Detroit Mercy Basketball: Takeaways from close loss to Michigan State

Detroit Mercy Basketball gave Michigan State all they could for 40 minutes but couldn’t pull off the major upset.

Marquell Fraser, a transfer from Idaho gave Detroit Mercy Basketball an early 4-3 lead by scoring the first four points of the game for the Titans. Fraser would end up putting up eight points to help the Titans get within a possession of taking the lead from the Spartans deep into the first half.

Two other transfers Matt Johnson from St. Bonaventure and Bul Kuol from Cal Baptist contributed early on both ends of the court. Kuol like Fraser had eight early points attacking the interior of the Spartans defense.

For the first five minutes of the game, the Detroit Mercy defense forced Michigan State to settle for three-point attempts with the Spartans only making two of their first five attempts.

The Titans were able to slow down the Spartan’s offense for the first portion of the first half by switching from a 1-3-1 to man-to-man defense keeping within two points of the Spartans with the score being 24-22.

Antoine Davis with just over seven minutes left in the first half tied the game up at 24 each before making another basket to briefly give Detroit Mercy at 26-24 lead.  Johnson made a three-pointer to tie the game at 29-29 with just under four minutes remaining in the half.

Davis would continue to play well giving Detroit Mercy the lead briefly on a layup with just over a minute left in the game. After a pair of Spartan free throws, Willy Isiani would make a layup to tie the game as the Titans entered halftime tied up with the top 10 ranked Spartans.

Detroit Mercy played very well and composed in the first half and held Michigan State to only 35 first-half points. The Titans had 16 points in the paint, 11 points off of turnovers, and made eight layups in the first half. Davis, Kuol, and Fraser contributed to 28 of Detroit Mercy’s 35 first-half points.

2nd Half Notes and Takeaways

Fraser attacked the basket and made the layup and he made it a three-point play with a made free throw to temporarily take the lead to start the 2nd half. Johnson would make a three-pointer to tie the game up early in the second half. However, the Spartans stepped up their defense and took at 46-41 lead. Johnson would make two three-pointers from the corner to keep the Titans within on point with just over 15 minutes left in the game.

Isiani would drive to the basket for a layup to make it once again a one-point lead. Michigan State’s Aaron Henry would then commit his third foul which put Davis to the line where he made two free throws to give the Titans their first lead of the game. Then Johnson made a basket to give the Titans a three-point lead with just over 12 minutes left in the game. After two Michigan State made free throws, Kuol made a layup to give the Titans a three-point lead again.

However, Kuol would get his third foul and he was sent to the bench. Davis would then make a layup and then on a steal Johnson would make a layup giving the Titans their biggest lead of the game with the score being 59-54 with under 11 minutes remaining in the game. Then Spartans Henry quickly picked up his fourth foul and the Titans looked to capitalize.

Under-five points left in the game, Michigan State’s Julius Marble made a shot and was fouled, and make his free throw to complete the three-point play extending the Spartans lead. Davis would respond by making a jumper and then after another Michigan State basket, the Titans would score the next two baskets to make it a one-point game.

The Spartans would respond after two of Detroit Mercy’s big men had fouled out of the game which included Kuol who played very well on both ends of the floor scoring 12 points and limiting Henry to single digits scoring.

Davis would make another basket making three of his last five baskets and make two free throws shrinking Michigan State’s lead to four. Johnson then was fouled and made both of his free throws giving him 20 points and putting the Titans down by only two points with just under two minutes left of the game.

However, the Titans were unable to score within the final 90 seconds of the game and a dunk by the Spartans Marble and a three-pointer by Michigan State’s Gabe Brown would give Detroit Mercy their first loss of the season as they fell to the Spartans by a score of 83-76.

Davis ended up with 24 points but was zero for nine from beyond the arc. Kuol ended up with 12 points and four rebounds but his fouling out just halfway through the 2nd half hurt the Titans as he was a force on both ends of the court. Johnson played very well with 20 points on seven for fourteen shooting on the night. The Titans next play on Sunday as they travel to play the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.