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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:10:32 GMT -5
OverviewThis is a list of great Titan wins that previously contained in several threads. I've consolidated those threads into this one thread. For the original threads, which include lots of images of programs and such from these games, mainly provided by RogoBob but which cannot be transported to new threads, see these links: Overview: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/285/100-great-titan-victories-overview Games 91-100: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/286/great-wins-100-bonus-game. Games 81-90: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/287/great-titan-wins-81-90 Games 71-80: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/288/great-titan-wins-71-80 Games 61-70: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/289/great-titan-wins-61-70 Games 51-60: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/290/great-titan-wins-51-60 Games 41-50: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/291/great-titan-wins-41-50 Games 31-40: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/294/great-titan-wins-31-40 Games 21-30: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/294/great-titan-wins-21-30 Games 11-20: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/thread/294/great-titan-wins-11-20 Games 1- 10: udtitanbasketball.freeforums.net/post/2577/threadOriginally posted May 23, 2014.A few years ago at Detroittitanhoops.com I posted a list of 65 great Titan victories from the post-WWII era. Unfortunately, these were lost in one of the crashes of that Board. Fortunately, I had that list saved in Word format. I've decided to reproduce here so it is out there in the public realm. But I've expanded it to a full 100 wins, going back to the start of Titan basketball in the 1905-06 season, and I've reworked some of the rank order even within those post-WWII games. Over the next several days I'll be posting this updated list, with game commentary. A few notes: First, I've no set criteria for determining what qualify as great Titan wins. Roughly (but not entirely, definitively, or consistently) in order of importance, I was looking at the following criteria: 1. Quality of opponent - was this a big win over a top opponent? a ranked opponent? how highly ranked?; 2. Importance of victory - did this game matter in Titan basketball, or have some national impact to it? Was it a post-season tournament victory, a game that clinched a league title, a post-season bid, or a game that set Titan ball on a positive course? A game against a key rival? One thing folks will note is that several games come from the Motor City Tournament are included. From the 1950s into the early 1970s, there were very few Holiday tournaments, and the Motor City Tournament was a major seasonal event in college ball; 3. Was the victory a milestone in some other way, as in team or personal records set; 4. Quality of the game itself - was it an exciting game, or was there some other exceptional feature about it that make it worth mentioning. In selecting games, I've tried to be fair to every era, every decade. There are fewer games from the Titans' early years, though, because there were fewer important games - no conference titles, no national rankings, etc. And it should be obvious that I did not see the vast majority of these games, live or on television. So I've had to rely on news accounts to try to sense how important the win was seen at the time, how important the game was on the national stage. Worse, those news reports are spotty and sometimes just not there. More recent games provided a different challenge. For example, Detroit's victory over Akron in December of 2012 just didn't feel like a particularly significant win at the time. But Akron was a really good team - a top 50 team nationally in an era of over 350 D-I teams, MAC regular season and tournament champions, a team that won 19 in a row immediately after losing to Detroit. I tried to think "how would I have rated a similar victory over say, a similar quality Seton Hall team in say, 1963?" And I think the answer is "pretty high." Distance in time and the disparity we attach to the names (Seton Hall v. Akron) may warp our perspective. A lot of cool wins still get left out. For example, I had included in one draft list the Titans' January, 1964 115-43 win over Western Ontario. That game set a team single-game scoring record at the time, and a record for the largest margin of victory that still stands. But the more I thought about it, other than happening to roll up the score a bit more, how much does that game differ from slaughtering UM-Dearborn 106-51 in the fall of 2013? Not much. And although Detroit led the nation in scoring that year, we really weren't that good either - the Western Ontario win evened our record at 6-6 on the way to a 14-11 season. So in the end, despite its ongoing place in the record books, I left that Western Ontario massacre out.(But, if you must know Dick Dzik scored 30 points and 5 other Titans reached double figures in the win). I also left out a rollicking 123-110 win at Xavier the next year, the 3rd of 4 consecutive Detroit-Xavier games in which the teams combined for at least 200 points. That game also set a single season scoring record (since surpassed), and Xavier is, after all, a serious opponent, unlike outmanned Western Ontario. But Xavier wasn't very good that year (10-15), and in the end I left the game out, too. (Lou Hyatt led the Titans with a career-high 35 points). Was it an impressive win? Yes. As impressive a win as beating Akron in December of 2012? Probably not. Also, remember that this is a list of wins. Now and then I'd think, "Oh, I left out game X," and then remember that we lost game X. Hence, the list doesn't include big Titan historical games such as the #12 Titans against #1 Michigan in the Sweet 16 of the 1977 NCAA tournament, or the great Hersey Hawkins/Archie Tullos shootout against 20-4 Bradley in February of 1988 (a 122-107 Bradley win with the All-Americans Hawkins and Tullos scoring 63 and 49 points, respectively. Hawkins broke Oscar Robertson's MVC record in the game, while Tullos merely set a Titan single game mark that still stands). I suspect that the first posts - ranking games 91-100 and 81-90- will be less interesting than later posts, which, obviously, list bigger, more impressive wins. So if the first installment or two seems a touch "meh," please come back to review games ranked higher in the list. I hope that this list will bring back some memories, educate many about some of the history of Titan ball, and just be fun. Please feel free to comment, including to criticize the ranking order. But don't be too harsh - if I did this exercise again in 6 months I'd most certainly change many of the rank orders, and there's no real right or wrong answers. I do feel pretty good that most fans will recognize the Top 10 games as better/bigger wins than games 30 to 40, and games 30 to 40 as better/bigger than 90-100, and so on. Enjoy.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:11:01 GMT -5
Originally Posted May 24, 2014
First installment of great Titan wins, games 91-100.
Bonus Game. January (?), 1906: Detroit 18, Collegiate 7. Some time during the 1905-06 school year, probably in January 1906, a basketball squad representing the University of Detroit defeated a team called simply "Collegiate" in the first UD game ever. I suppose that somewhere in the athletic department or university archives there is more on this game, but I couldn't find a thing. It struck me that the game deserved mention, but where and how would one rank it among Titan wins? "Collegiate" could have been a local club team, a pick up squad of students from other area colleges, a high school - colleges and universities in those days played all such teams. The Titans' other games that year included wins over Delray High School, and a team called "Cleary" (probably a team from Cleary Business College in Washtenaw County), but the Detroiters dropped their fourth and final game, 7-6 to the "Flint Mutes" (presumably from the Michigan School for the Deaf in Flint). Titan basketball-or Tiger basketball, as it was then called, with Detroit not picking up the name "Titans" for another decade plus- was underway.
100. Feb. 1, 2003: Detroit 86, W. Kentucky 65. After being ranked 20th in the preseason polls, it had been a disappointing year for Western Kentucky, which brought a 12-7 record to Calihan Hall at the start of February. Detroit was all over the Hilltoppers from the opening tip, hitting 14 of our first 18 shots from the floor and taking a 14 point lead before the 10 minute mark of the first half. Leading 49-31 at the break, Detroit opened the second half with a long three pointer by All American Willie Green and a jump shot from Rulon Harris to up the lead to 24. The Hilltoppers never got than 13 after that as the Titans coasted to the win. Green popped in 31 points, Harris 12, and Willie Wallace 15. The loss in Detroit marked the low point of the Hilltoppers’ season – they would go on to win the Sunbelt Conference regular season and tournament championships, and in fact would not lose again until falling to Illinois in the NCAA Tournament. The win was the Titans fourth in a row, the first three coming on the road, but unfortunately UD was unable to capitalize on the rout of a good Western Kentucky squad, and dropped three of their next five games, en route to an 18-12 finish.
99. Jan. 30, 1960, Detroit 82, Central Michigan 62. The Titans ran their record to 14-2 and advanced to #14 in the AP poll with this thrashing of Central Michigan. The game makes the list, however, mainly because Detroit’s sophomore star Dave DeBusschere had one of the biggest nights of his collegiate career, scooping in 39 rebounds – to this day the 6th highest total in NCAA history. DeBusschere added 38 points as well.
98. Feb. 25, 1939: Detroit 40, Xavier 37. Bob Calihan scored 19 as the Titans rallied from a 10 point halftime deficit. The victory avenged an early season loss to a good (13-7) Xavier team.
97. Jan. 2, 1956. Detroit 106, @ Bradley 91. This game was the Titans’ first 100 point game against what would today be classified as D-I competition (the Titans had scored 101 points in a December, 1953 victory over Youngstown, and 109 earlier in the 1955-56 season in beating Baldwin-Wallace). The 1956 Bradley Braves were one of the school’s weakest teams in the era – the only Bradley team between the 1954 and 1962 seasons not to either make the final 8 of the NCAA tournament or crack the Top 5 in the AP poll. But they were off to a good start at 7-2 when Detroit visited Peoria for the MVC season opener. The Titans scored 46 of their points from the foul line (in 68 attempts), with 5 Bradley players fouling out of the game. Not that Bradley didn’t get to the line, too, attempting 51 free throws, but making just 25. Bradley also fired up 94 shots from the floor. Bill Ebben led Detroit with 28 points. This was the most points ever scored against a Bradley team until 1976.
96. Jan. 5, 1946: Detroit 40, Toledo 34. Coach Harold Anderson turned Toledo into a national power after becoming head coach before the 1934-35 season. Under Anderson and his successors, Toledo was 343-133 record (72%) in the twenty years from 1935-1954, with NIT bids in 1942 and 1943. The Titans had a good team in 1946, led by war veteran Art Stolkey and Canadian Gino Sovran, but Sovran was out with a sprained ankle. The Titans entered this game at 3-1 on the way to a 7-1 start; Toledo, featuring future Detroit Piston coach Paul Seymour and 6-9 Sylvester “Stretch” Goedde, who pitched for the Toledo Mud Hens while attending Toledo, was 6-0 on the way to an 11-1 start. The Rockets led by as many as 10 in the early going, but the Titans fought back to close to within 3 at the half, and gradually ground the Rockets down in the second half. Ed Bartz led the Titans with 10 points, inluding 5 in the crucial rally late in the first half; and Stolkey added 7. Seymour led Toledo with 9. The Rockets would gain revenge later in the year in Toledo, rallying from 14 down to win 57-50, and finish the season 20-7. The Titans finished 15-8.
95. Jan. 24, 1959. Detroit 85, Bowling Green 79. In the days before freshman eligibility, a mediocre Titans varsity spent most of the 1959 season watching Dave DeBusschere star on the freshman team. The season did have one big moment, however, when the Titans upset an NCAA bound, MAC champion Bowling Green. Detroit overcame a 37 point performance by BGSU All-American Jim Darrow.
94. Feb. 26, 1969: Detroit 107, Canisius 88. Spencer Haywood closed out his brilliant but all too brief Titan career by scoring a school record 45 points and hauling in 25 rebounds as the Titans routed Canisius is the season finale. Haywood’s big night broke the single game scoring record held jointly by two other Titan All-Americans, Dave DeBusschere and Dorie Murrey. Haywood also tied DeBusschere’s mark for field goals in a season with 288. (Both records would be broken during the 1978-79 season by Terry Duerod.) Adding to the glow, the win allowed Coach Bob Calihan, the Titans’ all-time winningest coach, to finish his 21 year head coaching career on a high note, though sadly it wasn’t recognized at the moment, as the Titans hoped to get an NIT bid (they didn’t), and it was only later that the University decided to force Calihan out as head coach. It is perhaps fitting that Calihan, Detroit’s first first-team All-American, and Haywood, the Titans last (to date) first-team All American, ended their Titan careers together. It was also a big night for Jerry Swartzfager, who scored 17 to end his Titan years with exactly 1000 points, the 13th Titan to reach that milestone.
93. Dec. 15, 1990: Detroit 85, Eastern Michigan 81. In 1991, the Titans were nearing the end of the worst extended period of Titan basketball. From 1981 through 1992, the Titans had just one winning season in 12 years. This long slump came at the worst possible time, as college basketball was undergoing a major shakeout with high-majors separating themselves from mid-majors, and the Titans were shaken down to the ranks of mid-majors, from which we have never fully recovered. One of the few bright spots in this long decade was this win over what is probably EMU’s best team ever, a 26-7 squad that reached the NCAA Sweet 16. Detroit entered the game at winless in 4 attempts; EMU was 4-2 with a 2 point road loss to Michigan’s Fab 5. The Titans have played Eastern 73 times, more than any other school except for Loyola, Marquette, and Xavier. It’s been a lopsided rivalry, with the Titans winning 58 times. But this may have been the most impressive of all those victories.
92. Dec. 5, 2011: Detroit 69, St. John’s 63. Ray McCallum scored 21 and Chase Simon 20 as the Titans dedicated Dick Vitale Court in style with a 69-63 win over St. John’s. The Titans led for all of 21 seconds in the game, after which they reeled off 14 straight points to lead 32-21 at halftime. St. John’s made three second half runs, closing once to within 4 and twice to within 5, but that was the closest they could get. This wasn’t a very good St. John’s team – they entered the game 4-4 and would finish 13-19- but after an authentically touching opening talk by Vitale emotion was so high in Calihan that the student section stormed the court after the game.
91. Dec. 15, 2012, Detroit 80, Akron 73. Akron scored the first 10 points of this game and led most of the way. But the Titans fought back and finally took the lead for good after Jason Calliste was fouled on a three point attempt with 4:41 to play. Calliste hit all three free throws to put Detroit ahead 69-68 and Detroit closed out the game on a 17-5 run. Ray McCallum’s 21 points led all scorers. After dropping this one in Detroit, Akron won 19 straight on the way to a 26-7 season and MAC regular season and tournament championships.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:15:53 GMT -5
Originally posted May 25, 2014.
90. Feb. 20, 1999: Detroit 78, Cleveland State 66. Rashad Phillips scored 24 as the Titans rallied from a halftime deficit to clinch their only outright Horizon League regular season championship to date.
89, Feb. 27, 1960: Detroit 101, Seton Hall 77. The Titans solidified their chances of their first ever post-season bid-which they got- with a late February thumping of a good (16-7) Seton Hall team. The Pirates had not given up more than 83 points all season. The Titans scored the game's first 8 points and were never headed. Dave DeBusschere had 37 points and 17 rebounds, and Charlie North and Ray Albee added 23 and 20 points, respectively.
88. Dec. 1, 1977: Detroit 76, @ Toledo 64. Terry Duerod hit 12 of 14 shots from the floor including 10 straight at one point, as Detroit won at Toledo to launch the highly anticipated 1977-78 season. The Titans shot 56% for the night in a convincing win over a very good Rocket club that would finish the season 21-6. Duerod finished with 25 points, while Kevin Kaseta and Terry Tyler each added 13.
