TITANS! What is your profession?

OH.  That's the other guys.  Never mind.

So, next up is the Detroit Titans, a common BG opponent.  This will be an interesting one.  It is a true road game, though I don't know what kind of following the Titans will have on this Holiday weekend.  Anyway, here's a few things about the Titans.

First and foremost, they did beat Albany last night.  That was technically a home game too, FWIW and there were about 2,000 people in attendance.  The Albany Great Danes (swear to god) took them into double OT before losing.  Having to come back the next day after playing double OT and BG had the early game is a slight advantage to the Falcons.

Anyway, Detroit is coached by Ray McCallum, MAC great and a proven head coach who has won at BSU and Houston.  He was at Indiana during the Sampson debacle, and now is rebuilding the program at UD.  You'd expect that he will succeed here and move back up again, but time will tell.

He has one of the top recruits in the country, one Ray McCallum Jr, who is at UD on the Trey Zeigler plan.  He's not off to a great start, but is one of 5 players averaging double figures for the Titans.

Eli Holman is their best player.  Holman is an Indiana refugee who is averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds and shooting over 60% from the field.  At 6'10" he is a legit post and we're going to have to have our best interior D.  We may not see the rebounding numbers we did last night.  On the other hand, Albany rebounded reasonably.

Detroit was picked to finish 4th in the Horizon conference.  College Basketball Prospectus called them "all paint and no perimeter" because of the extreme lack of 3s they shot last year, and while they are shooting more this season, they are actually worse than BG percentage wise.

NCAA Basketball Stats

NCAA Basketball Stats

So far this year, they are 2-3, but the Albany win was their first D1 win.  They have played a tough opening schedule, losing @New Mexico, @Syracuse, and @Mississippi State.

They play a typically upbeat style, with 72 possessions per game, which is slightly more than Duquesne.  While they are known for defense, their defensive profile is very similar to BG's this season, though, they have played the 67th ranked schedule.  They are susceptible to the 3, so many this is where BG points it together, though I think it is more likely that you'll see old-school 2-pointers.

They play mostly a six-man rotation, which is tough when you have double OT.  Three of their players played more than 44 minutes last night.

We played Detroit last year, also at Calihan Hall, and the Titans won 73-69.  BG rallied from a large first half deficit to play a very tight second half before falling.  BG averaged more than a point per possession which is a good benchmark for us, and lost the game primarily because UD outrebounded us pretty seriously.

I'm always the disappointed optimist, but I am hopeful that all this adds up to a nice performance by the Falcons and a road win that we can seriously use.  (and a D1 win, too)