Horizon League Basketball: In-depth look at Detroit Mercy senior guard Antoine Davis
By Bryan Mauro
Why you should know Antoine Davis
Where do we begin with Davis? A player with his skillset could have played anywhere in the country, but he chose to come to Detroit and play for his dad, head coach Mike Davis. It should also be noted that Davis started his career as a walk-on. The Titan fans could not be happier about that decision. In order to accurately describe how impactful the senior guard has been since he arrived on campus, you would have to break down every season of his career.
The guard’s first year at Detroit saw a really bad Titan team get a little bit better as the year went on and Davis was a huge reason for that. His first taste of college basketball saw him be named the MVP of a multi-team event in which he averaged 37 points per game. He is also the only player in league history to be named the freshman of the week and the player of the week in the same week.
In his first college game ever he scored 32 points on 12 of 26 shooting while making six three-pointers. Later on, he scored 48 points against Wright State, and in that game, he made 15 overall field goals and hit 10 threes. All of those were top 20 in the country for one game. He also hit 132 three-pointers for the year which broke the NCAA freshman record, which was set by Steph Curry from Davidson. That was just year 1.
Year 2 comes along and Detroit Mercy is a little better and Davis is a ton better. He led all scorers with 31 points in a loss to Gonzaga, he once again led the Horizon League in scoring, shot 90% from the free throw line, and made another 101 three-pointers. He also notched two more 40 point games leaving him with three in two seasons.
Year 3 was the pandemic year and it was the senior’s best season to date. He set the Horizon League tournament record with 46 points, and he finished third in the country in scoring with 24.0 per game. That was only half a point off of the nation’s leader. He was named the national Player of the Week and an Honorable Mention All American.
Heading into his final year the guard has accomplished more than most players even dream of accomplishing. He has scored over 2,000 points in three years, has hit 316 three-pointers which is third overall in league history. The guard currently has the countries longest active Free Throw streak as he has made each of his last 51 free throws. He is the offense for Detroit on most nights but as mentioned the Titans are getting much better and this could finally be the year.