87. Feb. 16, 2013: Detroit 84, @ Valparaiso 74. Trailing by 15 midway through the second half, the Titans went on a 36-11 run to wipe out the league leading Crusaders in Valparaiso. Jason Calliste and Nick Minnerath each scored 21 and Evan Bruinsma had a double-double in the Titan victory. The game was a near mirror image of an earlier Valpo win in Detroit, in which the Crusaders rallied from 20 down in the second half to nip the Titans 89-88. The Crusaders would finish 26-8 after losing to Michigan State in the NCAAs, while the Titans settled for the NIT.
86. Dec. 6, 1997: Detroit 77, Western Michigan 59. The Titans used a blizzard of three pointers to crush the previously unbeaten Broncos in Detroit. The Titans hit 56% from behind the arc, including 5 consecutive threes in a six-minute span of the second half to blow the game open. Derrick Hayes had 17 points and Brian Alexander 10 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit. In the Titans’ long rivalry with WMU, this was one of the most impressive Titan wins. The Broncos would join the Titans as at-large NCAA selections at the end of the year, beating Clemson in the first round.
85. Dec. 21, 1978: Detroit 76, @ Iona 72. The Titans, led by Terry Duerod and Earl Cureton, defeated Jimmy Valvano's Iona squad, led by Jeff Ruland, in a bruising match-up in Madison Square Garden. The Titans led by as much as 14 in the second half before a 19-4 Iona run gave the Gaels a 70-67 lead with six minutes to play. But Terry Duerod scored 6 points, including a pair of key free throws with 22 seconds to play, as the Titans finished with a 9-2 spurt to put down the Gaels. Duerod led Detroit with 28, while Ruland had 22 for Iona. The game was part of a Garden double header with Louisiana State-Army in the first game. Iona would finish 23-6, losing in the NCAA tournament to eventual Final 4 team Penn. The Titans lost to Lamar in the NCAAs.
84. Feb 1, 1962: Detroit 82, @ Michigan 74. Unlike Michigan State, which was for years a regular on the Titan schedule (the Spartans have played UD 61 times), Michigan has always ducked the Titans. The teams first met in 1919, with Michigan winning 39-18, and did not play again until Christmas of 1958, when Michigan beat UD 93-68 in the finals of the Motor City Tournament. The schools met for only the third time in 1962, as the Titans travelled over to Ann Arbor and gained their first win ever over the Wolverines. UD was fast out of the gate, racing to a 43-29 halftime lead and coasting home. Dave DeBusschere led the Titans with 23 points and the same number of rebounds. This was not a good Michigan team, finishing 7-17, but it was still a most satisfying win for the NCAA tournament-bound Titans.
*83. Jan. 28, 1920: Detroit 30 39, Toledo Albion 3. The Titans held a good (8-3) Toledo team to just 3 points, the fewest allowed in Titan history. [*Note: The Titans record books list this score of 30-3. Toledo's record books list the score as 30-8. Shortly after publishing this, I uncovered game reports in the archives of the Varsity News, which list the score of this game as 31-8. However, the VN also lists the Titans as beating Albion 39-3 in the 1920 season on Feb. 7 (the Titans' official record books list that score as 39-8). The Varsity News reports that Walter "Tillie" Voss led the Titans with 12 points in the Toledo game; he also led the Titans against Albion with 10 points in the first half. Albion trailed 25-1 at the half and the margin grew to 39-1 before Albion scored a basket in the final minute. Albion finished the season 3-13. Their on-line resources do not list a score for this game. One of these games - I'll go with the Varsity News - is the best defensive effort in Titan history!]
82. Dec. 28, 1938: Detroit 25, Santa Clara 23. Santa Clara, a major western power of the time, launched a long Midwestern road trip over the 1938 Christmas holiday break with a game at Detroit. Both teams started slow, leading to an 8-8 halftime score. Santa Clara then led most of the second half, and was up 23-19 with three minutes to play. But Bob Calihan hit a pair of baskets to tie it up, and Jack Liana hit a set shot with 20 seconds to play to hand Santa Clara its first loss of the year in 5 games. The Broncos would eventually finish at 15-5, winning the Northern California Conference.
81. Dec. 29, 1956: Detroit 94, Northwestern 84. UD upset Northwestern to win the Motor City Tournament as Bill Ebben scored 40 points. (The Titans' official Media Guide lists this as the first game in which a Titan ever scored 40 points; however, the 1953 edition of the Tower Yearbook claims that Guy Sparrow scored 42 that year against John Carroll.) Mike Walsh added 20 for the Titans, who raced to a big early lead and held off repeated Wildcat rallies in the second half.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:18:16 GMT -5
Originally posted May 27, 2014.
80. Dec. 3, 1943: Detroit 42, Naval Procurement 8. Military base teams were common opponents during the war years, and some were quite good. According to the Varsity News, due to the manpower shortage created by the war, the Titans did not play the "usual" doubleheader with a freshman game first. Instead, a dance band was hired to round out the evening for the Titans' season opener. The band was greeted with enthusiasm, but Coach Lloyd Brazil noted that “there was a deficiency of girls,” which he attributed in part to competition from “Coed Theater Night.” As for the basketball game, played before some 800 fans, the Titans held the naval team without a field goal for the first 30 minutes in the romp. The Titans had led the nation in scoring defense in the 1942-43 campaign, and certainly started strong in that category in 1943-44. This is the last time the Titans have held an opponent to single digits. Joey Smith and Dan O’Neill led the Titan rout with 6 points each.
79. Dec. 1, 1955. Detroit 77, Notre Dame 71. Another season opener. The Titans entered the 1955-56 season picked to finish last in the MVC, and opened the season against Notre Dame, which had beaten the Titans 24 times in 24 games between the Catholic rivals. But the Titans made the front page of sports sections around the country on December 2 after upsetting the Irish behind Bill Ebben’s 32 points. Ebben scored 22 of his points in the first half as the Titans raced to a 48-33 lead, shooting 56% in the half. After the game Coach Calihan said “we’re not a great team, but this was one of our greatest victories.” The upset was not all that it at first appeared - Notre Dame turned out not to be that good in 1956, finishing 9-15 for its first losing season in 34 years. The Titans, meanwhile, exceeded expectations, going 13-12. But they still finished last in the Valley at 3-9. Every Valley team had an overall winning record that year. Whatever-our first victory over the Irish after so much futility was undoubtedly still meaningful for the Titan faithful.
78. Feb. 16, 1997: Detroit 72, Green Bay 36 Green Bay had played in three straight NCAA tournaments from 1994-96, as champs of the Summit, of the MCC, and finally as an at-large qualifier from the MCC. The Phoenix slumped to .500 in the 1997 campaign, however, but this thrashing from the Titans was certainly their low point. For the Titans, this is the fewest points allowed since 35 to Chicago State in 1971; fewest to D-I opponent since defeating Michigan State 35-34 in 1949 season. The Titans forced 21 turnovers, outrebounded the Phoenix 43-17 (including just 3 offensive rebounds for Green Bay), and limited Green Bay to 8 foul shots (making 4). It was 36-11 at halftime. Both teams started cold, with the game tied at 2-2 after 6 ½ minutes. The Titans then went on a 21-0 run to lead 23-2 with 6:39 left in the half. During the run, the Titans forced 6 turnovers while allowing Green Bay just 5 shots. The margin grew to 37 points late in the second half before Green Bay scored 7 points in the final 3 minutes. EJ Haralson led Detroit with 16, and Leon Derricks added 15.
77. Feb. 19, 1956: Detroit 72, Marquette 71. Trailing by 9 against a Marquette squad that had been ranked as high as 13th nationally earlier the season, the Titans outscored the Warriors 12-2 over the game’s final 6 minutes to claim the upset. Ralph Goldstein keyed start of the rally with a basket and a pair of free throws, and then sank two more free throws late for the winning margin. For the game, Bill Ebben led the Titans with 21, and Goldstein hit for 15. Marquette rebounded and went on to the NIT.
76. Feb. 25, 1989: Detroit 74, St. Louis 72. The 1989 Titans were one of the worst teams in Titan history. With the lone exception of the 1922 Titans (2-13), the 7-win Titans of 1987 and 1988 featured the worst W-L records of any Titan teams. The mess inherited by new coach Ricky Byrdsong before the 1989 season was not going to be solved overnight, and the Titans straggled through the 1989 season, losing 12 straight after an opening win over Rice. The Titans began to show some signs of life in early January, beating Bowling Green 68-62 behind an 11-0 run to start the second half. A week later, before 6600 fans at Calihan, the Titans ambushed MCC favorite Xavier – a team led by Tyrone Hill, Stan Kimbrough, and Derek Strong- by a score of 89-80. But the Titans would continue to struggle, losing a rematch to Xavier by 22, dropping a pair of lopsided games to Evansville, and suffering an embarrassing non-conference loss to Florida International.
In late February the Titans, 5-20, hosted the St. Louis Billikens, a strong team featuring Anthony Bonner, Roland Gray, and Monroe Douglass. The Bills entered the game at 21-7, having won 6 in a row and 9 of 10. St. Louis was thinking it was in contention for an at-large berth in the NCAA if it didn’t win the MCC Conference tournament. Trailing Evansville by a game in the MCC standings, it was also looking for an easy win over Detroit to set up a showdown for the regular season championship when it would host the Purple Aces in the season finale one week later. St. Louis had beaten the Titans by 30 points in January.
This time, the Billikens were sluggish from the start, but nonetheless rolled up a 38-29 halftime lead. The Titans, however, played truly inspired ball in the second half, shooting an amazing 73.9% from the floor. The Titans’ 6-7 soph Darrien McKinney was unstoppable in the second half, finishing with 21 points and 13 rebounds. His inside game was complimented by the outside shooting of guard Billy Wood, who also hit for 21 points. Still, a little 5-0 run by the Billikens gave St. Louis a 1 point lead with 10 seconds to play. Rather than call time out, Byrdsong elected to let the Titans play. “I just motioned to Calvin [Winfield] to go with it," said Byrdsong after the game. "I wanted to take our chances scrambling around and hoped that we'd get lucky." Winfield drove the floor, thought about taking it to the hoop, but pulled up and nailed the trey with 3 seconds on the clock.
St. Louis would go on to beat Evansville in that season finale to finish second in the conference, but settle for the NIT after losing to Xavier in the conference semi-finals. In the NIT they would beat Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Michigan State en route to a 2nd place finish, 27-10 overall. The Titans would finish with a third straight 7-win season and suffer through three more losing seasons before going 15-12 in Byrdsong’s final season with the team. But if this game didn’t exactly turn Titan hoops around, it still has to score as one of the Titans’ biggest upsets, and one of the most exciting games at Calihan during the dismal "long decade" of Titan ball from 1981-1992.
75. Dec. 21, 1964: Detroit 75, Colorado State 73. John Watson’s desperation 40 foot jumper bounced high off the rim, and with the buzzer already sounded, the ball dropped straight down through the nets to give the Titans an exciting win over an NCAA bound Colorado State squad.
The talented Titans were sputtering early in the 1964-65 season, and entered this game at 4-3, with losses to Purdue, Indiana, and Notre Dame, and unimpressive wins over Western Ontario, Christian Brothers, John Carroll, plus a rollicking 123-110 win over Xavier that set a school record for points scored. Colorado State was in the midst of a span of 5 post-season bids in 6 years, and the Titans needed to start getting wins, especially over good teams.
In this game, the Titans blew an early 14 point lead and trailed by 9 with under seven minutes to play, but rallied behind Lou Hyatt, who hit back-to-back jumpers to tie the game with 1:28 to play. That set the stage for Watson’s big shot, his only bucket of the half. Dorie Murrey led the Titans with 21 and Hyatt added 18. Colorado State finished 16-8 and returned to the NCAA as an at-large selection. The Titans went on to the NIT.
74. Feb. 21, 1942: Detroit 39, Wayne State 21. The Titans left their usual home at the Armory to try out playing Wayne at Olympia Stadium. This game drew over 7000, helping to convince Titan officials that a major basketball facility could be supported in Detroit, eventually leading to the construction of the Memorial Building after the war. Wayne in the 1940s was not merely a local opponent, but a power in its own right. This 12-3 WSU team beat Oregon and Cincinnati during the season. The Titans came away with a surprisingly easy victory over the Tartars, but unfortunately the game cost them leading scorer Charley O'Brien for the remainder of the season. O'Brien broke his leg in the second half. Without O'Brien the Titans lost their final three games of the season, at Marquette (by 4), at Loyola (by 3), and against Notre Dame (by 2), to finish 13-8.
73. Dec. 14, 1996: Detroit 86, Michigan State 84 (3OT). EJ Haralson scored his only points of the game on a layup at the buzzer ending the third overtime as UD beat MSU at Calihan in one of the most exciting games of the 61-game series between the Titans and Spartans. Before Haralson's shot, it was night of heroics for the Spartans’ Ray Weathers. At the close of a second half that featured 13 lead changes and 6 ties, Weathers sent the game into OT with a pair of free throws with 14 seconds to play. Weather then hit two free throws to tie the game at the end of the second OT. Finally, Weathers nailed a three pointer to tie the game with 8 seconds left in the third OT. But the Spartans lagged on defense and Haralson beat Antonio Smith to the basket for the game winner. There were plenty of Titan heroes besides Haralson. Leon Derricks led the Titans with 23 points and 17 rebounds, while Derrick Hayes added 22 points and Brian Alexander had 15 points and 9 rebounds. Little used Terrence Porter played just 3 minutes and took one shot, but it was a big one, a three-pointer with 1:18 left in the third OT to give UD a 4 point lead. And Jermaine Jackson contributed 11 points, 7 assists and 6 steals. Michigan State would finish the year, Tom Izzo's second, at 17-12, and Detroit finished at 16-13.
72. Nov. 30, 1968: #18 Detroit 105, Aquinas 40. It wasn't the opponent, or even the lopsided score, but the hopes that this game gave rise to that rank it so high. Spencer Haywood’s much anticipated career opened with a smashing (literally) victory over outmatched Aquinas College. With Detroit ahead 105-40 and six and a half minutes left to play, Haywood smashed home a dunk shot with such force that it shattered the glass backboard. Mercifully, the clubs agreed to simply call the game, rather than leave poor Aquinas to muddle through another six minutes after a long delay to replace the board (or worse, calling the game a forfeit by the Titans). Haywood’s dunk was illegal under college rules at the time – Haywood said he did it to avoid being undercut by an Aquinas player while going in for a layup. No one protested the dunk – Aquinas was undoubtedly glad to get off the court.
The Titans entered the season ranked 18th in the AP pre-season poll, a first for UD, on the strength of Haywood’s promise. After Lew Alcindor and Elvin Hayes boycotted the Olympic games, Haywood had led the young American Olympic team to a gold medal, topping the team in scoring and rebounding and knocking down 23 points in the gold medal game despite a case of stomach flu. Olympic coach Hank Iba proclaimed, “Haywood could become the best basketball player there has ever been.”
