Detroit (12-11) Squares Off With Valparaiso (15-8)

Filed under Game Preview on February 1st, 2012

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Thursday is a big day for Titans basketball as Valparaiso welcomes Detroit in an epic Horizon contest. Tip-off is at 7:30 EST and it will be televised on FSN-DET.

Valparaiso is in 2nd place in the conference and Detroit is in 5th place. Overall, the Titans have a record of 12-11 including 6-5 in the Horizon. The Crusaders have a 15-8 record and are 8-3 in the conference.

This one looks like the advantage might go to Valparaiso going in. The Valparaiso 8-2 record at home does not get canceled out by the Detroit 2-7 road record. We can't ignore the RPI rankings in this instance. The Crusaders are ranked #119 and the Titans are at #224.

Detroit has already played Valparaiso back on January 6th and lost 73-71. Last year, the Titans had a record of 0-3 on the Crusaders, with an average nine point margin of defeat. Over four years, Detroit has gone 3-8 against Valparaiso, including 1-4 at Athletics-Recreation Center.

• Ray McCallum is ranked 1st in the Horizon in points, ranked 3rd in the Horizon in assists, and ranked 7th in the Horizon in steals
• The Detroit basketball team finishes what they start, with a better graduation rate than Valparaiso (90% vs 63%).
• The Detroit steals leader (Ray McCallum) has more steals than the Valparaiso steals leader (Ryan Broekhoff).
• LaMarcus Lowe is ranked 17th nationally in blocks

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