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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 25, 2020 11:35:17 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2020 14:13:52 GMT -5
The account below sends a tweet out every single day at around 1pm with an updated total. I'm embarrassed for our program and it's about damn time it ends
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lafan
Iyapo Montgomery
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Post by lafan on Dec 25, 2020 14:54:33 GMT -5
I want UD to win, but Kampe is a brilliant coach, so I am sure he will have thought of a way to best us.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2020 16:39:00 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2020 17:12:46 GMT -5
We are 6 point favorite for tomorrow. Kampe usually comes up with a game plan to beat us. Maybe the late notice scheduling the game will negate this. We really have no excuse not to win (although if we don't win, I'm sure plenty of excuses will be made)
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Post by nctitan on Dec 25, 2020 18:18:13 GMT -5
Huh? What lead? Both teams are 0-2 in league action.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2020 18:46:14 GMT -5
Huh? What lead? Both teams are 0-2 in league action. Although the all time series is tied at 13-13, Oakland has won seven in a row and 12 of the last 14 since joining the Horizon League in 2013-14.
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Post by udballer on Dec 25, 2020 19:29:25 GMT -5
Yup. That lead. It's been ugly.
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 25, 2020 21:24:33 GMT -5
Oakland
When: Saturday, December 26, 4:00 p.m. Sunday, December 27, 4:00 p.m. Where: Historic Calihan Hall (no live attendance) TV: ESPN 3 Radio: WLQV 92.7 FM and 1500 AM
Well, you can feel the excitement as a pair of squads with a combined 1-14 record line up to play a pair of games not on either team’s schedule in front of no fans on Christmas weekend. I’ll be watching.
All time, the series is now tied at 13-13. But lately, OU has, to put it modestly, held the upper hand. The Titans have dropped 7 straight since Jaleel Hogan’s monster 39-point, 11 rebound game back in January of 2017, and trail 12-2 since Oakland joined the Horizon. OU joined the league just as the Titans were entering a down-phase that is now in its 8th season. But that’s by no means the only reason for their dominance. Simply put, they aim for this game; they come ready to play. For a long time Titans viewed this a rivalry in the sense that they knew the series could draw well, and they wanted to beat the annoying upstarts from up north. But the Titans never aimed for this game as Oakland has, and too often seemed to think that every Oakland win was just the occasional fluke—soon the earth would be back in its orbit and the Titans would be scoring 100 points per game to smash little OU. Detroit finally, just in the last year or so, seems to be waking up to the idea that this is the only real rivalry we’ve got any more, that Oakland is killing us, and that Rashad Phillips and Jermaine Jackson, Sr.—let alone John Long and Terry Tyler—aren’t walking through that door.
Well, if the Titans are going to turn things around, this year would be a good time to start. Who knows, we might even be playing OU more than twice this year, and, on paper at least, the Titans look like the superior team.
Both these squads are probably better than their records indicate. The Titans are 1-5 after competitive losses to Michigan State and Notre Dame, a less competitive and disappointing performance against a good Kent State team, and a pair of losses to the Horizon favorite, Wright State. In the midst of all that they squeezed in a win at Western Michigan. They’ve recently gained front line reinforcements in the form of 2020 Horizon All-Defensive Team selection Chris Brandon, back from injury, 7-0 transfer Buay Koka, and—hopefully for tomorrow—6-11 transfer Noah Waterman.
Oakland has had an even rougher time of it. Coach Greg Kampe seemed to have decided that if Oakland wasn’t going to be playing home games for fans, it might as well load up on all the guarantees it could find. So, Oakland played 7 non-conference games, none at home. The schedule is currently rated the 15th toughest non-conference schedule in the country, including Xavier, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, and Oklahoma State on the road, and a couple of pretty good mid-majors, Bradley and Toledo, in Cincinnati. They started conference play last week by dropping a pair of road games to UIC, projected by most to be one of the better HL teams this year. The result is an 0-9 start, the worst in the school’s 53 year history. But it would be a big mistake to think this team is some Chicago State clone. This is a good chance to test the old adage--does a killer non-con slate prepare a mid-major for conference play, or just leave them tired, beaten up, and demoralized?
