Post by Commissioner on May 30, 2014 18:26:30 GMT -5
Our next ten in the countdown of Great Titan Victories:
60. Dec. 28, 1960: #13 Detroit 77, Colorado State 64.
The 1960 Motor City Tournament was set up to feature Detroit in the finals against a powerhouse Xavier team, but Colorado State upset the apple cart by upsetting Xavier (which went on to the NCAA tournament at year-end) in the opening round. Trailing early in the second half of the Motor City Tournament final, and with star Dave DeBusschere on the bench with 4 fouls, the Titans went on a 24-4 stretch over an 8 minute period to pull away from the eventual Mountain State Conference Champions (The MSCC was the forerunner of the WAC). Charlie North sparked the rally with 16 points in the second half, finishing the game with 20 points and 18 rebounds. The win was the Titans 22nd straight win at Memorial Hall, a streak snapped two home games later by Marquette.
59. February 14, 1998: UD 68, Wright St. 60.
When it agreed to join the MCC in the summer of 1979, UD looked like the potentially dominant team in the conference. They had made three straight post-season appearances, finishing each season ranked in the Top 20, and had a 155-59 record over the immediately preceding eight seasons. Their 1979-80 squad featured big man Earl Cureton, highly touted sophomore forwards Jerry Davis and Joe Kopicki, and talented point guard Wilbert McCormick. Of the other teams joining the new league, which was to start play in 1979-80, with Detroit joining the following season, Butler was coming off an 11-16 season and four losing records in five years; the Loyola Ramblers had had just one winning season in the previous nine, including a 12-15 record in 1979; Xavier’s 14-13 campaign in 1979 was just the school’s second winning seasons in 15 years; Oklahoma City had done better, winning more than losing in the 1970s, but hadn’t made the post-season since 1973; Oral Roberts, after six consecutive 20 wins seasons, had dropped to 13-14 in 1978 before rebounding to 17-10 in 1979; and the Evansville Purple Aces were in only their second year of Division I ball, after a 13-16 record in 1979. In short, some tradition aside, these were a bunch of down on their luck independents, with one exception: the University of Detroit Titans.
Few would have predicted that the Titans would fall so far, so fast. By 1981, our first year in the league, we would finish just 9-18, and 6th in the Conference. UD had more last place finishes than winning conference records (4 to 2) in its first 14 years in the league.
It would not be until Detroit’s 18th season in conference play, 1998, that we would win a regular season title. In fact, the Titans shared the title with Illinois-Chicago. The Titans guaranteed themselves a share of the title by defeating Wright State, 68-60, for their 10th win in a row on February 14, 1998. The game, played at Wright State, saw the Raiders shoot 37 foul shots, converting 31 of them, to stay in the game all the way. A three pointer by EJ Harralson gave Detroit a two point lead at the half, and though Detroit never trailed again, the game remained in doubt until the final minutes. The Raiders closed to within two points with six minutes to play but Desmond Ferguson sparked an 8-0 run with a three pointer, and the Titans sank 8 consecutive free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Fittingly, Derrick Hayes, a two-time All Conference selection, led Detroit‘s balanced attack with 15 points.
UD missed claiming the league title outright when it lost the regular season finale to Cleveland State, and then put its NCAA hopes at risk by losing to Wisconsin-Green Bay in the second round of the Conference Tournament. But the Titans not only gained an at large selection, their first bid in 20 years, but also a favorable #10 seed, and went on to defeat St. John’s in the first round.
58. Jan. 31, 1913: Detroit 33, Alma 21.
The Titans completed a perfect 13-0 season with a romp over 2-11 Alma. Barring major changes in college basketball, this is probably the last undefeated season the Titans will ever have, not only because of the modern 30+ game regular season schedule, but because a team must also either win the NCAA tournament or be on probation (and hence ineligible for postseason play) to go unbeaten. This was the Tigers' (as we were then called) second unbeaten season in three years under Coach Royal Campbell. Coincidentally, Campbell would leave Detroit a few years later to coach at Alma, turning the Scots into a local power in the 1920s. Jack Hanrahan led the Titans in scoring on the season at 13.5 ppg, a record that stood until broken by Bob Calihan in the 1939 season.