The Aquinas game marked a stunning major college debut for Detroit’s Olympic hero, who scored 36 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in the game (why he was still in the game at the point of his dunk is a question for the late Coach Bob Calihan). In the process, Haywood alone matched Aquinas’s total for field goals. Calihan drolly stated after the game, “he performed as well as we thought he would. He’ll be better against better opponents.” Opening night suggested that it would indeed be a lively season in Detroit.
71. Feb. 14, 1928: Detroit 16, Loyola (IL) 13 (OT). The Titans have played our Jesuit brothers at Loyola of Chicago 121 times, more than any other school, with Loyola leading the series 64-57. Somewhat surprisingly, though, the teams have played very few memorable games. The two schools have shown a remarkable ability to keep out of each other’s way. When Detroit was strong in the 1990s and the Ray McCallum era, Loyola was weak. When Loyola’s Alfredrick Hughes teams were nationally ranked in the 1980s, Detroit was struggling. It was Detroit’s turn in the 1970s as Loyola hit hard times. The teams had simultaneous up years in the early 1960s, but Loyola won meetings in both 1961, upsetting the Titans in Chicago 83-82, and in 1962, when they beat the NCAA bound Titans on their way to a 23-4 season and an NIT berth. Both teams were strong in the late 1930s and again in the late 1940s, but didn’t play each other in some of those years, notably 1938, 1939, and 1950. There have been remarkably few notable upsets in the series.
One of the few Detroit victories that stands out, then, is this game from 1928. A powerful Rambler squad, with wins over Oregon State, Marquette, Michigan State, St. Louis and Illinois under its belt, entered the game at 12-2. The Titans came in at 7-1. Before a “packed crowd” at the Armory, the Titans led 9-5 at the half, but Loyola tied the game at 13 all at the end of regulation. Loyola made a basket for the win at the buzzer, but the refs ruled the shot too late, prompting a spirited argument by the Loyola coaches. In the OT, the Titans held Loyola scoreless and so won their 7th consecutive game. Lloyd Brazil led the Titans with 6 points. Unfortunately, the Titans lost to Michigan State (which had dealt the Titans their earlier loss) and Lombard College in their next two games, and later lost a rematch to Loyola. The Titans did score late season wins over DePaul and Dayton to finish at 11-4, their best winning percentage since the undefeated 1913 season. Loyola finished 16-4 (including a pair of wins over Lombard and one over MSU).
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:19:10 GMT -5
More Great Titan wins:
70. Dec. 30, 1972: Detroit 75, Massachusetts 59. Taking on the eventual Yankee Conference Champs in the finals of the Motor City Tournament, the Titans trailed 33-26 at the half. UD came out firing in the second half, however, shooting 54% while stifling the Minutemen on the defensive end. Owen Wells led the Titans with 25 points and 17 rebounds, while Preston Pace added 20 and 10. In the last year of the Jim Harding reign, the Titans were quite competitive, finishing 16-9, but fan interest had bottomed out. The Motor City Tournament drew just 1662 as the Titans beat Denver on the first night, despite the presence of EMU in the first game. Attendance for the finals was just 1787. Dick Vitale always said he was told when hired 4 months later that his job was to "get butts in the seats," though my guess is that it wasn't framed quite that way. UMass was a good team that finished 20-7.
69. January 5, 1986: Detroit 77, Iowa St. 67. Greg Wendt scored 20 as the Titans soundly defeated Iowa State’s eventual Sweet 16 club. Detroit took the lead at 14-12 and never trailed again, despite Jeff Granger’s 25 points for the Cyclones.
68. Feb. 14, 1985: Detroit 68, Dayton 67. In one of the most exciting games in the long Dayton rivalry, Keith Gray hit a baseline jumper to pull the Titans to within one point with 8 seconds left. Greg Wendt fouled Dayton's Damon Goodwin after the inbounds, and Goodwin missed the front end of a one and one. Wendt grabbed the rebound, dribbled the court, and hit a 24 foot bomb at the buzzer for the win. Wendt led the Titans with 19 points With the win over NCAA-bound Dayton, the Titans liked their chances for a post-season bid, especially after beating #4 Memphis two weeks later, but the 16-12 Titans were snubbed by the NIT.
67. Jan. 17, 1961: Detroit 71, Dayton 57. Dayton held Dave DeBusschere to just 8 points, but Charlie North hit for 23 as the Titans easily vanquished 9-2 Dayton. Both teams would eventually make the 12 team NIT field, where both would lose to Holy Cross, Detroit in the first round and Dayton in the semi-finals.
66. Feb. 17, 1942: Detroit 39, @ Michigan State 37. From the Associated Press, Feb. 17, 1942. “Michigan State College’s home court invincibility was denied by an aggressive University of Detroit quintet which set the Spartans down with a 39-37 defeat last night. … Detroit’s superiority was far greater than indicated by the score… .” For the Titans, Bob Brice led the scoring with 13, but it was Art Stolkey who hit what proved to be the game winner with 90 seconds to play. Joe Gerard did set a new record for most career points for the Spartans in the game. The Spartans would finish 15-6, including 13-2 at East Lansing. The Titans finished the season at 13-8.
65. Nov. 24, 1978: Detroit 67, Toledo 64. The Titans opened the season with a win over eventual MAC Champ, #19 year end, Sweet 16 Rockets. Trailing 60-53 with 8:40 to play, the Titans held Toledo scoreless for the next 6:53 to take charge. Jerry Davis finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds, and Earl Cureton added 12 points and 10 rebounds. This cut Toledo's lead in the long rivalry to 17-16.
64. February 22, 1921: Detroit 37, Niagara 23. In the early 1920s Niagara emerged as an early eastern power in college basketball. Over the 6 seasons from 1918 through 1923, the Purple Eagles recorded 70 wins and just 18 losses. Niagara clobbered Detroit 27-13 on February 5 in Niagara. But the Titans roared back with an equally impressive win in Detroit 17 days later, basically reversing the score. The Tigers (as the Titans were then known) took control early as Center Walter Voss scored the game’s first 6 points, and led 21-12 at the half. After that Niagara never challenged. Voss led the Titans with 10 points on the night. After this game Niagara won 6 straight to close out the season at 15-4, and after a one point loss in their 1921-22 opener, won another 16 straight.
63. December 4, 1998: Detroit 49, Gonzaga 48. Detroit and Gonzaga met in the opening round of the Hawkeye Invitational in December, 1998, as two of the nation’s better mid-major programs. The Titans had upset St. John’s in the NCAA Tournament the prior spring, and were the Horizon Conference favorite. For its part, Gonzaga was not yet the monster mid-major it would become. The Zags had still never won an NCAA game, and indeed had appeared in the tourney only once in its 55 years of NCAA basketball. But Gonzaga was coming off a successful 1998 season, in which it had won 24 games and the WCC regular season title, only to be relegated to the NIT after falling to San Francisco in the WCC conference tourney. The Bulldogs had won 20 or more games in 5 of the prior 7 seasons, and were clearly a program on the rise. The game marked a chance to impress the NCAA and poll voters, with the winner getting a further opportunity to shine against host Iowa in the final. Detroit entered the game at 4-1, its record marred only by a loss at Michigan. Gonzaga entered at 3-2, its losses on the road at Kansas and Purdue.
The two clubs were also two of the nation’s best defensive teams, and it showed, The first half was a low scoring, back and forth affair, ending with Detroit up 27-24. But Gonzaga started the second half with a 15-2 run, spurred by four 3 pointers, to take a 39-29 lead with 15:28 to play. The Titan defense, including 4 players who would earn Horizon Conference All-Defensive honors during their careers (Jermaine Jackson, Rashad Phillips, Bacari Alexander, and Darius Belin), clamped down. UD held Gonzaga to just six points in the next 12 minutes, closing the gap to 45-44. A three pointer by Quentin Hall gave Gonzaga a four point lead with just over three minutes to play, but baskets by Jackson and Alexander tied the game at 48 with 1:25 remaining. Neither team made a field goal after that – indeed, the only point came when Alexander hit 1 of 2 free throws with 52 seconds on the clock. Gonzaga missed two foul shots in the final 18 seconds as the Titans held on. Jackson led the Titans with 15 points, but it was Alexander who took over the game in the final minutes. In what may have been the finest game of his career, Alexander scored 10 of his 12 points in the final 6:51. Casey Calvary led Gonzaga with 10.
Although Detroit lost to Iowa by one the next night, both teams would go on to win their conference regular season and tournament titles, and pull first round NCAA upsets, with Detroit beating UCLA and Gonzaga knocking off Minnesota. But from there, the fortunes of these two Jesuit colleges deviated. Detroit got mauled by Ohio State in the second round of the 1999 tournament, while Gonzaga made that year’s tournament its coming out party, advancing to the Elite 8 with wins over Stanford and Florida, before a dramatic loss to Connecticut. Detroit did not returned to the NCAA for 13 years, while Gonzaga made 13 consecutive NCAA appearances. Why not us?
62. Jan. 27, 1939: Detroit 33, Butler 24. Bob Calihan scored all 16 of Detroit’s first half points as the Titans never trailed in a battle of major Midwest independents.
Butler was a major basketball power in the 1920s and 1930s. With the NIT and NCAA tournaments not beginning until 1938 and 1939, respectively, Butler lays claim to National Championships for 1924 and 1929, the former by virtue of defeating the Kansas City Athletic Club in the AAU National Championships (college teams made the finals of that tournament 10 times between 1915 and 1934), and in the latter by virtue of the Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia, which used to award a trophy for the national champions in football and basketball (sort of like the Heisman Trophy, which is awarded by the Downtown Athletic Club). Butler briefly joined the Missouri Valley Conference for the 1933 and 1934 seasons, and won the league title in both. In any case, beating a good, Tony Hinkle-coached Butler team in the pre-WWII era was always an accomplishment. Though Butler never led, the game was close for three quarters and change. Butler tied the game just once, at 20-20, but the Titans finally pulled away by outscoring the Dogs 9-2 in the final six minutes. Calihan led all scorers with 18. Butler would finish out the year at 14-6, the Titans 15-5.
61. Feb. 3, 1968: Detroit 82, Notre Dame 79. The Titans trailed most of the afternoon before an 8-0 run sparked by a pair of Rapid Ralph Brisker baskets gave Detroit its first lead with under 5 minutes to play in the second half. The Titans hung on to defeat the Irish. Jerry Swartzfager's 23 points led Detroit, Larry Salci added 20 and Brisker 18. Notre Dame would finish 21-9 and in third place in the NIT. This is probably the Titans most impressive win over Notre Dame.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:21:33 GMT -5
Originally posted May 30, 2014.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 29, 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.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:22:41 GMT -5
Originally posted June 1, 2014.
Games 41-50
50. February 1, 1930: Detroit 24, Marquette 23 (3 OT). The Detroit/Marquette series began in the 1922 season, when a strong Marquette squad (15-5) drilled Detroit's worst team ever (2-13) by a 38-22 score. The two teams would play 86 more times through the 1991 season, after which Marquette left the MCC and ended the rivalry. The teams played twice in the 1922-23 season, with Marquette winning both, then not again until 1929, when they played a home and home, Marquette winning twice. Marquette also won the first of two scheduled games in the 1930 season, 31-20 in Milwaukee. The return game in Detroit, 11 days later, marked both the Titans' first win in the series, and the first of many truly great games between the two Jesuit schools.
This game was close all the way, with the leading changing hands several times (or about as often as it could in a game featuring just 44 points). Marquette led 11-10 at the half and was leading in the final minute of the game, but Cy Aaron and Lloyd Brazil hit late foul shots to force the game into overtime. Neither team scored in the first overtime period. A Leslie Butcher basket gave the Titans a quick lead in the second extra period, but Marquette tied it on the next possession and the teams were scoreless the rest of that period. In the third OT, Aaron hit a free throw at just under three minutes, and neither team scored again as the Titans claimed the 24-23 victory. Butcher led the Titans in scoring with 6 points, and Aaron 5 for Detroit. But the Varsity News gave the most credit to Brazil, who added 4 points and who was, in the News' words, "all over the floor" and "played a great defensive game," holding Marquette captain Jim O'Donnell to one point. Marquette coach Cord Lipe played his starting 5 the entire game.
Detroit and Marquette played home and home series the next 3 years, with Marquette winning all 6 games. The rivalry then broke until the 1940 season, and continued every year (except 1958, when the Hilltoppers played in the Motor City Tournament but were upset in the opening game by Georgia Tech and so missed the Titans) through the 1982 season, usually as a home & home until the 1970s, when the teams began alternating hosting one game a year. The rivalry briefed resumed for Marquette's two seasons in the MCC (1990-91) but the teams have met just once since then, with Marquette smoking the Titans early in the 2006-2007 season, 87-45. Overall, Marquette got much the better of the rivalry, leading the series 61-27, but the series was 24-22 over the quarter century from 1940 through 1964. Marquette began to dominate in the late 1960s under Al McGuire, winning 13 of 15 before Dick Vitale's arrival in Detroit. The Vitale/Smokey Gaines teams played some legendary games in the last half of the 1970s, with Marquette winning 4 of 6, but Marquette chose to let the rivalry die in the 1980s.
49. March 9, 1994: Detroit 72, Evansville 63. The Titans won their first ever Midwestern Collegiate Conference (aka Horizon) Tournament title (and first post-season tournament title of any kind) by turning back Evansville, 72-63, in Indianapolis. The Titans reached the final by defeating regular season conference champion Xaiver, 76-72. Evansville entered at 21-10 after finishing second in the regular season.
An old-fashioned three point play by Tony Tolbert broke a 46-46 tie with 5:13 remaining. After Evansville came up empty on its next possession, Tolbert hit a three pointer, and a few seconds later center Greg Grant added a 15 footer to put UD up by 8. The Titans led the rest of the way. Tolbert scored 13 of his game high 21 points in the second half.
Unfortunately, 1994 was the season that the MCC had lost its automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. A period of flux in the league’s membership had left the MCC ineligible for an automatic bid for not having had enough teams playing together long enough. Thus Detroit was left at home, even as Evansville and Xavier both received NIT bids. Still, it was a fine way to cap off Perry Watson’s first year as coach, and a sign that UD basketball was stirring after 11 losing seasons in the previous 13 years.
48. January 8, 1956: Detroit 80, #15 Tulsa 72. An unpredictable Detroit club showed well early in the 1956 Missouri Valley Conference season, upsetting defending champion and 15th ranked Tulsa 80-72.
