A memorable senior day for Antoine Davis as his jersey gets retired

Even though Detroit Mercy lost to Wright State on Senior Day, Antoine Davis had another outstanding game.

Entering today’s game against Wright State at the historical Calihan Hall, Antoine Davis has accomplished many individual accomplishments throughout the five seasons he has played for his father Mike Davis at Detroit Mercy. Today, he also had his jersey retired in the rafters here at Calihan Hall as no future Titan will wear the number 0 from here on out. Let’s begin by taking a look at some of Davis’s highlights and accomplishments throughout his time at Detroit Mercy.

As a freshman, Davis scored 784 total points, averaging 26.1 points per game as a true freshman. He was also named to the First Team All-Horizon League team as well as him being named Horizon League Freshman of the Year. As a sophomore, he averaged 24.3 points per game which were lower than his freshman year but he had more steals, blocks, and assists in his second year in comparison to his first season with the Titans. He once again was named to the Horizon League First Team as well as being named to the NABC All-District First Team for the first time.

In his junior year when the season was shorted due to games being canceled and or not being scheduled due to Covid-19 protocol, Davis averaged 24 points per game and had his highest shooting percentage from the free throw line and from the field that season. He for the third time was named to the Horizon League First team as well.

In his fourth season as a Titan, his scoring average dropped just below 24 points for the first time as a Titan but he shot his highest shooting percentage from the field at Detroit Mercy at 42.9% and grabbed the most rebounds as well during his tenure as a Titan pulling down over 100 boards. He also had games his senior year where he would score 20 points and dish out 10 assists to lead the Titans throughout the season and give Detroit Mercy an opportunity to play in a post-season tournament. Davis for his fourth time was named to the Horizon League First Team as well as named the Co-Horizon League Player of the Year. Davis after his fourth season at Detroit Mercy surprised many when he decided to enter the transfer portal.

Last Spring, Davis took official visits and considered transferring to schools like Maryland and Kansas State as he visited college campuses on official visits. However, he decided to use his Covid year waiver and return to UDM for his fifth season.

Entering his fifth season playing for his father, Davis was named the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year and he began chasing NCAA all-time records this season. During this season, Davis became the NCAA record holder with 141 games in double figures, the NCAA all-time made three-pointers recorder holder, and the second all-time NCAA career points leader, just behind Pete Maravich. If the Titans make a run in the conference tournament, he will have an opportunity to become the NCAA all-time leading scorer.

Davis has had an outstanding season, especially playing on his home court but he also has played well on the road as he did leading Detroit Mercy to a road victory over in-state and Horizon League rival Oakland. Off the court, he has been named to the Horizon League All-Academic team as well. Davis this season has scored 30 or more points in 12 games and averaged approximately 30 points, 3.5 assists, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.2 steals this season.  He hopes to lead his team to a Horizon League Tournament championship this year as the Titans play their first game of the tournament at home on Tuesday night.

For the game, Davis had only eight first-half points on three for fifteen shooting from the field and two for nine from beyond the three-point arc. He did, however, have three assists and zero turnovers in the first half of play. In the second half, Davis made a three from the wing and on the following offensive possession made a layup got fouled, and made the free throw to complete the three-point play at the beginning of the half. Then he got an assist by finding Damezi Anderson in the corner for a three-pointer. He followed that up with a floater-made basket to give him 16 points with just under 16 minutes remaining in the game.

Davis then made another floater as he drove through the lane to trim Wright State’s lead to only six points. He then made a corner three with approximately 12 and a half minutes remaining in the game to give him 21 points. Davis made a three-pointer with just under 10 minutes remaining in the second half to cut Wright State’s lead to only three points.

After a Wright State offensive run giving the Raiders a nine-point lead with just seven minutes remaining in the game, Davis made a layup to give him 26 points for the game. He made two free throws with just over five minutes left in the game and then made yet another floating jumper to trim the Raider’s lead to only 8. He would with three minutes remaining make a layup and then his teammate A.J. Oliver made a three-pointer from the corner to only make it a four-point Wright State lead. He would make a layup with 1:34 remaining in the second half to give him 34 points for the game. Detroit Mercy lost to Wright State by a final score of 82-71 but Davis did have another great game scoring 34 points with four assists in the loss.

After the game during the ceremony spoke of him breaking four NCAA records as well as going over his many accomplishments during his time at Detroit Mercy. They showed videos of him breaking the NCAA three-point record as well as presenting him with multiple gifts. Finally, they presented him with the banner with his number being retired in Calihan Hall. Davis’s season is still not over and he has an opportunity to break the NCAA all-time scoring record as he is only 63 points away from accomplishing this achievement.