57. January 15, 1978: Detroit 87, Dayton 73.
1978 was to be the year for the Titans, who entered the season ranked 20th in the AP poll. The Titans slowly advanced to 15th, but were dealt a crushing blow in December when Magic Johnson’s Spartans blew the home club out of Calihan Hall, 103-74. The problem for the Titans after that was that the schedule had very little meat that year, being dominated by the likes of Harvard, Wayne State, Canisius, CCNY, Adrian, Oakland, and Buffalo, and with 19 of 27 games played at Calihan. Thus, Dayton’s visit to Calihan in mid-January gave the Titans a rare chance to boost their resume with a showy victory for post-season consideration. The Flyers entered Detroit at 10-4, including wins over Syracuse, Memphis, and Georgia Tech. The Titans were 12-1.
Senior center Terry Tyler dominated this one from the opening tip, and finished with 24 points, 20 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots. The final was Good UD 87, Other UD 73.
The Titans would run their winning streak to 12, re-entering the polls at #17 in early February, before their next major test, at 17-3 Georgetown. In that game, Terry Duerod missed the front end of a one-and-one with the Titans up three and two minutes to play. Georgetown took a 1 point lead with 29 seconds to play, and Ed Hopkins blocked Wilbert McCormick’s baseline 5-footer with 10 seconds to play to clinch the victory for the Hoyas. The game was Georgetown Coach John Thompson’s 100th victory. Also in that game, John Long’s 25 points boosted him past Dave DeBusschere to become Detroit’s all-time leading scorer. The Titans then lost 80-77 to Marquette its only other game against a top-flight opponent, in the season finale. With the Titans' best wins coming over Toledo and Dayton, Detroit's 24-3 finish was not enough. The Titans were relegated to the NIT despite a #16 ranking in the AP poll. The fact that it was probably the year's most controversial omission was small consolation. Pre-Big East Georgetown, ranked 17th by the AP but also playing a weak schedule, also had to settle for the NIT. There it defeated Dayton in the second round to make that tournament’s final four.
56. January 9, 1993: Detroit 97, Xavier 90 (OT).
After seven consecutive losing seasons, things were finally looking up at UD. A pair of wins in the first week of January, including one over Notre Dame, had boosted the Titans to 8-3 as unbeaten Xavier, led by Brian Grant, came into Detroit to open the Horizon League season.
At the end of regulation the two clubs were tied at 81, but in the extra period, Tony Tolbert and Dwayne Kelley alone combined to outscore Xavier, 11-9, as UD ran away from the Musketeers. For the game, Tolbert led the Titans with 30 and Kelley added 21. Grant led Xavier with 34 points.
Xavier went on to finish 23-6, losing in the second round of the NCAA tourney. The Titans eventually pushed their record to 12-5, but staggered to a 3-7 finish for a final record of 15-12, including a first round loss to Duquesne in the MCC tournament. Nevertheless, a winning season, and the knowledge that Tolbert, the league’s leading scorer, would return along with emerging center Greg Grant, could leave Titan fans feeling good about the future for the first time in years.
55. December 30, 1973: Detroit 73, Fairfield 65.
The Titans beat Fairfield to win their own Motor City Tournament to improve to 8-1, triggering a story in Sports Illustrated that is arguably the best national print coverage the Titans have ever received. sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1088191/index.htm. The game had something of a grudge match atmosphere – “It was Fairfield that kept Detroit out of the NIT last year,” said first year Titan coach Dick Vitale before the game. “They beat the Titans in two overtimes at Madison Square Garden, and that’s what kept UD out of the National Invitational Tournament.” (Actually, season ending losses to St. Francis and Duquesne were probably as important, but Vitale was always out for angle, and as Fairfield did beat out Detroit for one of the last spots in the 1973 NIT, it was probably a fair statement). Each team also had an early marquee victory over a “power school,” with the Titans having trounced Michigan and Fairfield having bested Villanova. The added human interest angle was that Vitale and Fairfield’s equally young coach, Fred Bakarat, had been friends and coaching junior high teams against one another in New Jersey just a decade before.