The Titans entered the game with a record of 8-4, but just 1-3 in the Valley after splitting road games with Bradley and St. Louis and losing twice to Houston in Houston. (In these pre-jet travel days, the Valley handled the travel distance between Detroit, at Canadian border, and Houston, near the Mexican border, by an odd scheduling twist – one year, UD would play both games with Houston at Houston; and the next year, the clubs would play both games at Detroit. The games would be played on consecutive nights.) But the Titans did boast a non-conference win over Notre Dame, and they had also dealt Tulsa one of just two conference losses the prior year. Tulsa entered the game at 10-2.
The Titans took the lead six minutes into the first half and never trailed again, although Tulsa hung close and pulled within 3 twice in the second half. Tulsa managed to shut down the Valley’s leading scorer, All American Bill Ebben, holding him to 13 points, but junior center Don Hasse picked up the slack by scoring 22 points for the Titans.
Both teams faded after this game, however. UD went just 4-8 the rest of the way, while Tulsa stumbled to a 6-7 record in the second half of the season.
47. Feb. 28, 1933: Detroit 35, DePaul 24. The Titans trailed heavily favored, 12-2 DePaul by 4 at the half, but blitzed the Demons in the second half for a surprisingly easy upset win. Bill Pegan led the Titans with 15 and Bill Hayes added 12. After dropping this game, DePaul won 23 straight and 35 of 36 games over portions of 3 seasons. The Titans finished the 1933 season at 12-5.
46. December 22, 1973: Detroit 73, Michigan State 71 (OT). Michigan State had high hopes for the 1973-74 season, led by Senior Michael Robinson and a pair of talented underclassmen, Terry Furlow and Lindsay Hairston, and entered the game 4-2 after a disappointing loss to Toledo. Detroit was off to a fast start in Dickie Vitale’s first season, and came in 6-1 with a win over Michigan already under its belt.
The Titans grabbed an early lead in this one and led most of the way, but MSU took a 54-53 lead with nine minutes to play, and lead changed hands six times after that, before the clubs headed into overtime. The Spartans led late in the overtime, but Terry Thomas hit a 20 foot jumper with 20 seconds left to tie the score and 71, and after a turnover Owen Wells hit a game winning layup with 10 seconds left on the clock.
The game, played at Cobo Hall, was the first meeting between the two schools since the 1958-59 season, and marks the only time that the Titans have beaten Michigan and Michigan State in the same season. Detroit would finish 17-9, the Spartans 14-12.
45. Feb. 25, 1950: Detroit 73, #15 St. Louis 60. En route to its first 20 win season, UD knocked off #15 St. Louis 73-60, in Detroit. This game, win #17, set a new Titan mark for wins in a season. Norm Swanson with 20 and John Kirwan with 18 led Detroit, but Jerry Olson iced the win with 8 points and 2 assists in the final three minutes. Despite wins over #4 (and eventual #1) Bradley, Michigan St., and perennial power Oklahoma A&M, Detroit was passed over for an NIT bid. Detroit finished 20-6, St. Louis 17-9.
44. January 15, 1977: Detroit 65, Dayton 63. It was neck and neck the entire game, but in the end Detroit successfully stretched its winning streak to 11 in a row. The game was tied at the half, but the Titans took the lead at the start of the second half and held it the entire remainder, though never by more than a few points. Dayton closed to 64-63 and had the ball but Doug Harris missed a layup with under 10 seconds remaining, Dayton was forced to foul, and the real UD held on for the win. Detroit’s balanced scoring was led by John Long with 16, Terry Tyler and Terry Duerod with 12 apiece, and Dennis Boyd with 11.
The loss dropped Dayton to 10-3 for the year. The Titans improved to 12-1, and would win set a school winning streak record by taking another ten games before losing to Duquesne.
43. January 11, 1986: Detroit 76, Xavier 72, and February 8, 1986: Detroit 80, Xavier 71. The Xavier Musketeers, emerging to dominance in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, went 25-4 in the regular season and won the Conference’s regular season and tournament titles in 1986. The Musketeers non-conference victims included Pittsburgh, Providence, Marquette, and Cincinnati. But one club had the Musketeers number in 1986: the University of Detroit.
For Detroit, 1986 was a disappointing season. The Titans had finished strong in 1985, going 10-4 over the last half of the season, including a late season victory over 4th ranked Memphis. UD returned a pair of powerful forwards in Greg Wendt and Brian Humes. Senior Kevin McAdoo, the Titans career leader in assists, manned the point, with sophomore Archie Tullos as the shooting guard. So expectations were high.
The two schools opened MCC Conference play in Cincinnati on January 11. The Titans entered the game just 6-8 after a tough non-conference slate that included losses to Kansas, Minnesota, Purdue, Dayton, and Houston. At times the Titans showed some muscle, as when they defeated Iowa St., a Big 12 school that would make the NCAA tourney, by double digits in December. But they also lost to Eastern Michigan, Toledo, and Colorado, and needed an overtime to defeat Central Michigan. All four of those clubs would finish with losing records.
Detroit was on in the January game, played at Xavier. Greg Wendt went a perfect 11 for 11 from the floor and the Titans won by 4. Detroit then moved on smartly in conference play. They lost to St. Louis by 2 but carried an otherwise unblemished conference record when Xavier came to Detroit in February for the rematch. This time, the Titans hammered the Musketeers, 80-71, to move into sole possession of first place at 6-1. The Titans beat Butler by 24 in their next game, but then self-destructed, losing their last 4 conference games. Detroit righted itself long enough to defeat Evansville in the first round of the conference tourney, but lost in the second round to St. Louis for a third time that year. That closed the Titans’ season at 14-15, a disappointing finish.
42. January 30, 1963: Detroit 83, Michigan 70. Dave DeBusschere’s departure after the 1962 season did not leave the Titans without weapons, most notably juniors Dick Dzik (9.1 ppg in 1962) and Al Cech (13.4 ppg in 1962), plus a pair of talented sophomores in forward Terry Page and guard John Watson. The Titans started out well enough, losing by a single point to Purdue and thumping Xavier by 18 en route to a 6-3 start, but then they dropped six straight, including a 35 point loss at Notre Dame and a 43 point drubbing at Western Michigan. Wins over Assumption and St. Bonaventure righted the ship but Detroit was still at just 8-9 when Michigan came to town at the end of January.
For the Wolverines, 1963 was a turnaround year. Michigan had never had sustained success in basketball before 1963, with just 1 NCAA appearance and 1 Big 10 title (both in 1948). After three straight seasons with single digit victory totals, however, in the 1962-63 season UM unveiled talented sophomore center Bill Buntin, and began a rapid rise to become one of the college game’s dominant powers for the next 35 years. The Wolverines came into Detroit at 10-3, their losses on the road to Butler, Minnesota and Ohio State by a combined total of just six points.
On this night, however, the Titans were all over Michigan from the opening tip. Detroit held UM without a field goal for the game’s first six minutes in building a 14-1 lead, pushed the lead to 16 at one point, and led 41-29 at the half. Detroit retained control through much of the second half, but midway through the period the Wolverines ran off 12 straight points to cut the Titan lead to one, 59-58. Detroit finally steadied itself, and when Buntin twisted a knee and went to the bench with six and a half minutes remaining, UD pulled away for the win. Dzik led Detroit with 23, while Cech and Page each added 14, Watson 13, and John Schramm 12. Buntin led Michigan with 16.
The win marked the only time the Titans have ever defeated Michigan in back to back seasons, having won in Ann Arbor in 1962. UD would finish the season at 13-12, while UM wound up at 16-8.
41. January 9, 1965: Detroit 76, Dayton 74 (OT). 8-2 Dayton came into Detroit in January of 1965, but high-scoring sophomore forward Donnie May was out for this one. The real UD featured a sophomore star of its own in broad-shouldered center Dorie Murrey, and an able supporting cast including Lou Hyatt, John Watson, and Terry Page. The Titans were just 7-5, however, and had been blown out by Indiana, Minnesota, and Notre Dame.
The Titans led by 5, 41-36, at the half, and opened a 10 point lead in the second half. But Murrey hit the bench with 4 fouls and Dayton went on a 19-7 run to take a 65-63 lead with under four minutes to play. Hyatt hit a jumper to tie the game at 65 with 3:21 to play, and then Dayton went into a stall to play for final shot (ah, those pre-shot clock days). Page forced the issue by fouling John Wannamacher with 28 seconds to play, and Wannamacher obligingly missed the front end, but Detroit was unable to capitalize and the game went to OT. The Titans led all the way in the OT, with a pair of Watson free throws providing the final and ultimately winning points. Coach Calihan used just six players in the game. Murrey and Hyatt led the Titans with 20 each, and Page and Watson each added 14. The fifth starter on that team was guard Jim Boyce.
The overtime win over the Flyers seemed to be the moment the talented Titans finally came together. The Titans thumped Marquette by 12 in their next game, lost at Villanova 74-72 on a pair of free throws with 4 seconds remaining, then rolled off 10 more wins in their final 11 games, including a 14 point win at Marquette and a victory in a rematch with Notre Dame at Memorial. That got the Titans an NIT bid, where they recorded their first ever post-season victory by downing La Salle. Dayton, for its part, made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, losing to eventual runner-up Michigan.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:24:08 GMT -5
Originally posted June 16, 2014.
Continuing the countdown of great Titans wins.
The wins are starting to get pretty serious here.
40: January 10, 1964, Detroit 114, Notre Dame 104 (OT). This overtime victory was Detroit’s first ever win in South Bend. Dick Dzik had 26 and Lou Hyatt 24 to overcome Larry Sheffield’s Notre Dame record 47 points. Notre Dame led 52-50 at the half, and it was 100-100 at end of regulation. The score was not that atypical for UD in 1964 – the Titans led the nation in scoring, but played little enough defense that their season ending 14-11 record was the worst, to that time, of any team ever to lead the nation in scoring. Notre Dame would finish 10-14.
39. January 20, 1974: Detroit 79, Dayton 72 (OT). After an impressive 11-1 start, including wins over Michigan, Michigan State, and Minnesota, the Titans lost consecutive road games to Western Michigan and Villanova. This overtime win over a good Dayton club, 10-3, temporarily got the Titans back on track. Jerry Guinane, making a rare start, scored 10 of the Titans final 16 points in regulation, but with the score tied at 62 Owen Wells missed the front end of a one & one with seven seconds to play, giving Dayton a chance for the win. Wells compounded the problem when he fouled Dayton's Mike Sylvester, an 85% foul shooter, as Sylvester heaved up a long desperation jumper at the buzzer. But Sylvester missed both foul shots, and Riley Dotson scored 6 and Walter Smith 5 (all on free throws) as the Titans dominated the extra period. Wells led the Titans with 18 points, Dotson added 16, and Guinane finished with 14.
The Titans eventually entered the last two weeks of the season at 16-5 and looked like a good bet for post-season play, but they lost 4 of their last 5 and were passed over by both the NCAA and NIT. Dayton finished the year ranked 20th in the nation, and reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament before losing in triple overtime to UCLA.
38. March 14, 2001: Detroit 68, @ Bradley 49 (NIT). Detroit opened the 2001 NIT with a surprisingly easy win over Bradley before 6500 fans at the Carver Center in Peoria. The victory snapped Bradley’s 12 game home winning streak, and was the worst defeat ever for Bradley in post-season play. Bradley, which finished 19-12, played without lead scorer Jerome Robertson. Rashad Phillips scored 17 points to lead UD. Greg Grays added 13 as Detroit ran its record to 23-10.
37. February 7, 1998: Detroit 76, Illinois-Chicago 58. Derrick Hayes and Brian Alexander each scored 16 points and the Titans clinched their first 20 victory season in 19 years. More importantly, the win over second place UIC (18-3 entering the game) put the Titans in the driver’s seat in the MCC race. The Titans also avenged a loss at Chicago earlier in the year.
The Titans used two big runs to whip the Flames. A 9-0 Detroit spurt put the Titans up 26-14 with 5:46 left in the first half, and a 14-2 Titan blitz early in the second half left Detroit ahead 50-29. UIC never recovered. The Titans played a near flawless game, shooting 51% from the floor (64% in the second half), and featuring a balanced attack that included 11 points apiece from Rashad Philips and Perry Robinson and 10 from Jermaine Jackson. The Titans committed just 6 turnovers while forcing 17, and out-rebounded the taller Flames, 35-32.
A regular season ending loss to Cleveland State forced Detroit to settle for a tie with UIC for the conference title, and both teams were upset in the conference tournament. However, in the end both UIC (RPI 29, win over Michigan State) and UD (RPI 38, win over MSU) made the Big Dance as at-large selections, and the Titans scored an opening round win over St. John’s.
36. Jan. 2, 1968, Detroit 99, #14 Indiana 93. Indiana, the defending Big 10 champs, had opened the 1967-68 season 6-0, including wins over North Carolina St., Missouri, Kansas St. and Notre Dame, to advance to #3 in the AP and #5 in the last polls of calendar 1967. However, back to back losses to Western Kentucky and SMU in the Dallas Classic over Christmas week dropped them out of the AP poll ( AP ranked only the top 10 that year) and to 14th in the UPI poll, both released just hours before the tip-off with Detroit. Meanwhile, the Titans had started the season 7-2, the losses only to Missouri and Michigan, and the victims including West Virginia, Xavier, and Calvin Murphy-led Niagara.
Trailing 21-20 midway through the first half, Detroit went on a 9-0 run and led the rest of the game. At the half it was 46-42. Forward Bruce Rodwan scored 5 consecutive points as the Titans built their lead to 56-45 in the opening minutes of the second half, and UD gradually upped the lead to 16 points, 83-67, with six minutes to play. At that point, Indiana went into a full court press and chopped steadily into the Detroit lead, but Rodwan hit 4 consecutive free throws down the stretch to keep the Hoosiers at bay.
Rodwan finished the game with a career high 36 points, plus 19 rebounds. Larry Salci added 19 points and center Tom Richardson 14 points and 19 rebounds to the Titan effort. All 5 Titan starters scored in double figures – not unusual that year as the Titans featured a high scoring but balanced attack by Rodwan (15.2 ppg), Jerry Swartzfager (14.6), Salci (14.9 ppg), Ralph Brisker (15.4), and Richardson. Swartzfager had 15 and Brisker 14 in the win over Indiana.
So how could a Titan victory over a #14 Indiana squad not even make the Top 30 Titan wins? Well… Unfortunately, the win was the not the harbinger of good things to come for the Titans. In fact, both clubs soon found themselves on a downhill slide. Indiana rebounded from the Detroit loss to beat Minnesota and Illinois, but the Hoosiers would lose 11 of their last 13 to finish 10-14 overall. The Titans proceeded to lose 7 of their next 9 against a tough slate that included road losses to Notre Dame, Dayton, Xavier, and St. Bonaventure, and home defeats to Duquesne, Marquette, and Villanova. The Titans did beat Notre Dame at the Memorial Building later in the season, but only victories over John Carroll and Canisius in their final two games raised them above .500 at the finish, at 13-12. This was one victory that looked awfully good at the time, but that lost its luster rather quickly
35. December 30, 1961: Detroit 77, #19 St. Bonaventure 70. The 1961 Motor City Classic featured one of the Tournament’s best fields. In the opening round, Dave DeBusschere scored 28 points and grabbed 30 rebounds as Detroit ripped a unusually poor Syracuse team 97-70, while 19th ranked, once-beaten St. Bonaventure defeated previously unbeaten DePaul.
