On Saturday, two surprising contenders in the Horizon League face-off when the Detroit Mercy Titans host the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.
TV Schedule: Saturday, January 19th, 2:00p.m. ET, ESPN+
Arena: Calihan Hall, Detroit, Michigan
As our own Ryan Kay wrote about last week, both Oakland and Detroit Mercy out of the Horizon League were thought to be in more of a rebuilding phase with their respective programs, but so far this season that is far from the truth. Both teams are sandwiched between reigning conference champ, Northern Kentucky, with Detroit Mercy (8-10, 5-1) holding a one-game lead over third place Oakland (8-11, 4-2). The two, perhaps surprising contenders in the Horizon meet up for the first time Saturday afternoon UDM hosts Oakland.
The home-standing Titans have a familiar face leading the program, former Indiana, UAB, and Texas Southern coach Mike Davis has the Titans playing better than some expected. Their non-conference slate was streaky, to say the least, they began the season 0-3 with losses at Temple and Butler, they then righted the ship, winning three straight, two over the MAC’s Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan. Sitting at 3-3 the Titans hit the major rough patch of their season, ending their non-conference slate losing six in a row with four of those coming against Mid-American teams as well. Once conference play began, their five wins have been by relatively easy margins, with the closest win coming against Cleveland State by eight. The team’s lone loss came at the hands of Northern Kentucky on the road by 18.
The Titans are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country, shooting 38% from deep and the 10.1 three-pointers they make per game is the 22nd best number in the country. But the team struggles defensively with a scoring margin of -3.8 and allow opponents to shoot over 45% while only shooting 41.7 themselves.
More from Busting Brackets
- NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Analyzing top 5 teams for top-100 SG Larry Johnson
- Oregon Basketball: Projected starting lineup and depth chart for 2023-24
- Big East Basketball: Ranking all head coaches going into 2023-24 season
- Florida State Basketball: Is Seminoles roster good enough to win in 2023-24?
- SEC Basketball: 10 potential additions for the league if they ever expanded
The bright spot for Detroit has been freshman point guard and coach’s son Antoine Davis who, not only leads the team with 3.6 assists but his 27.7 points per game trails only Campbell’s Chris Clemons in all of college basketball. The freshman phenom has recorded over 30 points eight times, over 40 twice including a season-high 48 in a win over Wright State. His 214 three-point attempts are most in the country and he is efficient shooting it, knocking down 42%. Senior guard Josh McFolley is the team’s only other double-digit scorer, averaging 13 points per game.
Oakland finished their non-conference slate at just 4-8, with just three of those wins coming against Division I teams. Like their opponents, Greg Kampe’s Golden Grizzlies began to turn their season around once conference play began. They began with three straight wins, including one over Northern Kentucky, and after dropping games to Wright State and Milwaukee, they ended a four-game homestand with a win over Green Bay.
Offensively the Golden Grizzlies are a little deeper than Detroit, with seven players averaging at least five points per game. The team has its own 20-point scorer in junior forward Xavier Hill-Mais who averages 20.9 points and a team-leading 6.3 rebounds. The 6-7 Hill-Mais also shoots 54% from the field, 72% from the free-throw line and 36% from beyond the arc. Unlike Detroit, Oakland has more productive complementary players like, led by the guard combo of Jaevin Cumberland and Karmari Newman who average 27.8 points per game. A big revelation for Oakland has been freshman point guard Braden Norris who took over as the starter after Brailen Neely abruptly left the program after three games. Since taking over he has averaged 9.5 points and six assists per game.
Key matchup
The key matchup in this game will come at the point guard position with a couple of freshmen will take center stage. Davis is clearly the focal point of the Detroit offense, but Norris is excelling in an unexpected starting role. This is the type of matchup hoop junkies love, two mid-major point guards going at each other in a key conference game.
A Detroit Mercy-Oakland matchup in January is one that most people would skip over on a big Saturday, but two surprise teams in the Horizon and Norris and Davis facing off makes this one to keep an eye on. I think Oakland wind this one by about seven points because offensively they are a deeper team and they do just enough to contain Davis and pick up the win.