The Stags led by three at the half but the Titans came out strong in the second half to lead by as many as 16. Owen Wells and Riley Dotson each scored 20 for the Titans as UD held off a late Fairfield rally. Both clubs slumped in the second half of the season, finishing with identical 17-9 records and missing out on hoped-for NIT bids.
54. January 12, 1960: #20 Detroit 89, Marquette 85.
The 1960 version of the Marquette Warriors wasn’t one of the school’s best, finishing just 13-12, but the Detroit–Marquette game of January 12, 1960, was one of the long rivalry’s wildest games. UD, led by sophomore sensation Dave DeBusschere, was ranked 20th in the nation and headed to Milwaukee as the favorite. Detroit came in at 10-2 to Marquette’s 8-4. However, Detroit’s Charlie North, averaging 22.8 points per game, was forced to miss the game with a foot injury.
Despite North’s absence, Detroit set the tempo early, playing its favored run-and-gun style. But Marquette stayed with the Titans at every step, as the first half saw 15 ties and 13 lead changes before ending in a 46-46 tie. 6’4” guard Larry Hughes hit 9 of 11 from the floor to offset a woeful first half by DeBusschere, who hit just 2 of 12 shots in the half. Detroit deftly penetrated Marquette’s defense, scoring 16 points on layups in the half.
The second half began with more of the same, with three more ties and 2 more lead changes. Detroit’s second half hero was little point guard Ray Albee. Seven minutes into the half, Albee scored five points in a 15 second span to boost the Titans lead to 62-55. The Titans then built the lead to 74-64 with seven minutes left in the game. But Warrior star Don Kojis hit three consecutive jumpers to spark a Marquette rally that closed the score to 80-78 with 3:25 to go. Albee and DeBusschere hit jumpers to build the lead back to six. The Warriors closed again, to 84-82 at the two minute mark, when Marquette captain Chuck Koller was called for his 5th personal trying to steal the ball from Albee. Little Ray knocked down a pair of free throws.
Ultimately, Detroit’s victory would come from the line. In a game marked by physical play, Detroit sank 27 of 38 free throws to offset Marquette’s 36-31 advantage in field goals. Marquette was whistled for 27 fouls, and Detroit just 16. Three Warrior starters fouled out.
The game ended with Marquette fans shoving the referees and pelting them with paper wads and pennies. Referees Tony Totorello and Chuck Chuckovitz (which, frankly, sounds like an alias!) were forced to leave the arena under police guard. Marquette Coach Ed Hickey thought the fans had a case. “I don’t want anyone to think we didn’t foul in that game,” he said later. “We did, quite a bit. But I don’t think there was as much difference in the aggressiveness of the two teams as the statistics would suggest.”
While it is unusual for the home team to complain about the refs, perhaps Hickey had a point. Late in the game, as Marquette was attempting to rally, the Warriors were charged with 7 fouls in a two minute span. Some individual calls were suspect. For example, with approximately six minutes left in the game, DeBusschere and Marquette star Don Kojis collided. DeBusschere raised his hand to claim what would be his 5th foul of the game (ah, remember that type of sportsmanship, when players raised their hand after a foul), then shook Kojis’s hand and sat down on the bench, thinking he had fouled out, only to have the crowd erupt when the referee put the foul on Kojis. With under two minutes to play, the refs blew the whistle on Marquette’s Ed Carter after a collision that left him on the floor under a Detroit player, bringing some of the 5200 fans in attendance onto the floor. Police, with the help of two Jesuit priests, restored order, and the Titans held on for the win.