In the championship game, DeBusschere scored 30 and covered 16 boards as the Titans dropped St. Bonaventure 77-70 to win the tournament for the third consecutive year. UD broke open a close game early in the second half, then held off a furious St. Bonnie rally for the victory. Frank Chickowsky added 21 points for Detroit. With the win, Detroit advanced to 9-2 on its way to its first ever NCAA appearance.
34. March 1, 1972: #18 Detroit 79, #20 Duquesne 71. “The surprise of the opening day’s bids was the selection of two local schools – St. John’s and Fordham – over 18th ranked Detroit and 20th ranked Duquesne. Both teams had been major candidates for NCAA bids but were bypassed, and it was assumed that the NIT would grab them on the first day [of offering bids]. The NIT still has 11 vacant spots.” Such was flashed out on the United Press International wires on Wednesday, March 1, 1972.
The Jim Harding era had not been a happy one for Detroit, with his team staging a walk out before Harding had ever coached a game, and a series of suspensions, walkouts, and declining fan interest over the ensuing three years. But in the spring of 1972, it looked like all that might be forgotten. The 17-5 Titans had just moved into the rankings for the first time since the Spencer Haywood season by blasting second-ranked and previously unbeaten Marquette, 70-49 four days before.
As it so happened, Detroit and Duquesne were scheduled to meet in the Memorial Building the very evening after both were passed over in the first round of bids, giving the game something of a play-in feel for the still prestigious NIT. UD entered the game having won 12 of 14, including wins over Boston College, Dayton, and St. Bonaventure, as well as Marquette, and also owned an early season win over then 15th ranked and eventual MAC co-champ Ohio University. But the Titans had laid an egg in an appearance at Madison Square Garden in mid-February, losing badly to a mediocre St. Peter’s squad, and the defeat was thought to weigh heavily on the NIT selection committee. Duquesne entered the contest at 19-4, fresh off a win over Providence.
The game see-sawed back and forth in the first half, with the Titans gaining a 39-36 edge at the break. After intermission, however, Detroit slowly added to its margin, going up 66-56 with 6:06 to play on a Frank Russell jump shot. Duquesne was unable to close the gap and the Titans wound up winning 79-71. Russell led the Titans with 20 points and Bill Pleas added 18. 7’0” center Gerald Smith and senior forward Daryl Johnson each scored 10 for the Titans.
But the victory was for naught. The Titans squandered the Duquesne win by dropping their season finale, 98-85, to 9-14 Western Michigan. They were passed over by the NIT, “leaving some doubt among coaches as to the wisdom of the seven member selection committee,” according to UPI. In a late turn of events, however, Ohio State and Tennessee turned down an NIT bids, and UPI reported on March 10 that the Titans had been offered one of those slots. The report turned out to be premature. That same day Johnson was determined to have been ineligible for the entire season as a result of having played JC games at Wright JC in Chicago in 1966 (meaning he had used up his collegiate eligibility). The Johnson revelation was almost certainly the final blow to the Titans’ hopes. Davidson and Oral Roberts were given the final bids.
The irony may be that had the Titans gotten the NIT bid, the hated Jim Harding might have kept his job beyond the 1973 season, and the Titans might never have hired Dick Vitale, thus setting the program on a new course. Be careful what you wish for.
33. January 19, 1960: #20 Detroit 68, #17 Notre Dame 61. This game was one of many landmarks in the Debusschere era.
The Titans and the Irish first squared off in 1912, but not until 1955 did the Titans score a win in the series, when Bill Ebben poured in 32 points and the Titans blew out a sub-par Notre Dame squad in the Memorial Buildling. But Notre Dame won the next four meetings to take a 29-1 lead in the series. Included in those four wins was a 75-63 thrashing of Detroit in South Bend just 10 days before this game in the Memorial Building on January 19, 1960.
Detroit entered the game with a record of 12-2 and #20 ranking in AP poll released earlier that day. The Titans only loss besides the defeat in South Bend was an 89-85 loss at Indiana in December. Notre Dame came in at 11-3, with a #17 ranking from UPI. A then-record 9353 fans packed into Memorial Building for the game.
The clubs see-sawed through the first half, with Notre Dame taking a 26-22 lead late in the half, but the Titans closed the period on a 8-2 run with a pair of buckets by DeBusschere, two Charlie North free throws, and a jumper by Larry Hughes just before the buzzer. Notre Dame rallied behind Emmitt McCarthy in the second half, tying the score on 4 occasions, but DeBusschere knocked in 17 of his game high 30 points in the second half, and after opening a lead midway through the second half, the Titans used a semi-stall to hold off Notre Dame for the final seven minutes. McCarthy led Notre Dame with 22 points. North and Ray Albee supported DeBusschere with 11 and 15 points, respectively.
The victory, followed by an 82-62 rout of Central Michigan in which DeBusschere grabbed 39 rebounds, boosted Detroit to #14 in the next poll. Unfortunately, the Titans lost 4 of their last 9 to finish the regular season at 20-6. The Titans still got an NCAA bid, but had accepted an NIT bid moments before (the two tournaments still competed for teams in those days). There Detroit lost an 88-86 first round heartbreaker to Villanova. Notre Dame also struggled down the stretch to finish 17-9, still good enough for an NCAA bid.
32. February 11, 1962, Detroit 97, @ Dayton 75. Dave Debusschere set a school scoring record with 44 points and grabbed 21 rebounds as the Titans scored perhaps the biggest win in their long rivalry with Dayton, crushing the Flyers at Dayton, 97-75. DeBusschere hit 16 of 26 shots from the floor.
1961-62 was an up-down year for Detroit. With running mate Charlie North graduated, the Titans, coming off consecutive NIT bids, were clearly going to go only as far as DeBusschere could carry the team. The Titans rolled out to a 9-2 start that included wins over Xavier and, in the finals of the Motor City Classic, 19th ranked St. Bonaventure; but also included an embarrassing 25 point loss at #6 Purdue. After the St. Bonaventure victory, the Titans dropped 4 of 5, including a home loss to Western Michigan, falling to 10-6. But with post-season hopes rapidly fading, the Titans scored wins at Michigan and at home against #10 Villanova before the Dayton game.
The blowout at Dayton was vital to helping the Titans withstand a sluggish loss to a mediocre Marquette team two nights later, and gain their first NCAA bid ever. Meanwhile Dayton, which entered the game at 13-5, did not lose again in 1962, winning its final 11 games and defeating St. John’s in Madison Square Garden to win the NIT.
31. March 6, 2012: Detroit 70, @ Valparaiso 50. Picked as a top 40 team by many pre-season publications, the 2012 Titans ran into a buzzsaw of misfortune even before the season began. First, star Center Eli Holman was suspended for the team’s first 10 games after breaking another student’s nose in an off-campus fight. A key rotation player, guard Chris Blake, was declared academically ineligible before the season began. Forward John Hoskins, considered a key back up, succumbed to a series of minor injuries and a large dose of indifference, and never saw action before leaving the team. Then, in the season’s fifth game, starting forward Nick Minnerath tore up his knee, putting him out for the season. By the time Holman returned in December, the Titans were 4-6, and continued to struggle through early January. After losing to Valparaiso at Calihan Hall on January 6, the Titans were 7-10, just 1-4 in conference play and already 3 games out of first.
The Titans finally put it together starting in January. Detroit won 14 of 17 to close out the season (although losing again to Valpo). In the conference tournament, the Titans dispatched Youngstown and Cleveland State, setting up a title game with the regular season champion Crusaders. The Titans trailed by 9 early and by three at the half, but took the lead with an 11-0 run early in the second half. On Coach Ray McCallum’s birthday, son Ray McCallum turned in one of the biggest games of his college career, leading UD with 21 points on 10-16 shooting, grabbing six rebounds and claiming four steals, and dominating the game far beyond the raw statistical numbers as the Titans pulled away. Jason Calliste finished with 17 points and LaMarcus Lowe had a double double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, and the Titans shot 58% after halftime. The win propelled Detroit to its first NCAA appearance in 13 years.
Unfortunately, the early season losses relegated the Titans to a #15 seed in the NCAA tournament, where they lost to Kansas in the first round. It’s never a bad season when you reach the NCAA tournament, but Titan fans have to wonder what this team might have done with Holman, Minnerath, and Blake playing all season, and without all the off-court distractions.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:25:28 GMT -5
Originally posted June 17, 2014
Into the top 30 in Titan victories...
30. February 13, 1999: UD 62, Butler 52. The Titans avenged a 13 point loss at Butler and snapped the Bulldogs 11 game win streak behind 19 points from Jermaine Jackson and 17 from Rashad Phillips. Most importantly, the victory put the Titans in the driver’s seat to win its first ever outright MCC (Horizon) regular season title.
The Bulldogs entered the game 9-1 in MCC play, 16-6 overall, while the Titans were 17-5 overall and 9-2 in conference play. Butler took a quick 6-0 lead but that would prove to be the Bulldogs’ largest lead of the game. UD fought back to tie the game 26-26 at the half. Butler scored the first four points of the second half but the Titans then held the Dogs scoreless for four minutes to take the lead for good. The game remained tight, however, and Butler closed to within a point with eight minutes remaining. The Titans then went on a 12-3 run from which Butler never recovered. Butler was forced to resort to fouling in the final minutes, but Jackson, the Horizon League Player of the Year, hit 6 foul shots and Phillips 4 as UD’s final 12 points came from the stripe. Desmond Ferguson added 14 for Detroit.
The game left the Titans in sole possession of first in the Horizon. Butler lost to Cleveland State two days later, allowing UD to clinch its first outright Horizon title by defeating Cleveland St. 78-66 on February 20.
29. January 6, 1971: Detroit 75, #10 St. Bonaventure 73. Erick Rucker hit a pair of free throws with 9 seconds left to play as Detroit defeated previously unbeaten, #10 ranked St. Bonaventure.
St. Bonaventure led by just 3 at the half, 36-33, but went up by 12 with just 12 minutes left to play. The Titan rally was keyed by a switch from zone to man-to-man defense, which seemed to confuse the Bonnies, and Detroit took its first lead since the opening minutes at 65-64 with 4:14 remaining. After the teams traded buckets for three minutes, the Titans took the lead for good on a Jim Jackson jump shot with 1:23 to play. Rucker’s free throws put the Titans up by 3, providing the winning margin. With 1 second left and Detroit up 3, St. Bonaventure’s Paul Hoffman hit the first of two foul shots, then intentionally missed the second. St. Bonaventure got the rebound by Greg Gary’s buzzer tip missed.
Rucker led Detroit with 21 points, while Jackson added 16 – 15 of them in the second half. Frank Russell scored 15 for Detroit. The win was an important one after a dismal 7-18 season in 1970, and a slow start to the 1971 season that saw the Titans enter the game with just a 5-5 record. The 5 wins had been unimpressive, coming against Hillsdale, Chicago St., Spring Hill, Delaware and San Francisco. The stunning upset of tenth ranked St. Bonnie thus marked a major step in the comeback for Detroit basketball.
28. January 30, 1969: Detroit 76, @ #11 Duquesne 66. After rising to #7 in the polls, January of 1969 was a disastrous month for the Titans. They headed to Pittsburgh to face #11 Duquesne at the end of the month, reeling from five losses in seven games. However, against the Dukes, UD took an early lead, held it for most of the first half, and recovered from a Duquesne rally to lead 37-34 at the break. UD came out hot in the second half and ran the margin to 46-36, but the Dukes roared back to tie the game at 52. The two clubs were then tied at 54, 56, and 58, but Duquesne went up 62-58, at which point the Dukes’ Billy Zopf stole the ball and headed in for what looked like an easy layup. But the refs whistled Zopf for the foul, and when he complained, hit him with a technical. Detroit converted one of two on the foul, Spencer Haywood hit the technical, and then the Titans scored on the in-bounds play to tie the game. The clubs traded baskets once more to tie at 64, and then Detroit pulled away as the Dukes went cold from the floor.
As usual, Haywood led Detroit with 31 points and 16 rebounds. Larry Moore added 16, 14 of them coming in the second half.
At least briefly, the victory re-established Detroit as a leading contender for an NCAA bid. But narrow home losses to Marquette and Notre Dame, and a loss at Xavier while Haywood was suspended for two games, finished off the Titan dreams. Duquesne finished the season ranked 9th, and lost in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tourney.
27. March 8, 1978: #18 Detroit 94, Virginia Commonwealth 86 (NIT). If the Titans and their fans were dispirited by being relegated to the NIT despite a gaudy 24-3 record and a #18 national ranking, it didn’t show in this first round 1978 NIT game in Calihan Hall. A raucus, partisan crowd of 8665 watched as the Titans set a school record for most points in a season while topping the Rams (coached by future Memphis coach Dana Kirk) 94-86.
The game was not as close as the final score might suggest. The Titans led 50-40 at the half, and went up 74-56 seven minutes into the second half. Terry Tyler led the Titan attack. The senior center hit 9 of 13 shots from the floor to finish with 19 points. He also grabbed 11 rebounds, blocked 7 shots, and had 5 steals in just 29 minutes of play. Terry Duerod added 18 (17 in the first half), John Long 16, and Turono Anderson 14 (most of those early in the second half as UD put the Rams away). Forward Kevin Kaseta had 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting, gathered in 13 boards, and had 5 assists.
The win sent the Titans to North Carolina State for round 2, where they lost 84-77 to the Wolfpack.
26. March 18, 2001: Detroit 67, @ Connecticut 61 (NIT). The University of Detroit won a second round post-season tournament game for the first (and still only) time in its history by defeating Connecticut in Storrs.
Detroit set the tone early, with Rashad Phillips connecting for three three-pointers in the first five minutes as the Titans took an 18-6 lead. A jumper by future All-American Willie Green three minutes later gave UD a 25-10 margin, its largest of the game. Connecticut closed to 37-30 at the break.
UConn’s rally continued after half-time, and the Huskies finally pulled to within one point at the 11:32 mark, but that was as close as they would get. A second Huskie charge closed the gap to 61-59 with 1:25 left to play, and Connecticut appeared to tie the game when Ed Saunders drove the baseline for a bucket. But the refs whistled the basket off, saying Saunders had stepped on the baseline before the shot. Phillips nailed another three pointer a minute later to boost the Detroit lead to 5 and seal the win.
