since the 1992-93 season. The series is tied 1-1 and it's also the first game between the two programs in Champaign, Ill. Detroit Mercy won the first meeting all the way back during the 1979-80 season.
Senior guard
Nicole Urbanick is tied-for-third all-time in career 3-pointers made with 201 triples. She is approaching the 1,000-point plateau in her Titan career as Urbanick has 956 points entering Sunday's game. She would become the 22nd player in school history with 1,000 points with 44 more points.
Detroit Mercy is playing its third Big Ten foe of the 2017-18 season. The Titans hosted both Michigan State and nationally-ranked Michigan at Calihan Hall earlier this season, falling to both squads on their home court.
Last Time Out
Senior forward
Brianne Cohen notched her 21st career game of 20 or more points, scoring a team-high 21 and classmate
Nicole Urbanick added 11 points, but the Titans fell at Western Michigan on Friday, 74-62.
Cohen scored 10 points in the first quarter alone as the Titans trailed after one, 18-16. She had 15 points at the halftime break. She shot 7-of-9 in the game and made 7-of-10 free throws. As a team, the Titans shot 37 percent overall and made 20-of-27 free throws.
Senior
Cortney Williams tallied five points and a career-best seven boards in just 13 minutes. The Titans out-scored WMU 22-9 in the final quarter, including going on a 14-5 run to end the game.
Scouting Illinois
The Fighting Illini are 7-4 on the season heading into Sunday's game with the Titans. Illinois is coming off a pair of victories -- 63-47 over Memphis on the road and 81-52 at home against Indiana State. Illinois is 4-2 at home this season with other home victories coming over Fort Wayne, Chicago State and Bradley.
Illinois is under a new head coach in 2017-18 in Nancy Fahey, who guided Washington University in St. Louis to an NCAA record five Division III national titles.
Alex Wittinger (12.7 points per game) and Brandi Beasley (11.4 ppg) lead the squad in scoring, while Wittinger also is tops in rebounding, averaging 9.0 boards per game. Beasley has team-bests with 41 assists and 18 steals. Ali Andrews is top shooter from the outside, sinking 18 triples in 11 games. As a team, Illinois is shooting 40.1 percent from the field and 75.5 percent from the free throw line.
Block Party
Detroit Mercy has 100 or more blocks in each of the past two seasons under head coach
Bernard Scott. Detroit Mercy totaled 130 blocks in 2016-17, which was the sixth-best mark in program history and the most blocks in a season since the 1996-97 campaign.
The Titans have 36 blocks already on the year, averaging 4.5 rejections per game. Detroit Mercy has six games of four or more blocks with a season-high eight coming against Michigan State at home on Nov. 21.
Ashley Miller leads the team with seven blocks, while guards
Nicole Urbanick and
Lola Ristovski each contributing six blocks in 2017-18.
Cohen's Hot Start
Senior forward
Brianne Cohen (Toronto, Ont.) has scored in double figures in seven of eight games this season, while tallying at least five boards in seven of the eight games this season. Cohen has scored at least 20 points five times, tallying a season-best 22 points at Miami (Ohio) in the season opener. She has 21 career games of 20 points or better.
In the past five games, Cohen has sank 37 free throws and on the season, Cohen is shooting 81.4 percent from the free throw line (48-for-59). Cohen ranks fourth in the Horizon League in scoring at 17.6 ppg and seventh in free throw percentage (81.4). She is also second in the conference in free throws made (48) and free throws attempted (59).
She is climbing the career scoring list and is No. 17 all-time with 1,186 points, while ranking second all-time in field goal percentage (56.6) and eighth in free throws made (275).
Up Next
Detroit Mercy returns home for its final two non-conference games, hosting Eastern Michigan on Sunday, Dec. 17 before finishing up the non-conference slate on Thursday, Dec. 21 against Toledo at Calihan Hall.