The Titans’ 89-85 victory snapped a 23 game home court winning streak for Marquette. Hughes finished with 31 to lead the Titans including 11 points on foul shots. DeBusschere played a strong second half to finish with 27 points and Albee added 15. Kojis led Marquette with 23 points and 19 rebounds.The Titans would thrash Marquette two weeks later in a rematch at Memorial Hall, a rare season sweep of the Warriors for UD. Despite a late season slump, the Titans finished 20-6 in the regular season and earned a birth in the NIT, which in those days still competed with the NCAA for teams.
53. February 10, 1979: Detroit 135, CCNY 77.
Fresh off back-to-back wins over nationally ranked Georgetown and Marquette, the Titans went home to Calihan and obliterated City College of New York. UD set school records for field goals and points. Terry Duerod set a school record (since eclipsed by Archie Tullos) by scoring 47 points in the win. The offensive explosion helped nudge Detroit up to #18 in the next AP poll.
52. December 21, 1971: Detroit 84, #15 Ohio U. 77.
After a pair of disappointing seasons, the Titans began to show signs of life in the fall of 1971. The Titans entered the Michigan Invitational Tournament in Ann Arbor at 4-1, but the wins were over inferior competition and the loss was a 19 point setback at home against Villanova. So there was more than a little question as to whether Detroit was ready to be competitive again. In the first game of the Tournament, the Titans acquitted themselves well but lost 77-76 to eventual MAC co-champion Toledo, on a pair of Mac Otten free throws with 14 seconds remaining. The following night, however, UD took out 15th ranked (UPI, 17th AP) Ohio U., 84-77, behind 25 points from Tom “Cookie” Marsh. The Titans led 42-39 at the half and upped that lead to 63-51, before a 6 point run brought OU back into the game. But with Marsh scoring 12 points in the final eleven minutes, UD kept OU at arm’s length and claimed the win.
OU, which had lost to Michigan the night before, fell from the rankings but went on to tie Toledo for the MAC championship and win the league’s NCAA birth. For UD, the win over a nationally ranked opponent signified some new life. The Titans went on to a solid 18-6 season, beating second-ranked Marquette along the way and briefly appearing in the UPI rankings late in the season. The Titans expected a post-season bid but were shut out of even the NIT, to the surprise of many national observers.
51. December 27, 1975: Detroit 74, DePaul 67.
Entering his third season as Titan head coach, Dick Vitale had restored excitement to the UD campus and the entire Detroit metro area, but UD had yet to make post-season play, despite getting consideration in each of the prior two seasons. For season three, Vitale had managed to finagle a visit to Calihan Hall by North Carolina, and an attractive home schedule also featured Michigan State, Dayton, and Marquette, and hopefully a match-up with DePaul in the Motor City Classic. Vitale spent the off-season hyping his Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside combo of sophomores Terry Tyler and John Long. Tyler had averaged 8.3 ppg and Long 17.1 as freshmen.
But the Titans stumbled early, losing road games to Central Michigan and Bradley, and dropping an 81-71 decision to Western Michigan at home (that Western team, some will recall, ended the season at 26-3 and ranked 10th in the nation, but few realized yet in December how good it was). Detroit recovered with solid wins over Michigan St. (with Terry Furlow scoring 41 for the Spartans), Xavier, and Wyoming, and entered the finals of the Motor City Classic with a 5-3 record. Center Dave Corzine led DePaul, which sported a 7-1 record after beating George Washington in the first round of the Motor City tourney. DePaul had defeated #6 Louisville earlier in the month. Corzine was widely considered the best DePaul player since George Mikan.
The game was a close affair much of the way, but Corzine fouled out and the Titans held DePaul to just 4 points in the final eight minutes to pull away for a relatively easy win.