Phillips led Detroit with 26, while Green added 25. Together, they scored all but 5 of the Titans second half points. Green shot 8 of 10 from the floor and 8 of 8 at the line. Terrell Riggs led UD in both rebounds (7) and assists (4). Saunders led UConn with 19 points and 11 reboundsco.
With the victory, the Titans advanced to the NIT’s third round against Dayton. The Titan win also denied UConn coach Jim Calhoun his 600th career victory. The Huskies finished 20-12.
25. February 6, 1965: Detroit 77, Notre Dame 74. Notre Dame had thrashed UD in South Bend, 107-86 just a few days earlier, behind 37 points from Larry Sheffield and 25 from Walt Sahm, who had outplayed Detroit star Dorie Murrey. But the Titans turned it around in the rematch. After a see-saw battle, UD went ahead to stay on a Murrey basket with 6:41 to play. The win was keyed by Murrey, who completely shut down Notre Dame star Sahm. Sahm, who entered the game averaging over 18 points per game, did not score a single point. Murrey finished with 14 points and 22 rebounds, dominating Sahm, the nation’s #6 rebounder, underneath.
Notre Dame, which also featured future Detroit Piston guard and Atlanta Braves pitcher Ron Reed, ranked as high as 17th and made the NCAA field. Detroit headed off to the NIT, with this victory a key marker on their record.
24. January 10, 2002: Detroit 63, #23 Butler 54. Detroit had trouble adjusting to the loss of two-time Horizon Player of the Year Rashad Phillips. Five consecutive losses left UD with a 6-8 record as once-beaten, 23rd ranked Butler came to Calihan in early January, 2002. Before the game 1999 Horizon Player of the Year Jermaine Jackson visited the Titans, and told the players that they had to defend their home court. Whether that played a role is unclear, but what is clear is that Greg Grays scored 10 points in the final four minutes and the Titans extended their nation's longest home court winning streak to 36 games with a 63-54 victory.
The Titans held a narrow lead at the half and then held Butler without a field goal for over seven minutes to open a 39-29 lead with just under ten minutes to play. Butler clawed its way back and tied the game at 47 on a three-point play by Rylan Hainje with 3:55 remaining. At that point, Grays took over the game. He hit a pair of free throws at 3:38 to break the tie, and another pair to put the Titans up 4. After a defensive stop, Grays knocked down a three pointer, and then a bucket by Willie Green boosted the Titan lead to 10 and pretty well wrapped it up. Grays led the Titans with 17 points. Terrell Riggs added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Green added 10 points and 8 rebounds.
The win kept Detroit from opening Conference play 0-3 for the first time since 1992. It also helped to turn the season around – the Titans finished the regular season on a 12-4 run and snagged a surprise birth in the NIT. There they lost to Dayton in the first round. The home court win streak would also be snapped later in the season, in a 65-61 loss to Green Bay. The loss dropped Butler to 14-2. The Dogs would finish the season 26-6, losing to Syracuse in the second round of the NIT.
The win over Butler is Detroit’s last, to date, over a ranked team, and after 4 post-season bids in 5 years, 2002 would be the Titans’ last NCAA/NIT bid for a decade.
23. December 28, 1968: #11 Detroit 87, Temple 76. The 8-0 Titans enjoyed Christmas Day, 1968 ranked 11th in the country (15th in the UPI poll). After a ten day layoff for finals and the holidays, they resumed play in the Motor City Classic. In the opening round, Spencer Haywood scored 32 points and grabbed 29 rebounds as the Titans trounced Mississippi St. 86-62. In the other game, Temple beat Miami of Ohio 67-62.
A traditional eastern power that had been in post-season play three years running and eight of the last 10, Temple appeared to pose a real threat to UD in the final. But Haywood hit his first 10 shots from the floor and the game was never in doubt. This victory was the Titans’ 12th in a row over two seasons, our third longest winning streak after the 21 game streak in 1977 and 16 in a row over the 1912, 1913, and 1914 seasons.
Temple dropped to 5-4 with the loss, but went on to finish 22-7 and win the NIT. The pair of wins landed Detroit at the #7 spot in the next week’s AP poll, the last time Detroit has been ranked in the top 10. After the vote but before that #7 ranking had even been published, Detroit lost its next game, 85-80 at Minnesota, despite 34 points and 17 rebounds by Haywood. The Titans then lost at Marquette (Haywood scored 35), to Dayton (30 points), and at Notre Dame (23), to fall from the rankings for the remainder of the season. The Titans eventually finishing a rather disappointing 16-10,and were reportedly the last team left out of the NIT.
22. December 13, 1997: Detroit 68, @ Michigan State 65. Success ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. UD went up to East Lansing and defeated the Spartans for the third year in a row (including an exciting triple OT win in Detroit in 1996-97) in December, 1997. Their reward: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has never again scheduled UD.
In this game, Jermaine Jackson’s 3-point play with 32 seconds left broke a 65-65 tie and the Titans held on for the win. State’s Mateen Cleves missed a three pointer with 10 seconds left, and Jackson grabbed the rebound. Brian Alexander missed the front end of a 1-and-1 that could have put it away, but a long desperate shot by Cleves was off the mark.
The Spartans had opened the game with a quick 10-3 run, but UD fought back to take the lead at 20-18 midway through the half, and held a 5 point advantage at the half. UD extended the lead to 12 in the first four and half minutes of the second period, but a 12-0 Spartan run tied it at 47, and after that the game was close until the final buzzer.
Jackson led Detroit with 16 points, and Alexander added 13. Desmond Ferguson had 10 for UD, and Derrick Hayes scored 9 and grabbed 8 rebounds. Cleves led MSU with 21.
This was Tom Izzo’s first really good team at Michigan State. The Spartans went on to win the Big 10 and reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA. UD also reached the NCAA tourney, advancing to the second round before losing to Purdue. The 1996-98 seasons mark the only time the Titans have beaten the Spartans 3 straight.
21. Jan. 10, 1938: Detroit 34, Kentucky 26. The Adolf Ruppe-coached Wildcats were already established as a premier program, including a then-record 23 game winning streak earlier in the decade. This Wildcat squad would go a perfect 6-0 in the SEC regular season. This game was played at the Naval Armory, the Titans frequent home before the construction of Memorial (nee Calihan) Hall, with an announced attendance of 2500. The Titans led 20-12 at the half, and Joe Hagan was the only Wildcat to hit a field goal until the final six minutes. Besides Hagan, still famous in Kentucky for hitting a 48’ shot at the buzzer to beat Marquette later in the 1938 season, this Wildcat team included Bernie Opper, a first team All-American in 1939. Hagan led all scorers with 16 points, but no other Kentucky player scored more than 2. The Titans' best player in the 1938 season was All-American Bob Calihan, but Chet Laske led the Titans in this game with 11, supported by Ernie Kolibar with 9 and Calihan with 7.
This Titan squad, Lloyd Brazil’s best, won a then school-record 16 games, finishing 16-4.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:26:39 GMT -5
Originally posted June 20. 2014.
Into the top 20 in this countdown:
20. December 5, 1960: Detroit 70, #6 Utah St. 68. Detroit entered the 1960-61 season with high hopes, having made its first post-season appearance in the previous year’s NIT. Sixth ranked (UP) Utah State, a semi-finalist in the 1960 NIT after closing the season ranked 8th in the nation, provided an early test of the Titans abilities.
The Titans were led by returning All-American Dave DeBusschere and his high-scoring running mate, Charlie North. But it was JC Transfer John Morgan, playing only his second major college game, who sealed the win. Morgan hit two free throws with 5 seconds remaining to give the Titans a 70-68 win over the 6th ranked Aggies., the Titans’ first win over a ranked club since defeating #15 Tulsa in the 1955-56 season, and first over a top 10 club since knocking off Oklahoma A&M in the final game of the 1951 season. DeBusschere led the Titans with 26 points, while North added 16 and Morgan 11.
19. March 13, 1965: Detroit 93, La Salle 86 (NIT) Lou Hyatt scored 10 of his game high 31 points in the final 10 minutes as Detroit finally broke through in post-season play with a 93-86 win over traditional eastern power La Salle in the first round of the NIT. Detroit’s substantial height advantage helped the Titans dominate the boards and take a 53-45 lead at the half. But UD’s 6’8” star center Dorie Murrey went to the bench early in the second half with foul trouble, and the much smaller Explorers came back to take the lead in the second half, before Hyatt took control of the game. The Titans shot 59% from the floor to overcome a balanced La Salle attack in which all five starters scored in double figures.
The game marked the Titans’ first ever post-season win. In the second round they fell to NYU 87-76 to finish the season at 20-8. It was Detroit’s third 20 win season ever.
18. March 22, 2001: Detroit 59, Dayton 42 (NIT) The Titans won their third consecutive road game to advance to the NIT Final Four in Madison Square Garden by trouncing Dayton, 59-42. The Titans led 33-23 at the half, but Dayton held UD scoreless for the first five and a half minutes of the second half. The problem for Dayton was that Detroit’s defense also stepped it up, and Dayton was able to knock just five points off the Titans’ lead. The Titans then forced turnovers on 4 consecutive Dayton possessions and broke the game open. The Titan blitz eventually turned into a 23-3 run that opened a 56-31 lead with just under three minutes remaining. Having held Dayton to just 8 points in the first 17 minutes of the half, the Titans simply coasted home – or perhaps better put, to Madison Square Garden.
Rashad Phillips led the Titan attack with 23 points. The victory, Detroit’s 25th of the year, tied the school record. The Titans, however, lost to Alabama in the NIT semis, and then to Memphis in the consolation game, to finish the year at 25-12. Still, it is the furthest the Titans have ever advanced in post-season play.
17. March 2, 1999: UD 72, Butler 65. UD held Butler to 17 percent shooting in the first half and rolled to the Horizon Tournament Title and an automatic NCAA bid by defeating the Bulldogs, 72-65. The Titans’ suffocating defense left Butler struggling for points and a Detroit opened a 53-32 lead with 6:40 left on a pair of Rashad Phillips free throws. Just when it appeared the Titans could celebrate their NCAA invitation, however, Butler came roaring back with a 12-0 run. The Dogs kept up the pressure, closing to 65-60, but that was as close as they would get. Phillips’ 18 points led Detroit. The victory in the season’s rubber match with Butler gave Detroit both the regular season and Horizon tournament titles for the only time in school history. More importantly, despite a 23-5 record entering the game, it was not at all clear that the Titans would have been selected for the NCAA tourney had they lost in the tournament. The Titans had lost during the season at Michigan, Iowa, and Massachusetts, and without a big road win or a win over a “major” conference team, selection Sunday would have been tense. Detroit upset UCLA in the NCAA before losing to Ohio State. Butler was relegated to the NIT, where the Bulldogs reached the quarterfinals before falling to Clemson.
16. March 10, 1977: Detroit 93, Middle Tennessee State 76 (NCAA) With 14 minutes left in this first round NCAA tournament game, it appeared that Detroit’s 1977 dream season might come crashing down. A 24-8 spurt by Ohio Valley Champ Middle Tennessee St. had taken the Blue Raiders from a 44-30 deficit with four minutes left in the first half, to a 54-52 lead. The thrill of the Titans 21 game winning streak during the regular season, the memories of the dramatic 64-63 win at 9th ranked Marquette, a possible second round showdown with in-state rival Michigan, all seemed in jeopardy. Coach Dick Vitale reached into his pocket and pulled out a prayer card to St. Jude, patron saint of lost causes.
How can a Catholic school lose once the saints are involved? Not to mention Terry Tyler. Tyler took over the game, dominating the lane, blocking shots, grabbing rebounds, and scoring, as the Titans scored the next 8 points and never looked back, rocking MTSU 41-22 over the last 14 minutes of the game. The win was UD’s first ever in NCAA play. Tyler finished with 29 points and 15 rebounds. John Long supported Tyler with 20 points. The Titans, of course, lost an 86-81 heartbreaker to #1 Michigan in the next round, ending the season at 25-4, a school record for wins.
15. December 15, 1976: Detroit 70, #8 Arizona 68. Starting his 4th season as Titan coach, Dick Vitale finally got a win over a nationally ranked opponent, defeating 8th ranked Arizona 70-68 on a 12 foot, turnaround jumper by Dennis Boyd at the buzzer. Detroit led throughout the first half and was up 37-30 at the break, but Arizona caught up with a run early in the second half and after that the lead changed hands several times. The Wildcats tied the game with 12 seconds remaining, setting up Boyd’s heroics. Boyd led the Titans with 19 points, John Long added 17 and Ron Bostick 10 before 6300 fans at Memorial Hall. The Titans, 6-1 with a loss only to Minnesota, hoped the win would propel them into the top 20, but it would take 10 more wins without a loss before UD finally entered the rankings at the beginning of February. Eventually, the Titans would finish the regular season 24-3 and reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since Dave DeBusschere’s senior season. Arizona finished the year at 21-6, losing in the first round of the NCAA.
14. December 16, 1968: #13 Detroit 71, #9 St. Bonaventure 68. Excitement was high as UD opened the 1968-69 season behind Olympic hero Spencer Haywood. The Titans opened the season by blasting the inferior competition of Aquinas, Windsor, Western Ontario and Hillsdale at home by an average score of 102-46, but shaky road wins over Western Michigan (106-99) and Eastern Michigan (74-72) left some doubt as to how good the Titans really were.
In Mid-December the Titans hosted St. Bonaventure, which entered the game on a 29 game regular season winning streak. The Bonnies had finished the 1968 season ranked 3rd in the country, led by massive 6’11” center Bob Lanier and point guard Jim Satalin. St. Bonaventure came into Detroit having been ranked 9th earlier in the day by the AP, and 11th by UPI. The Titans entered the game ranked 13th in the AP and 16th by UPI.
In the match up of pre-season All Americans, Lanier outscored Haywood 19-15, but Haywood (who had entered the game averaging 35 points) outrebounded Lanier 16-12, and a tenacious defense by the Titans often forced Lanier outside. The Titans charged to an early lead and were up 31-20 at the half, but the Bonnies fought back in the second half and the game was tied 68-68 with 25 seconds to play. Sophomore guard Jim Jackson hit two free throws to give UD the lead, and Haywood captured the rebound after a miss by Satalin. Haywood was fouled by Lanier and sank the game clinching free throw with 3 seconds left. Beyond his key late free throws, Jackson picked up the scoring slack for Detroit, matching Lanier for game-high honors with 19 points, including 15 in the second half. By the way, the New York Times, reporting on this game, said that Memorial Hall looked “like a Tijuana jail.” Ouch. There are many reasons to hate the Times.