We might note that only three of OU's 9 games have been close: the Grizzlies took Michigan to overtime before falling by 10, and they lost the first game to UIC by a bucket, after leading much of the way. Oklahoma State trailed the Grizzlies more than 5 minutes into the second half, and didn't get a double digit lead until the final 5 minutes, though they won by 13. Oakland also kept Michigan State close for more than a half, but not all that close: MSU led the final 36 minutes, by at least eight for the final 17:30, and by double digits for the final 13:28, winning by 18 in the end. Oakland lost to Xavier by 52, and to Purdue by 43. Toledo (7-3) and Bradley —good but unexceptional mid-majors—-pounded the Grizzlies on a neutral floor. The Rockets led by 23 at halftime and coasted to a 27 point win; the Braves (6-3 overall but just 4-3 against D1 teams) led by 15 at the half and pretty much coasted through the second half without being threatened, winning by 14 in the end. The second UIC game found the Flames up 18 at the break, and Oakland never came close after. In other words, they’ve been blown out more often than not, including in 3 of their 4 games against mid-majors.
So, we’ll see. Something’s gotta give, and at least one of these two teams is going to start winning.
Both teams have had a huge roster turnover from last year. Both teams have just 5 players who saw action for them last year. So let’s get acquainted with the 2020-21 Grizzlies.
The point guard is Jalen Moore, a juco transfer I thought would be good, and who has been. Moore is leading the team in scoring (16.7 ppg, 6th in the Horizon), assists (5.9 apg, 4th in the HL), and steals (2.1 spg, 6th in conference). He’s also chipped in over 4 rebounds per game. He’s joined in the backcourt by Rashad Williams. Williams has been troubled by illness this year, and so has been very inconsistent. Not counting the Purdue game, when he tried to play but got just 1 minute, he’s averaging 15.9 ppg, but even that doesn’t show what he’s capable of. Since getting back to full strength, in OU’s last 4 games he’s averaged 37.5 minutes played and 23.5 points (including 32 points against Oklahoma State and 36 against Michigan State), while shooting 40.7% from three. Last year he lit up the Titans for 37 points after becoming eligible in mid-January. We can’t let that happen again.
The front court includes one familiar face, 6-7 junior Daniel Oladapo, who’s averaging 8.7 points and 7.7 rebounds. The other front court starters have been freshmen Trey Townsend and Micah Parrish, though Parrish has only averaged about 17 minutes per game over the last 4 contests (foul trouble has been part of that). Off the bench, the first two guys have been sophomore guard Blake Lampman, a three-point shooter who doesn’t shoot three-pointers well (32% last year, 19% so far this season) and Western Illinois transfer Zion Young, who has contributed less than I expected. Deeper on the bench Kampe has guard Kevin Kangu, a starter much of last season whose playing time this year has been cut to under 10 minutes a game, and forward Yusuf Jihad, who’s averaging about 8 minutes per game, but played just 3 minutes total in last weekend’s games at UIC. 6-10 Freshman Chris Conway was a prize recruit but so far has been relegated to spot minutes. He, too, played just 3 minutes last weekend.
After struggling all season against bigger teams, the Titans, reinforced by Brandon, Koka, and Waterman, may be in a position to dominate OU inside this weekend. The problem may come at guard, where Moore and Williams may be a tad too quick for the Titans' three big grad transfers. Can the Titans guard Williams (and Moore) man-for-man? And if they go to a zone, will Williams’ three point shooting just blast the Titans out of it? That would seem to be the big threat to the Titans. Note that Zion Young has really struggled from behind the arc this year, but was a 40% three-point shooter at Western Illinois. If he comes to life this weekend, Detroit could really be scrambling along the perimeter.
On the other side of the ball, OU’s defense has been porous. With the exception of Michigan, which had a poor shooting night and turned it over 20 times, ever other OU opponent has bested its season scoring average against the Grizzlies, usually by quite a bit. And if OU’s guards are quick, the Titans have a distinct size advantage in the backcourt as well as the front court. Does OU have a guard who can stop Fraser, Kuol, or Johnson one-on-one in the paint? If the bigs try to help, can the Titans find the open man? Also, the Grizzlies have been badly outrebounded this year, by a whopping 10.5 rebounds per game. Detroit’s been heavily outrebounded, too, by 7.5 per game, but without our best rebounder, Brandon, for most of the season. Oakland did outrebound UIC in their first game last weekend, but Detroit should be able to win the battle on the boards. And another oddity, of sorts: A hallmark of Kampe teams is good free-throw shooting, but this year’s Grizz are shooting just 63% from the charity stripe. They do get to the line a lot, though, averaging 21 attempts per game. The Titans haven't shot as many (a bit under 15 per game) but are second in the nation with an 84.1% conversion rate.