Detroit did not get a post-season bid in 1976, despite an overall 19-8 record, including a 17-5 finish. But the strong finish did set Detroit up well for success the following season. DePaul finished the season ranked 17th in the nation, and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
60. Dec. 28, 1960: #13 Detroit 77, Colorado State 64.
The 1960 Motor City Tournament was set up to feature Detroit in the finals against a powerhouse Xavier team, but Colorado State upset the apple cart by upsetting Xavier (which went on to the NCAA tournament at year-end) in the opening round. Trailing early in the second half of the Motor City Tournament final, and with star Dave DeBusschere on the bench with 4 fouls, the Titans went on a 24-4 stretch over an 8 minute period to pull away from the eventual Mountain State Conference Champions (The MSCC was the forerunner of the WAC). Charlie North sparked the rally with 16 points in the second half, finishing the game with 20 points and 18 rebounds. The win was the Titans 22nd straight win at Memorial Hall, a streak snapped two home games later by Marquette.
59. February 14, 1998: UD 68, Wright St. 60.
When it agreed to join the MCC in the summer of 1979, UD looked like the potentially dominant team in the conference. They had made three straight post-season appearances, finishing each season ranked in the Top 20, and had a 155-59 record over the immediately preceding eight seasons. Their 1979-80 squad featured big man Earl Cureton, highly touted sophomore forwards Jerry Davis and Joe Kopicki, and talented point guard Wilbert McCormick. Of the other teams joining the new league, which was to start play in 1979-80, with Detroit joining the following season, Butler was coming off an 11-16 season and four losing records in five years; the Loyola Ramblers had had just one winning season in the previous nine, including a 12-15 record in 1979; Xavier’s 14-13 campaign in 1979 was just the school’s second winning seasons in 15 years; Oklahoma City had done better, winning more than losing in the 1970s, but hadn’t made the post-season since 1973; Oral Roberts, after six consecutive 20 wins seasons, had dropped to 13-14 in 1978 before rebounding to 17-10 in 1979; and the Evansville Purple Aces were in only their second year of Division I ball, after a 13-16 record in 1979. In short, some tradition aside, these were a bunch of down on their luck independents, with one exception: the University of Detroit Titans.
Few would have predicted that the Titans would fall so far, so fast. By 1981, our first year in the league, we would finish just 9-18, and 6th in the Conference. UD had more last place finishes than winning conference records (4 to 2) in its first 14 years in the league.
It would not be until Detroit’s 18th season in conference play, 1998, that we would win a regular season title. In fact, the Titans shared the title with Illinois-Chicago. The Titans guaranteed themselves a share of the title by defeating Wright State, 68-60, for their 10th win in a row on February 14, 1998. The game, played at Wright State, saw the Raiders shoot 37 foul shots, converting 31 of them, to stay in the game all the way. A three pointer by EJ Harralson gave Detroit a two point lead at the half, and though Detroit never trailed again, the game remained in doubt until the final minutes. The Raiders closed to within two points with six minutes to play but Desmond Ferguson sparked an 8-0 run with a three pointer, and the Titans sank 8 consecutive free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Fittingly, Derrick Hayes, a two-time All Conference selection, led Detroit‘s balanced attack with 15 points.
UD missed claiming the league title outright when it lost the regular season finale to Cleveland State, and then put its NCAA hopes at risk by losing to Wisconsin-Green Bay in the second round of the Conference Tournament. But the Titans not only gained an at large selection, their first bid in 20 years, but also a favorable #10 seed, and went on to defeat St. John’s in the first round.
58. Jan. 31, 1913: Detroit 33, Alma 21.
The Titans completed a perfect 13-0 season with a romp over 2-11 Alma. Barring major changes in college basketball, this is probably the last undefeated season the Titans will ever have, not only because of the modern 30+ game regular season schedule, but because a team must also either win the NCAA tournament or be on probation (and hence ineligible for postseason play) to go unbeaten. This was the Tigers' (as we were then called) second unbeaten season in three years under Coach Royal Campbell. Coincidentally, Campbell would leave Detroit a few years later to coach at Alma, turning the Scots into a local power in the 1920s. Jack Hanrahan led the Titans in scoring on the season at 13.5 ppg, a record that stood until broken by Bob Calihan in the 1939 season.