St. Bonaventure went on to a rather disappointing 17-7 season, but would still probably have made the NCAA tournament but for sanctions imposed late in the season for recruiting violations. The Titans advanced to 11th in the next week’s AP poll, and continued to dream big dreams for a time.
13. February 3, 1962: Detroit 93, #10 Villanova 89 (OT). Midway through Dave DeBusschere’s final season, Detroit was struggling along at 11-6. Villanova, previously ranked as high as 5th in early January, came to town ranked 10th nationally at 15-3. A sellout crowd watched as DeBusschere tied the game at 79-79 with 18 seconds to go, forcing overtime. In OT, Nova took a 4 point lead, but UD tied it back up and a steal by DeBusschere and long pass to Frank Chickowski for the breakaway layup put the Titans up for good. DeBusschere sealed the Titan win with a 3 point play with 50 seconds to go. Wally Jones had 32 for Nova, while DeBusschere finished with 29 points and 27 rebounds.
The game was instrumental in the Titans post-season fortunes. The Titans pushed their record to 15-7, but after getting an NCAA bid in February (in those days they were announced before the season end, in part because the NCAA and NIT were in hot competition to sign up the best teams) lost their last 4 regular season games, to Canisius, Bowling Green, Seton Hall and Marquette. An earlier loss in this game would likely have caused them to miss out on their first NCAA bid. Unfortunately, the Titans dropped a 90-81 decision to Western Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA. Villanova went on to a 21-7 finish and a spot in the NCAA’s “Elite 8” (though of course in those days no one called it that).
12. February 28, 1985: Detroit 71, #4 Memphis 66. The rejuvenated Titans had won 10 of their last 12 as #4 Memphis, 23-2, came to Calihan to close out the 1985 regular season.
Before a crowd of 8133, the largest at Calihan in six years, the Titans jumped out early, leading 41-29 at the half. Memphis kept chipping away in the second half, cutting the lead to 65-62 with two minutes to play, but the Titans hit their free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Greg Wendt scored 23 and Keith Gray 21 for Detroit, but the key to the win was the play of sophomore Brian Humes, who held Memphis All-American Keith Lee to just 5 of 18 shooting from the floor, while scoring 13 points himself.
With the win, the Titans had reason to hope for an NIT bid, but a first round loss to Xavier in the MCC tournament killed that possibility. The Titans’ win has also been tainted over the years by allegations that Memphis threw the game. There is some belief that Memphis players were initially trying to simply make sure that the Tigers won the game without beating the spread, only to have the Titans nab the whole thing. Arguably Memphis coach Dana Kirk’s post game comments - “Sometimes you come into a place like Detroit and the players don’t know what to expect, so they don’t play hard” – support the idea that Memphis players simply seemed lazy in the early going. However, the point-shaving allegations were never proven.
The Titans finished the year at 16-13, their only winning season between 1981 and 1993. To date, this game remains the Titans’ last victory over a Top 10 ranked team – far and away our longest drought ever.
11. January 21, 1950: Detroit 67, #4 Bradley 54 On January 16, 1950, 4th ranked Bradley crushed Detroit 71-50 in Peoria. The two squads met again just 5 days later in Detroit. The Titans entered the rematch with a 9-3 record, but most of that had been compiled against a sub-par non-conference schedule, except for a home victory over Michigan State. Detroit was 1-3 in its inaugural Missouri Valley Conference season. Given the thrashing Bradley had given UD earlier in the week, the 15-2 Braves, led by All-Americans Gene Melchiorre and Paul Unruh and 6’7” center Elmer Behnke, entered the game as heavy favorites. But the Titans had reasons not to be cowed. They had stayed with Bradley through the first half in the first game, leading at one point 18-16 and trailing just 31-28 at the half before Bradley had pulled away in the Second half. And the Titans had been nearly invincible at home, winning 8 straight and 15 of 16 in Detroit over the past two years.
Like the earlier game in Peoria, this game was again close through halftime (it was 24 all at the break), but this time it was Titans’ turn to open the second half with a blistering run, and the Titans won going away. Brendan McNamara led the Titans with 15 points.
The loss was Bradley’s only defeat in conference play that season (they also lost to Purdue and Kentucky during the regular season), and the Braves actually finished the season ranked #1. In the post-season, Bradley and City College of New York made history by playing each other in the finals of both the NIT and the NCAA tourney, with CCNY winning each time. The perked up Titans went on to finish 7-5 in the Missouri Valley, their best finish in their 8 seasons in the conference, and 20-6 overall. There was considerable speculation about a post-season bid for the Titans but in the end none was not forthcoming.
Detroit’s starting five were Norm Swanson, John Kirwan, McNamara, Don Berner and Skippy Gleeson.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:28:50 GMT -5
Originally posted June 23, 2014.
And finally the top 10 Titan victories:
10. March 5, 1951: Detroit 62, #1 Oklahoma A&M 52. How often does any school defeat the top-ranked team in the nation twice, or even #1 and #2, in the same year? It can’t happen often, yet the 1951 Titans did just that, stunning top-ranked Bradley in January and then closing the season with this victory over Oklahoma A&M (known today as Oklahoma State), which was ranked #1 in the UPI and #2 in the AP. Making this achievement all the more remarkable is that this Titan club was just 15-14 on the season.
The Aggies had clubbed UD 62-37 in February and entered the game as heavy favorites. But the Titans, playing on their home floor, came out firing, sinking 16 of 20 shots in the first half to lead 38-30 at the break. Detroit stretched the lead into double digits early in the second half and had little trouble holding off the Aggies down the stretch. John Kirwan led the Titan scoring with 17 points and Walter Poff added 14. The Titans held Aggie All-American Gale McArthur to 6 points.
The season-ending loss left Oklahoma A&M at 27-3. The team went on to advance to the NCAA Final 4. It is probably fair to say that the Titans were more an underachieving team on the season than an overachieving team in the games with Bradley and A&M. Besides Kirwan, UD had some serious talent in sophomores Norm Swanson, who would go on to be a two-time All American, and Walter Poff, who would become an all-Missouri Valley Conference selection in the future. Don Berner and Skippy Gleeson were two-year starters, and Jerry Olsen and Jerry Raispis gave the Titans a solid bench. The club lost on the road to both Bradley and Oklahoma A&M, and twice to St. Louis, another conference foe ranked in the top 10 all season. They lost to #7 Villanova. No shame in those defeats. But they also lost to Westminster College, to Wayne State, to Valley cellar dwellers Drake (11-14), Tulsa (10-17), and Wichita State (9-16), and to an 8-14 Marquette club.
This win, over the #2 (AP)/#1 (UPI) team in the country is rated this low because it simply didn’t have much impact on UD basketball as compared to the other games in the top 10 on this list.
9. February 3, 1979: UD 91, #17 Georgetown 71 and 8. February 6, 1979: UD 64, #9 Marquette 63.
The Titans had just missed the NCAA tournament in 1978 despite a glittering 24-3 record, primarily because of their soft schedule. Coach Smokey Gaines had thought a victory at Georgetown in mid-February might clinch the bid, or a win over Marquette in the season’s final game, would clinch a bid, but the Titans lost by one at Georgetown and by 3 to Marquette, and ended up settling for the NIT.
The 1979 season began to shape up much the same way. The Titans were 15-4 and again on the edge, with a nice record but lacking the marquee wins the selection committee would want to see, as they headed into back to back games with 17th ranked Georgetown and at #9 Marquette three days later.
Against Georgetown, this time is was all Titans, start to finish. The Titans broke to an early 10-2 lead and the Hoyas never got closer than 5 points. It was 36-28 at the half, and then Detroit tore up the Hoyas in the second period. UD shot 55% from the floor and 25 of 32 from the line. Wilbert McCormick, the goat of the prior season’s loss to Georgetown, scored 22 to lead the Titans. Terry Duerod added 20 while Earl Cureton and Jerry Davis each chipped in with 12 points and Dave Niles had 10.
The Marquette game opened quite differently, with the 16-3 Warriors charging out to a 10 point lead in the opening minutes. Detroit closed the gap but still trailed 38-35 at the half. UD took the lead midway through the second half and stetched it six points, 56-50, on a Keith Jackson free throw with 8:10 remaining, but Marquette fought back to tie it at 58 on a Bernard Toone basket with less than six minutes to play. The teams traded baskets, and a Sam Worthen foul shot put the Warriors up 61-60 with 2:38 left. A minute later, Cureton hit two free throws to regain the lead for Detroit, but a Toone jumper from the top of the key with 40 seconds left put Marquette back on top, 63-62. Detroit called two time outs trying to set up a final shot. The game winner came when All-American Terry Duerod nailed a 22 footer from above the key with just 2 seconds on the game clock. Freshman forward Jerry Davis led Detroit with 15 – 13 in the first half while Detroit struggled to stay close - while Duerod finished with 14.
From Milwaukee, the Titans went home and celebrated their big week with a 135-77 blowout of outmanned CCNY, and entered the top 20 in the next week’s polls. The Titans finished the regular season at 22-5, and with the road wins over Georgetown and Marquette, there wasn’t much doubt about Detroit’s receiving its 2nd NCAA bid in three years.
7. March 13, 1998: Detroit 66, St. John’s 64 (NCAA). A lot changed in the 19 years between Detroit’s 1979 and 1998 NCAA appearances. Both the Titans and their first round opponent, St. John’s, were members of conferences that didn’t exist in 1979. College hoops had also completed a sea-change that began in the 1970s, with a clearer division between the haves and have-nots, created by lower travel costs, increased television exposure, the expansion of the NCAA tournament to include multiple teams from any given conference, and the nationalization of recruiting.
It wasn’t clear in the late 1970s which teams would make the cut. On the surface, there was no reason to think that urban schools such as DePaul, Temple, and St. John’s, let alone schools such as Xavier and Seton Hall, would make the big time while schools such as San Francisco and Detroit would not. In the late 70s, UD was one of the top 50 schools in attendance and was growing used to tournament play and national rankings. From the 1977 through 1979 seasons, the Titans were more often ranked than St. John’s. In 1978, UD averaged 3700 attendance more per game than St. John’s and nearly 4000 more than DePaul. Xavier was averaging fewer than 2000. UD was still even with St. John’s in 1980. But short-sightedness in the front office and the disastrous reign of AD Larry Geracioti and coach Willie McCarter had quickly exposed UD’s underlying weaknesses, notably lack of endowment and investment capital, aging facilities, and a declining hometown. Detroit sunk into the realms of what became known as “mid-majors,” as St. John’s rose to new heights, including a Final Four appearance in 1985. It would take another herculean effort by a personality very different from Vitale, Perry Watson, to bring UD back to some level of national prominence. Watson’s fifth season finally yielded fruit, as the Titans won their first MCC regular season title and snared an at-large bid and #10 seed in the NCAAs. There they prepared to face 7th seeded St. John’s in Chicago.
St. John’s drew first blood but the Titans went on a 10-0 run to grab an early 10-3 lead. St. John’s then rallied to lead 34-32 at the half. The early part of the second half saw four ties and three lead changes before Detroit took the lead for good at the 13:40 mark. The Titans’ led 63-56 with 39 seconds to play but St. John’s star Felipe Lopez sandwiched a pair of three pointers around two Derrick Hayes free throws to close to 65-62. Lopez was fouled on the second of his treys, but missed the foul shot. EJ Haralson came down with the rebound but a foot on the line, turning the ball over to St. John’s. Tyrone Grant, who led St. John’s with 14 points, then hit a pair from the line to bring the Johnnies to within one. St. John’s fouled Hayes on the Titans next possession, and Hayes made one of two with 11 seconds to go, setting up St. John’s for a final possession. But Lopez missed a 22 footer with 3 seconds left, and Zendon Hamilton’s tip on the rebound came after the buzzer.
Hayes, a senior and first team All-MCC selection, played perhaps his best game of the season, scoring 27 points on 10 for 14 shooting (including 3 of 3 from beyond the arc), and grabbed a team high 5 rebounds. No other Titan scored in double figures, but Jermaine Jackson tied Hayes for honors in rebounds, led UD with 6 assists, and added 8 points.
You can watch the final seconds of this game here: .
6. March 11, 1999: Detroit 56, #15 UCLA 53 (NCAA). The Titans finished the 1999 regular season second in the nation in scoring defense, and they showed why in this first round NCAA upset of 15th-ranked UCLA. Detroit’s smothering defense had UCLA confused all night. The Bruins shot just 38% from the field, turned the ball over 16 times, and held star JaRon Rush to just 2 of 11 from the floor. Detroit held the Bruins to just 21 points in the second half, and to just 13 in the final 15:23, to rally from a nine point deficit for the win.
UCLA opened the game with a 9-3 run, but Detroit came back behind MCC Player of the Year Jermaine Jackson and Darius Belin to take a 20-14 lead midway through the half. The tide then swung back to the Bruins, who led 32-30 at the half and opened the second period with an 8-1 run to lead 40-31. At that point, the Titan defense truly went to work, starting by holding UCLA scoreless for the next six minutes. Still, given the low-scoring nature of the game (UD hit just 33% from the field), the Bruins’ 48-42 lead with just over six minutes to play looked safe. But the Titans put the squeeze on again, holding UCLA scoreless for nearly four and a half minutes while taking a 49-48 lead on free throws by Bacari Alexander and Daniel Whye and a trey by Desmond Ferguson. A layup by Baron Davis put UCLA back on top, but Rashad Phillips hit two free throws to give the Titans the lead for good with 1:19 left. Davis fouled out and UCLA turned it over on its next possession, then missed on the possession after that. Finally, with the Titans up 51-50 and the shot clock down to 3 seconds, Whye threw in an awkward desperation shot with 12 seconds left to put the Titans up 3, and free throws by Desmond Ferguson and Bacari Alexander sealed the win. "We knew we were going to win when we were down by nine, and coach (Perry Watston) called timeout and gave us that look," Jackson said. "We had to come out like soldiers. We started taking it to the basket and making free throws."
The key to the Titan win, in addition to defense, was foul shooting, as Detroit outscored UCLA 18-5 from the line and hit 9 of its final 10 foul shots. Jackson led the Titans in scoring and rebounds with 17 points and 7 boards. Phillips added 16 points and 4 assists.
The final seconds of the UCLA game, starting with Whye’s off balance jumper, are here:
5. December 8, 1973: Detroit 70, Michigan 59. It was Dick Vitale’s rookie season in Detroit, and his first big game. Detroit had been competitive on the floor during Jim Harding’s last years – his last two clubs had gone a combined 34-15 and just missed the NIT each year - but disappointment over the early departure of Spencer Haywood, weariness with the seemingly endless player suspensions and controversies, and Harding’s own nasty personality had led to a steep decline in attendance. UD couldn’t afford to buy out Harding’s contract, but they were happy to see him go when it expired after the 1973 season.
