Detroit Mercy head coach Mike Davis might not be in panic mode, but he certainly had to talk me off the edge in the press conference on Saturday. (Side note: Davis took 43 minutes after the game to get to the press conference).
Given how the game went, I am sure he was going over some important stuff with the guys. Saturday looked terrible, at least at the end of the court, where the Titans were shooting the ball. The stat of the game was that there were no made two-point field goals in the second half.
Eastern Michigan also went ten minutes and twenty-nine seconds without a field goal at all down the stretch in the second half before the Ty Groce dunk to end the game. (Groce was a former player Detroit Mercy was after under Coach Ray McCallum, He had a team-high sixteen points for the Eagles.
Davis felt post-game that the team did well keeping the game close despite the poor shooting, saying, “If you would have told me we shot this poorly and this was the final score, I would never have believed it. “
He also felt that when he looked at the schedule. “We had 1-2 games I felt like we could have gotten wins, this was one of them (EMU) we didn’t make our shots”.
The now 1-7 Titans heads to ACC foe Notre Dame, who was just upset by a sub-par Boston College team before they come home Saturday to face a strong Toledo squad, which features some lethal three-point shooters from the Metro Detroit area.
This year has been up and down. We have had the ability to play one solid half but cannot seem to put it together for an entire game. Ohio and EMU were games that Detroit Mercy should have walked away with wins. Instead, the Titans could not finish the game. I will need to see some improvement between now and the beginning of the conference season, or I will be falling back into panic mode.
Notes and observations
- Justin Miller is not in D1 Basketball shape. It was abundantly clear to me watching up close (Davis alluded to this in the press conference) . He does, however, work his ass off on the floor and has a super high basketball IQ.
- Marquis Moore is going to be a four-year starter for us. He’s one of our best rebounders and will probably be an all-conference selection next year. He had a double-double twelve points and ten rebounds, including going five for five from the charity stripe.
- B.J. Maxwell looked rusty Saturday, but he’s the point guard we need to take the pressure of Antoine, so he is free to shoot more.
- Willy Insiani is a hot and cold shooter, but he’s a serious competitor. When he threw the ball out of bounce and lost us that last possession, he was crying in the huddle in the timeout.
- Brad Calipari has been better than expected for me when he can get hot; he’s going to be a legit scoring threat.
- Rumors are going around Corey Allen could grad transfer back to Detroit Mercy after the season.
- Titan commit Joey Liedel was at the game with his family on Saturday.