57. January 15, 1978: Detroit 87, Dayton 73.
1978 was to be the year for the Titans, who entered the season ranked 20th in the AP poll. The Titans slowly advanced to 15th, but were dealt a crushing blow in December when Magic Johnson’s Spartans blew the home club out of Calihan Hall, 103-74. The problem for the Titans after that was that the schedule had very little meat that year, being dominated by the likes of Harvard, Wayne State, Canisius, CCNY, Adrian, Oakland, and Buffalo, and with 19 of 27 games played at Calihan. Thus, Dayton’s visit to Calihan in mid-January gave the Titans a rare chance to boost their resume with a showy victory for post-season consideration. The Flyers entered Detroit at 10-4, including wins over Syracuse, Memphis, and Georgia Tech. The Titans were 12-1.
Senior center Terry Tyler dominated this one from the opening tip, and finished with 24 points, 20 rebounds, and 6 blocked shots. The final was Good UD 87, Other UD 73.
The Titans would run their winning streak to 12, re-entering the polls at #17 in early February, before their next major test, at 17-3 Georgetown. In that game, Terry Duerod missed the front end of a one-and-one with the Titans up three and two minutes to play. Georgetown took a 1 point lead with 29 seconds to play, and Ed Hopkins blocked Wilbert McCormick’s baseline 5-footer with 10 seconds to play to clinch the victory for the Hoyas. The game was Georgetown Coach John Thompson’s 100th victory. Also in that game, John Long’s 25 points boosted him past Dave DeBusschere to become Detroit’s all-time leading scorer. The Titans then lost 80-77 to Marquette its only other game against a top-flight opponent, in the season finale. With the Titans' best wins coming over Toledo and Dayton, Detroit's 24-3 finish was not enough. The Titans were relegated to the NIT despite a #16 ranking in the AP poll. The fact that it was probably the year's most controversial omission was small consolation. Pre-Big East Georgetown, ranked 17th by the AP but also playing a weak schedule, also had to settle for the NIT. There it defeated Dayton in the second round to make that tournament’s final four.
56. January 9, 1993: Detroit 97, Xavier 90 (OT).
After seven consecutive losing seasons, things were finally looking up at UD. A pair of wins in the first week of January, including one over Notre Dame, had boosted the Titans to 8-3 as unbeaten Xavier, led by Brian Grant, came into Detroit to open the Horizon League season.
At the end of regulation the two clubs were tied at 81, but in the extra period, Tony Tolbert and Dwayne Kelley alone combined to outscore Xavier, 11-9, as UD ran away from the Musketeers. For the game, Tolbert led the Titans with 30 and Kelley added 21. Grant led Xavier with 34 points.
Xavier went on to finish 23-6, losing in the second round of the NCAA tourney. The Titans eventually pushed their record to 12-5, but staggered to a 3-7 finish for a final record of 15-12, including a first round loss to Duquesne in the MCC tournament. Nevertheless, a winning season, and the knowledge that Tolbert, the league’s leading scorer, would return along with emerging center Greg Grant, could leave Titan fans feeling good about the future for the first time in years.
55. December 30, 1973: Detroit 73, Fairfield 65.
The Titans beat Fairfield to win their own Motor City Tournament to improve to 8-1, triggering a story in Sports Illustrated that is arguably the best national print coverage the Titans have ever received. sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1088191/index.htm. The game had something of a grudge match atmosphere – “It was Fairfield that kept Detroit out of the NIT last year,” said first year Titan coach Dick Vitale before the game. “They beat the Titans in two overtimes at Madison Square Garden, and that’s what kept UD out of the National Invitational Tournament.” (Actually, season ending losses to St. Francis and Duquesne were probably as important, but Vitale was always out for angle, and as Fairfield did beat out Detroit for one of the last spots in the 1973 NIT, it was probably a fair statement). Each team also had an early marquee victory over a “power school,” with the Titans having trounced Michigan and Fairfield having bested Villanova. The added human interest angle was that Vitale and Fairfield’s equally young coach, Fred Bakarat, had been friends and coaching junior high teams against one another in New Jersey just a decade before.