Leaving aside the unique situation that everyone on every team can come back next year, we might note that OU’s only senior is Kangu. They stand to get better next year. This “rivalry” is bordering on a joke. Lame jokes about OU’s academics and their coach’s haircut have never cut it much for me, and are really tiresome these days. Pretending that we’re too good for Oakland was never an attractive look and now just seems kind of stupid, no? The Titans need to step up and get a couple wins this weekend over what is probably the weakest OU team since they entered the league. It won't get easier.
Projected Starters PG: Jalen Moore, 5-11 Jr. (16.7 ppg, 5.9 apg, 4.1 rpg, 2.1 spg, 32.4% 3PtFG) SG: Rashad Williams, 6-2 Jr. (13.9 ppg, 35.1% 3PtFG) SF: Micah Parrish, 6-6 Fr (3.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg) PF: Trey Townsend, 6-6 Fr. (7.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 56.5% FG) PF: Daniel Oladapo, 6-7 Jr. (8.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 40.0% 3PtFG, 55.7% FG)
Bench PG: Kevin Kangu, 6-4 Sr. (2.4 ppg) SG: Blake Lampman, 6-1 Soph. (4.5 ppg, 19.0% 3PtFG) G: Joey Holifield, 6-3 Fr. (3.0 ppg) G: Emmanuel Newsome, 6-0 Soph. (0.8 ppg) SF: Zion Young, 6-4 Jr. (5.9 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 23.9% 3PtFG) F/C: Chris Conway, 6-10 Fr. (0.5 ppg) C: Yusuf Jihad, 6-8 RS Fr. (2.0 ppg)
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 26, 2020 14:43:57 GMT -5
Chew on this: The Titans haven't led Oakland in 117 minutes and 20 seconds of court time.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2020 14:51:32 GMT -5
Chew on this: The Titans haven't led Oakland in 117 minutes and 20 seconds of court time. I have a feeling that's going to change today😉
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Post by motorcitysam on Dec 26, 2020 14:58:23 GMT -5
I was pleasantly surprised by the media attention that the rivalry got once OU joined the conference. Big crowds, radio interviews with the coaches during the week of the game on local tv and radio sports shows. Unfortunately, we have not capitalized on it, not in the head to head match up or in our overall record, just like we didn't capitalize on having the league tournament in Detroit. Still, this is our only rival, and we should embrace it.
I haven't enjoyed a Titan season since 2015-16. A couple of wins this weekend would go a long way towards putting this season on track.
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Post by Commissioner on Dec 26, 2020 15:45:29 GMT -5
Game by Game
Dick Vitale first scheduled non-D1 Oakland back in the 1973-74 season. They were close by, an easy win, and it was a favor to them just to be on the schedule. Here’s the whole series:
The Early Days-Non-D1 OU December 15, 1973: Detroit 101, Oakland 75. Oakland came in 7-0 but were no match for a good D-1 team. This game was part of a 11-1 start for Detroit, including wins over Michigan and Michigan State, in Vitale’s first season.
January 22, 1975: Detroit 105, Oakland 48. OU’s program took a major step forward, joining the GLIAC before the 1974-75 season. But this was the largest margin of defeat in Oakland history, up to that time—it’s still the second largest.
December 10, 1975: Detroit 113, Oakland 83.
December 6, 1976: Detroit 113, Oakland 45. This is the largest margin of defeat in Oakland history, and it launched the Titans’ 21-game winning streak.
January 8, 1978: Detroit 99, Oakland 58
November 23, 1985: Detroit 77, Oakland 62
February 20, 1988: Detroit 84, Oakland 80. Whoa, these games are getting close.
December 9, 1992: Detroit 77, Oakland 50.
D1 Non-Conference Play February 18, 1998: Detroit 110, Oakland 61. This was Oakland’s first year in Division 1.
December 5, 2000: Detroit 77, Oakland 56.