New Coach Dick Vitale brought incredible enthusiasm, but it remained to be seen if that could transfer to on the court victories. Harding had not left the cupboard completely bare. Returning talent included the team’s MVP from 1973, a big forward named Owen Wells, a promising sophomore guard in Riley Dotson, and a good junior forward in Terry Thomas. Still, the Titans were thin and the preseason press predicted a dismal season for the Titans and their enthusiastic new coach. By the time the University of Michigan came to town in early December, the Titans had won their first three games of the season, but those victories - over Hillsdale, Cleveland St., and St. John’s of Ohio – were hardly unexpected. Whether UD could hang with the big boys… well, let’s just say there were more than a few doubters. Michigan entered the game 2-0, with double digit wins at Toledo and over Southern Illinois.
But before a packed house of 7485 at Memorial Building (nee Calihan Hall), the Titans jumped out to a 20-9 lead in the first seven minutes and never let up. By halftime, it was 44-30; four minutes into the second half, it was 53-35, and from there the Titans coasted home. The Titans couldn’t stop Michigan All-American Campy Russell, who scored 26 points on 11 of 23 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds, but Detroit smothered his teammates, who combined made just 13 of 46 shots from the floor. And Russell was outshone by Titan star Owen Wells, who connected on 15 of 25 from the floor and 8 of 9 from the line for 38 points, and had 9 rebounds to boot. Wells left the game with minutes remaining to a thundering ovation from the crowd and a big hug from Vitale. For the Titan faithful, this win indicated that the Vitale era was not going to be all hype and no substance. The Titans, projected to have a losing season, would go on to start the season 11-1, including wins over Michigan St. and Minnesota, on their way to a 17-9 finish. Michigan, meanwhile, while not ranked at game time, would go on to end the season ranked 6th in the country, it’s only other regular season losses at Indiana, at UCLA, and to Purdue, before losing to 3rd ranked Marquette by 2 in the NCAA. This victory made the acrimony of the Harding years a distant memory overnight, reignited fan interest in UD basketball, and set the stage for the Vitale era.
4. January 15, 1951: Detroit 70, #1 Bradley 65. In the 1950s, the Bradley Braves were one of college basketball’s great powerhouses. They had been ranked in the very first AP poll in January, 1949, and every poll since but one. They had closed the 1950 season ranked first in the country, and were one of the 15 winningest teams in college basketball in the prior decade. Bradley had reached the final four of the still very meaningful NIT in 1949, and were runners-up in both the NCAA and NIT tournaments in 1950. The defending Missouri Valley Conference champs were ranked 2nd in the first poll of the 1950-51 season, and a 15-0 start lifted them to the #1 ranking in January. The Titans were an upstart, but they were not chopped liver. They had joined the tough Missouri Valley Conference the year before, finishing third, and just missing the NIT tournament with an overall 20-6 record that included a 67-54 victory over the then 4th ranked Braves (Bradley’s only conference defeat). Led by sophomore center Norm Swanson, who averaged over 17 ppg, the 1950-51Titans also featured senior captain Brendan McNamara, who would finish second in the nation in assists, senior forward John Kirwan, who be a second-team all-conference selection, and a talented sophomore swingman in Walter Poff. McNamara, Kirwan, and Swanson had led the team in scoring in 1948, ’49, and ’50, respectively, so the Titans had plenty of offensive punch. But the Titans entered the game a disappointing 6-8, and had lost to Bradley in Detroit two weeks earlier. Bradley entered the game at 16-1, with its number ranking already in jeopardy after losing at # 11 St. John’s 68-59 4 days prior. But with a 25 game home court win streak, they were solid favorites against the Titans. And loss to St. John’s or not, they entered the game the nation’s #1 ranked team. The game was close and hard fought all the way. “Detroit was sky-high” said Bradley coach Forddy Anderson after the game. “My boys were pressing.” The lead changed hands 14 times, and there were nine ties. The Titans led by 5 at the half but with three minutes left in the game, Bradley inched out to a 65-62 lead. A hook shot by Swanson and a 20 footer by Kirwan put the Titans ahead for the final time. Detroit didn’t allow another point and went on to the 70-65 win. Swanson led all scorers with 26 points, with Kirwan and Poff each adding eight for the Titans. Bradley was led in scoring by center Elmer Behnke with 17 and All-American Gene Melchiore with 16. Bradley dropped to third in the next AP poll, yielding the top spot to MVC rival Oklahoma A&M, and eventually finished the season ranked 6th. It would be nice to say that the victory helped the Titans put it all together, but it didn’t – the Titans continued their inconsistent play, going 7-6 over the next 13 games before closing out the season with 3 wins, including a 62-52 season finale over Oklahoma A&M, which was then ranked second in the AP poll and first in the UPI. Swanson would go on to be named All-America in both the 1952 and 1953 seasons; Poff would be a second team all-MVC selection in 1953. This win is the Titan’s only victory ever over a #1 ranked opponent in the AP Poll, although as noted above, the Titans' defeated UPI #1 Oklahoma A&M later in the 1951 season.
3. February 26, 1972: Detroit 70, #2 Marquette 49. UD completely dismantled unbeaten, second-ranked Marquette in what could arguably be considered the most impressive performance ever by a Titan team. The Titan victory snapped Marquette’s 56 game regular season win streak, at that time the longest in NCAA history (and still the third longest in NCAA history), and moved the Titans into the national rankings (#18 in UPI) for the first time since the Spencer Haywood year.
The Titans had been playing good ball in Jim Harding’s third season, and entered the game at 16-5, including wins over #15 Ohio U., Boston College, Dayton, and St. Bonaventure. They had played Marquette very close in Milwaukee earlier in the season, losing 68-66. Moreover, Marquette was ripe for the upset. The Warriors had lost star center Jim Chones after it was discovered he had signed a pro contract. Thus this wasn’t really the team that gone undefeated through the season. On the other hand, the Warriors were hardly a one man team. The club still included 4 future NBA draft picks: Bob Lackey, a Helms All-America that season; junior center and future 7 year NBA player Larry McNeill; Marcus Washington; and Allie McGuire, the coach’s son. Even without Chones, Marquette had trashed a solid, Eddie Sutton-coached Creighton team earlier in the week. More to the point, it is simply doubtful that, in this game, Chones would have made a difference in the outcome.
The Titans shot 65% from the floor in the first half, leading by as much as 15 before settling for a 36-24 bulge at the half. A tenacious Titan defense rarely gave Marquette an open shot or a second chance opportunity. Any hopes of a Marquette comeback were quickly quashed in the second half, as Detroit quickly extended its lead, at one point to 28 points, before easing up and coasting home. Detroit’s balanced attack was led by Bill Pleas with 18, Frank Russell with 16, Cookie Marsh with 12, and Daryle Johnson with 11.
The Titans followed up this win with a victory over #20 Duquesne, but a loss to Western Michigan in the season finale, and the discovery that Detroit had unintentionally used an ineligible player (Johnson) for the season, led to the Titans being snubbed not only by the NCAA, but the NIT.
Still, few of the 8011 in attendance tdoubted that on this night, the Titans could have beaten any team in the country.
2. December 10, 1960: #9 Detroit 81, #3 Indiana 79 (2OT). Tom Villemure sank a 20 footer at the buzzer to defeat third ranked Indiana and gain the the Titans their highest poll ranking in school history. Indiana was also the highest ranked opponent Detroit would beat between their 1951 victory over #1/2 Oklahoma A&M and their 1972 win over #2 Marquette.
The Titans, led by Junior star Dave DeBusschere, entered the game having upset #6 Utah St. earlier in the week. Detroit jumped out to a 41-31 halftime lead, and extended that to lead to 12 points at the start of the second half. But Indiana came roaring back with a 14-2 run to tie the game at 45, and the lead went back and forth for the rest of regulation. With two minutes to go, the Titans led 69-66, but Hoosier forward Tom Bolyard sank 3 foul shots to tie the game at 69 at the end of regulation. Detroit led again late in the first overtime, 75-73, but this time a pair of foul shots by Gary Long tied it up and forced a second extra period. Indiana scored the first bucket in the second OT, and took the lead again at 79-77. A Charlie North tip-in tied it at 79, and Indiana failed to convert on two chances, leading to Villemure’s game winning shot from the corner.
North and DeBusschere (who was hampered by a pulled groin) led the Titans with 23 points apiece, and center John Morgan added 14 and Villemure 10. The Hoosiers were led by Bolyard with 18 and All-American center (and future Detroit Piston) Walt Bellamy with 17.
Detroit entered the game ranked 9th in the UPI poll (the AP had yet to conduct its first poll of the season). The victory boosted the Titans to #5 in the UPI and #3 in the AP the following week, the school’s highest ranking ever in either poll. But the Titans were walloped 83-64 by Purdue in their next game (future Piston Terry Dischinger scored 31 for the Boilermakers), dropping to 8th in the polls. Returning home, DeBusschere, now battling a cold as well as his pulled groin, scored a career low 8 points as the Titans beat Nebraska. Next, with DeBusschere looking, according to the AP, “dead on his feet,” UD defeated Gonzaga before a showdown with #1 ranked Ohio St. at Columbus. The Titans were game but with DeBusschere still ailing lost 84-73 (Charlie North led the club with 25 points), and a loss to Villanova the next week knocked them out of the top 20. Meanwhile, the Titans’ early season conquests lost some luster as the season went on – both Utah St. and Indiana dropped from the top 20 by New Year’s Day, and the teams finished the year 12-14 and 15-9, respectively. The Titans would eventually lose in the first round of the NIT, to Holy Cross.
1. February 16, 1977: #15 Detroit 64, #6 Marquette 63. Detroit headed to Milwaukee on a 20 game winning streak and a #15 national ranking (UPI, #19 AP). But the Titans felt that only a win over Marquette (#6 UPI, #9 AP) would secure an NCAA bid.
It didn’t look good at the outset for UD. Marquette scored 9 straight to take a 20-10 lead, and from there led most of the way. The Warriors were up 32-26 at the half and 43-36 with 13 minutes to go. The Titans, using an aggressive, trapping defense, hung tough, but it still appeared that Marquette was in control when Jerome Whitehead hit a pair of free throws to give the Warriors a 63-58 lead with three minutes to play. Then Jeff Whitlow hit a quick layup for Detroit, and, with Marquette trying to play keep-away, Whitehead dropped a pass from Bo Ellis and lost the ball out of bounds. Five seconds later Dennis Boyd hit a basket to cut the lead to one. Marquette again decided to hold the ball (pre-shot clock days), but with 35 seconds left John Long and Terry Tyler trapped Ellis, and Tyler swatted the ball away from Ellis and picked it up. “I’m just glad nobody called a foul” said Tyler after the game. “I think I may have hit him, but I know I also got the ball.” The Titans had no time-outs remaining, so the Titans had no opportunity for a set play. Boyd, at the point, looked for the team’s best shooters, Long and Terry Duerod, but when neither were open and he saw the clock at 4 seconds, he decided to let it fly. With two seconds left, Boyd did his patented “shake and bake” move, elevated from the top of the key, and as three Marquette players watched helplessly, the ball swooshed through the hoop as the buzzer sounded.
Long led the Titans with 20, Duerod had 16, and Boyd 14. Tyler was held to just 4 points but led the club in rebounds with 9. Dick Vitale kept a promise to his team to dance at center court after the Titan win: .
The game was a near mirror image of the 1976 game between the schools, won by Marquette on a last second jumper after a steal. That loss had probably cost UD a post-season bid. After this game, it was Marquette Coach Al McGuire who thought his Warriors, who had lost to DePaul earlier in the week, might not even make the tourney. In the end, of course, they not only got an invitation, they won it all. The Titans' 21 game win streak would be halted in their next game by Duquesne, but they had done enough to make the tourney, losing a heartbreaker in the Sweet 16 to #1 ranked Michigan. The Titans ended the season ranked 12th in the nation, our highest ever season ending rank. With a young, dynamic coach picking Detroit’s high school talent clean, it looked like the sky could be the limit for UD basketball.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 24, 2022 15:31:23 GMT -5
Some leftovers:
From May 26, 2015 I was browsing through some stuff and noticed another game I left totally off the list: on January 27, 1964, Detroit blitzed St. Bonaventure 111-81. It was, to that time, the most points ever scored against St. Bonaventure in a game. Dick Dzik led the way with 25 points and 28 rebounds. Dorie Murrey had 23 and Terry Page 21 for the Titans, who forced 24 turnovers out of the Bonnie. The blow-out win put the Titans at just 9-7-- we would finish 14-11. The Bonnies entered the game at 11-2, and would finish 16-8 after losing four of the their last 5, including a loss to Army in the first round of the NIT.
Another one that quite probably should have made the list was a February 20, 1963, 55-54 victory over NIT-bound Canisius. The Titans trailed by 10 early, but went on a big run to open the second half, taking a 49-37 lead. The Golden Griffs came back to cut the lead to a point, 53-52, with under two minutes remaining. Terry Page hit two free throws in the final minute to give the Titans a three point lead and they held on at the finish. Dzik led Detroit with 14 points. The Grifs finished 19-7 and were NIT runners-up, losing to Providence in the final.
From June 27, 2015 Every now and then I run across games I probably should have considered but did not. Here's one: Jan. 5, 1953. The Titans beat undefeated Wichita State (7-0) 64-62 in OT, moving into first place in the MVC. Walter Poff hit the game winning free throws with 2 seconds left. Disappointing finishes for both teams, though -- the Titans would lose their next 6 games en route to a disappointing 12-14 finish. Wichita was a year away, finishing 16-11; the next season Ralph Miller's first great squad went 27-4.
From June 7, 2020 Looking for some other stuff, here's a game I missed: January 6, 1961: Detroit 84, Seton Hall 79. The Titans snapped Seton Hall's 20 game home-court winning streak behind a fantastic night by Charlie North. North hit 14 of 17 shots from the field to finish with 31 points. The night's other hero was Frank Chickowski, whose tip in with 49 seconds left put the Titans up by three. On the Hall's next possession, Chickowski stole the ball and passed ahead to North for an easy layup and a 5 point lead. After Seton Hall missed a shot, Chickowski grabbed the rebound and dribbled the length of court to score Detroit's final basket and put the game out of reach. The DeBusschere kid was pretty good, too, with 26 points and 19 rebounds. Seton Hall finished the season at 15-9.
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Post by motorcitysam on Feb 28, 2023 13:41:49 GMT -5
Today is February 28, or as I like to call it, Beat Memphis State Day. 🙂 It was on this date in 1985 that the University of Detroit Titans defeated #4 Memphis State. Details are in this thread; The Commisioner placed it at #12 on the list.
I will be forever grateful that I was at Calihan for this one. I can still feel the excitement in the air. 🏀
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