The Stags led by three at the half but the Titans came out strong in the second half to lead by as many as 16. Owen Wells and Riley Dotson each scored 20 for the Titans as UD held off a late Fairfield rally. Both clubs slumped in the second half of the season, finishing with identical 17-9 records and missing out on hoped-for NIT bids.
54. January 12, 1960: #20 Detroit 89, Marquette 85.
The 1960 version of the Marquette Warriors wasn’t one of the school’s best, finishing just 13-12, but the Detroit–Marquette game of January 12, 1960, was one of the long rivalry’s wildest games. UD, led by sophomore sensation Dave DeBusschere, was ranked 20th in the nation and headed to Milwaukee as the favorite. Detroit came in at 10-2 to Marquette’s 8-4. However, Detroit’s Charlie North, averaging 22.8 points per game, was forced to miss the game with a foot injury.
Despite North’s absence, Detroit set the tempo early, playing its favored run-and-gun style. But Marquette stayed with the Titans at every step, as the first half saw 15 ties and 13 lead changes before ending in a 46-46 tie. 6’4” guard Larry Hughes hit 9 of 11 from the floor to offset a woeful first half by DeBusschere, who hit just 2 of 12 shots in the half. Detroit deftly penetrated Marquette’s defense, scoring 16 points on layups in the half.
The second half began with more of the same, with three more ties and 2 more lead changes. Detroit’s second half hero was little point guard Ray Albee. Seven minutes into the half, Albee scored five points in a 15 second span to boost the Titans lead to 62-55. The Titans then built the lead to 74-64 with seven minutes left in the game. But Warrior star Don Kojis hit three consecutive jumpers to spark a Marquette rally that closed the score to 80-78 with 3:25 to go. Albee and DeBusschere hit jumpers to build the lead back to six. The Warriors closed again, to 84-82 at the two minute mark, when Marquette captain Chuck Koller was called for his 5th personal trying to steal the ball from Albee. Little Ray knocked down a pair of free throws.
Ultimately, Detroit’s victory would come from the line. In a game marked by physical play, Detroit sank 27 of 38 free throws to offset Marquette’s 36-31 advantage in field goals. Marquette was whistled for 27 fouls, and Detroit just 16. Three Warrior starters fouled out.
The game ended with Marquette fans shoving the referees and pelting them with paper wads and pennies. Referees Tony Totorello and Chuck Chuckovitz (which, frankly, sounds like an alias!) were forced to leave the arena under police guard. Marquette Coach Ed Hickey thought the fans had a case. “I don’t want anyone to think we didn’t foul in that game,” he said later. “We did, quite a bit. But I don’t think there was as much difference in the aggressiveness of the two teams as the statistics would suggest.”
While it is unusual for the home team to complain about the refs, perhaps Hickey had a point. Late in the game, as Marquette was attempting to rally, the Warriors were charged with 7 fouls in a two minute span. Some individual calls were suspect. For example, with approximately six minutes left in the game, DeBusschere and Marquette star Don Kojis collided. DeBusschere raised his hand to claim what would be his 5th foul of the game (ah, remember that type of sportsmanship, when players raised their hand after a foul), then shook Kojis’s hand and sat down on the bench, thinking he had fouled out, only to have the crowd erupt when the referee put the foul on Kojis. With under two minutes to play, the refs blew the whistle on Marquette’s Ed Carter after a collision that left him on the floor under a Detroit player, bringing some of the 5200 fans in attendance onto the floor. Police, with the help of two Jesuit priests, restored order, and the Titans held on for the win.