December 6, 2001: Oakland 93, Detroit 67. Oakland finally breaks through, thrashing a good Titan team (the Titans would go to the NIT in March). Every game to this point had been played on the Titans’ home court. This was the first played at OU. Oakland finished the season 17-13, its first winning record in D-1.
December 3, 2003: Detroit 76, Oakland 60. Back in Calihan, the Titans won easy, leading by 16 at the break. Elijah Warren led the Titans with 17 points. Willie Wallace added 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists. Attendance was 3625.
Horizon Play: Oakland joined the Horizon just as the Titans were entering a down-phase that is now in its 8th season. And OU has dominated the series from the start. They aim for this game; they come ready to play. Detroit finally, just in the last year or so, seems to be waking up to the idea that this is the only real rivalry we’ve got any more, and Rashad Philips and Jermaine Jackson—let alone John Long and Terry Tyler—aren’t walking through that door.
January 11, 2014: Oakland 77, Detroit 69. In the first Horizon match-up between UD and OU, the Titans led by 8 at the half, and maintained a steady lead in the second half. A short jumper by Ugochukwu Njoko put the Titans up 12 with about 8:30 remaining. OU scored 4, and then Njoko took a feed from Evan Bruinsma and slammed it home to restore the lead to double digits with 7 minutes to play. The Titans were on the verge of running the Grizzlies out of Calihan. And then came the collapse. OU held the Titans scoreless for the next 3 minutes and scored 10 straight to tie it. The Titans retook the lead, but Duke Mondy tied it with a three with 2:31 left, and another three by Travis Bader put the Grizzlies up for good. Overall, the Grizzlies outscored the Titans 12-1 in the final 2:31, and 26-8 over the final 6:45. Juwan Howard was the Titans' high scorer with 15. Attendance at Calihan: 6976.
February 14, 2014: Oakland 83, Detroit 82 (OT). The Titans jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the opening minutes, but OU quickly closed the gap and this game was nip and tuck the rest of the half, with OU up two at the break. Early the second half OU expanded the lead to 9 on a 4-point play by Bader, but this time Detroit closed the gap and the teams were no more than 5 points apart in the final 11 minutes of regulation. Jerod Williams hit a couple of free throws with 39 seconds left to put Detroit up three, and Bader tied it with a trey at 0:26. On the final possession of regulation, Howard missed a three; Patrick Onwenu got the offensive board and was clearly hacked hard as he tried to put it back up, but there was no call. Onwenu, a 75% foul shooter, didn't get the chance to win it. In the extra period, Detroit again took a 5 point lead with under 3:00 to play. In a frustrating hallmark of Ray McCallum's teams, the Titans again failed to close it out. The Titans failed to score in the final 3 minutes, and OU won it on a Mondy jumper with 11 seconds left. Howard's final shot for the win was off the mark. Howard finished with 33 points, but missed the probable game winners in both regulation and OT. Attendance was a then-record 4065 at the McRena.
January 10, 2015: Detroit 74, Oakland 54. The Titans hammered the Grizz in Calihan. Trailing by a point with 8 minutes left in the first half, the Titans outscored Oakland 21-5 to end the half and coasted to an easy win. Freshman Paris Bass had 18. Attendance at Calihan: 6522
February 15, 2015: Oakland 83, Detroit 78. This time Oakland ended the first half with a 23-10 run to lead by 13 at the break. A 12-0 Titan run gave Detroit a 3 point lead with 6 minutes left in the game. Oakland responded with 6 straight. It remained a one possession game until the final 5 seconds. Attendance at the McRena was a record setting 4101.
January 16, 2016: Oakland 86, Detroit 82. Detroit led this one 60-59 about 7 minutes into the second half, but OU went on 12-0 run and the Titans couldn't catch up, although they closed to within 2 on a Josh McFolley layup with 28 seconds left. Bass and Jaleel Hogan led Detroit with 20. In an oddity, after this game OU had won 4 of 5 in the series, yet the Titans had outscored OU. Calihan attendance was 6125.
February 26, 2016: Oakland 108, Detroit 97. Kay Felder had a career high 16 assists, and just missed a triple double with 26 points and 9 rebounds. Oakland led most of the game, but the Titans were within 4 with 6 minutes left before OU pulled away. OU set another attendance record with 4114 in the 4000 seat O'Rena.
