RMU Basketball ended the 2024 year positively, winning its last three games. The last one was against Northern Kentucky, winning 97-93 in triple-overtime. They look to get back to .500 in Horizon League play, taking on Detroit Mercy. The Titans are one of the most improved teams in the country, going from 1-31 overall a year ago to 5-10 and 1-3 in league play.
After four straight road losses, Detroit Mercy is back at home. Here are the keys to the Colonials, who are giving them another defeat.
1. Slow down Orlando Lovejoy
Injuries have affected the Titans in the past week, including key starting guard Mak Manciel (13.4 ppg). That leaves the senior guard Lovejoy (14.9 ppg and 4.0 apg) as the only double-digit scorer healthy. He had 23 points for Detroit in their last game against Youngstown State. If RMU can slow him down, the odds of winning will increase.
2. Win the inside battle
Detroit isn’t a team that shoots a lot of threes, ranking in the bottom 10 nationally in both attempts and makes. Their strengths are getting to the basket and using their solid depth of frontcourt pieces, including Legend Geeter and 6’10 freshman Miles Mitchell. They’re not a team with much size, however, so it presents a good opportunity for the frontcourt duo of Alvaro Folgueiras and Amarion Dickerson to have another nice night.
3. Grant Gondrezick vs DJ Smith
If there’s a battle of x-factors to watch in this game, look in the backcourt between these two 6’0 guards. Gondrezick is a freshman who is averaging 7.8 ppg on 37% shooting from the field but is 42% from beyond the arc. His role has increased with Manciel out, including 20 points on the road at Wisconsin. He’s also the only consistent threat from deep now too.
Meanwhile, Smith’s numbers have dipped with Kam Woods back in the lineup, but he’s still an effective starter, with 13 points and three assists in the win over Northern Kentucky. The only way for Detroit to feel good about an upset is if they can win this matchup so a good game from Smith will be big in this matchup.