The Titans’ 89-85 victory snapped a 23 game home court winning streak for Marquette. Hughes finished with 31 to lead the Titans including 11 points on foul shots. DeBusschere played a strong second half to finish with 27 points and Albee added 15. Kojis led Marquette with 23 points and 19 rebounds.The Titans would thrash Marquette two weeks later in a rematch at Memorial Hall, a rare season sweep of the Warriors for UD. Despite a late season slump, the Titans finished 20-6 in the regular season and earned a birth in the NIT, which in those days still competed with the NCAA for teams.
53. February 10, 1979: Detroit 135, CCNY 77.
Fresh off back-to-back wins over nationally ranked Georgetown and Marquette, the Titans went home to Calihan and obliterated City College of New York. UD set school records for field goals and points. Terry Duerod set a school record (since eclipsed by Archie Tullos) by scoring 47 points in the win. The offensive explosion helped nudge Detroit up to #18 in the next AP poll.
52. December 21, 1971: Detroit 84, #15 Ohio U. 77.
After a pair of disappointing seasons, the Titans began to show signs of life in the fall of 1971. The Titans entered the Michigan Invitational Tournament in Ann Arbor at 4-1, but the wins were over inferior competition and the loss was a 19 point setback at home against Villanova. So there was more than a little question as to whether Detroit was ready to be competitive again. In the first game of the Tournament, the Titans acquitted themselves well but lost 77-76 to eventual MAC co-champion Toledo, on a pair of Mac Otten free throws with 14 seconds remaining. The following night, however, UD took out 15th ranked (UPI, 17th AP) Ohio U., 84-77, behind 25 points from Tom “Cookie” Marsh. The Titans led 42-39 at the half and upped that lead to 63-51, before a 6 point run brought OU back into the game. But with Marsh scoring 12 points in the final eleven minutes, UD kept OU at arm’s length and claimed the win.
OU, which had lost to Michigan the night before, fell from the rankings but went on to tie Toledo for the MAC championship and win the league’s NCAA birth. For UD, the win over a nationally ranked opponent signified some new life. The Titans went on to a solid 18-6 season, beating second-ranked Marquette along the way and briefly appearing in the UPI rankings late in the season. The Titans expected a post-season bid but were shut out of even the NIT, to the surprise of many national observers.
51. December 27, 1975: Detroit 74, DePaul 67.
Entering his third season as Titan head coach, Dick Vitale had restored excitement to the UD campus and the entire Detroit metro area, but UD had yet to make post-season play, despite getting consideration in each of the prior two seasons. For season three, Vitale had managed to finagle a visit to Calihan Hall by North Carolina, and an attractive home schedule also featured Michigan State, Dayton, and Marquette, and hopefully a match-up with DePaul in the Motor City Classic. Vitale spent the off-season hyping his Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside combo of sophomores Terry Tyler and John Long. Tyler had averaged 8.3 ppg and Long 17.1 as freshmen.
But the Titans stumbled early, losing road games to Central Michigan and Bradley, and dropping an 81-71 decision to Western Michigan at home (that Western team, some will recall, ended the season at 26-3 and ranked 10th in the nation, but few realized yet in December how good it was). Detroit recovered with solid wins over Michigan St. (with Terry Furlow scoring 41 for the Spartans), Xavier, and Wyoming, and entered the finals of the Motor City Classic with a 5-3 record. Center Dave Corzine led DePaul, which sported a 7-1 record after beating George Washington in the first round of the Motor City tourney. DePaul had defeated #6 Louisville earlier in the month. Corzine was widely considered the best DePaul player since George Mikan.
The game was a close affair much of the way, but Corzine fouled out and the Titans held DePaul to just 4 points in the final eight minutes to pull away for a relatively easy win.
Detroit did not get a post-season bid in 1976, despite an overall 19-8 record, including a 17-5 finish. But the strong finish did set Detroit up well for success the following season. DePaul finished the season ranked 17th in the nation, and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.