January 13, 2017: Detroit 93, Oakland 88. This was Jaleel Hogan's career night, with 39 points on 17-24 shooting and 5-6 from the line. He also had 11 rebounds. At first this game looked like more of the usual, with OU leading by 11 just before the break. Hogan began the comeback with a dunk before the first half buzzer. But the Titans didn't take the lead until a couple of Dre Black free throws with 5 minutes remaining, and finally got the lead for good on a Chris Jenkins jumper with 2:22 left. McFolley finished off the Grizzlies with 4 free throws in the final seconds. Yet a new record crowd—4123--packed the McRena.
February 10, 2017: Oakland 89, Detroit 80. This is the game where the rivalry really seemed to get out of hand. OU came into Calihan and blasted the Titans. Oakland lead by 18 at the break, and Detroit trailed by double digits until a feeble, too-little, too-late rally in the final minute. Attendance at Calihan was 6275.
January 20, 2018: Oakland 92, Detroit 86. Oakland won again in Calihan, and again the game was not as close as indicated by a respectable-looking final score. OU led by 21 at halftime and coasted until a furious Titan rally began with about 6 minutes left. Once more, too little, too late--a Corey Allen trey cut the margin to 4 with 14 seconds left, but Kendrick Nunn (38 points) hit free throws to wrap it up. Allen and Kameron Chatman each had 24 for the Titans. Perhaps tired of losing, but perhaps more due to bad weather, Calihan attendance slumped to 3257.
February 9, 2018, Oakland 87, Detroit 78. The Titans had their final lead at 51-50 five minutes into the second half, but from there OU ground out the win. Its fans getting bored with winning, OU had its lowest attendance of the series, 3664.
January 19, 2019: Oakland 79-73. Detroit entered the game in first place in the Horizon at 5-1, but Greg Kampe showed the league how to defend Antoine Davis. Davis scored 19 points on just 7-20 shooting. After the game's opening possession ended in a Chris Brandon layup, OU scored 10 straight and never trailed again. Davis had averaged 31 points in the first 6 Horizon games--he wouldn't score 31 in a game again all year. Attendance was 4125 in Calihan.
February 23, 2019: Oakland 95, Detroit 75. Another OU blowout before a record 4141 at the McRena. Oakland took the lead for good at 16:58 in the first half, and haven’t trailed the Titans at any point in a game since. Xavier Hill-Mais had 29 points for the winners. Antoine Davis led UD with 20, but was just 6-19 from the floor.
December 28, 2019: Oakland 78, Detroit 69. Oakland scored the game’s first 14 points, and that was pretty much that. A second half rally briefly got the Titans to within 8, but that was as close as they’d get after the opening blitz. Antoine Davis led the Titans with 24 points, mainly by going 12-12 from the line. He was 4-13 from the floor. Jordan Gorman had the game of his college career, finishing with 15 points (29% of his career D-1 total). Xaiver Hill-Mais led OU with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Attendance at the McRena was 3792.
January 31, 2020: Oakland 77, Detroit 64. This time Oakland scored just the 8 points of the game, and never trailed. Rashad Williams had 37 points, including 7 threes and 14-15 from the line. Antoine Davis led the Titans with 26 points and 6 assists. Attendance at Calihan dipped to just 2021, the lowest in series history. Years of losing—in general, and to Oakland in particular—will do that to you.
Quick Facts - Oakland's two worse defeats ever are to Detroit, in the 1977 and 1975 seasons. - In 4 games against Oakland, Mike Davis's Titan squads have led for a total of 2 minutes 16 seconds--at 2-0 in the first matchup of the 2018-19 season, after which they then gave up 10 straight points and never caught up; and at 2-0 and 4-2 in the second match-up that year, at which point they were outscored 21-5 and never caught up. As noted above, in last year's games the Titans fell behind 14-0 and 8-0 at the opening. Let's hope we come ready to play this time. - Five of the 6 largest home crowds in Oakland history are for games against the Titans, in 2014 (6), 2015 (5), 2016 (3), 2017 (2) , and 2019 (#1, at 4141).
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Post by udballer on Dec 26, 2020 16:06:19 GMT -5
Today's game on the radio?
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Post by Rogobob77 on Dec 26, 2020 16:12:37 GMT -5
Chew on this: The Titans haven't led Oakland in 117 minutes and 20 seconds of court time. That streak has ended quickly. Titans up 8-2 at first break.
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