Rivals Oakland, Detroit Mercy kick off wild day for Detroit sports

Posted by Admin January 17, 2025 Sports

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Detroit ― The Lions are the obvious headliners Saturday.

The playoff game at Ford Field against the Washington Commanders will cap off what is an impressive day in Detroit sports, including Pistons-Phoenix Suns at Little Caesars Arena at 4 p.m. and Oakland-Detroit Mercy at Calihan Hall at 1 p.m.

The Metro Series men’s basketball game is the first for new Titans head coach Mark Montgomery, a Metro Detroit native who coveted this very job, in large part, for games ― and days ― like this.

“We start at 1, and everyone else follows,” Montgomery said in his Calihan Hall office, before practice Friday. “So, a big day of sports in the state of Michigan, in the Detroit area. This is gonna be fun.”

The season hasn’t been a whole lot of fun for either team, at least from a record perspective. Oakland, coming off an NCAA Tournament win over Kentucky, is 7-12 and 4-4 in the Horizon League, thanks to a roster that features 11 new players and having to grind through a daunting schedule of the who’s who of power-conference foes. Detroit Mercy, meanwhile, is 6-13 overall and 2-6 in league, with the struggle becoming real lately amid a slew of key injuries, some of them season-enders.

Detroit Mercy, which has improved over last season’s historically awful 1-31 season, is getting some good news on the injury front, though. Junior point guard Orlando Lovejoy (Detroit) and junior forward Legend Geeter (River Rouge), transfers from Eastern Michigan, are both expected to be back in the lineup against Oakland.

Both have been out the last two games with ankle injuries; Lovejoy missed both games, Geeter missed one full game and played limited minutes in the other. In the last game, at Purdue Fort Wayne, Detroit Mercy actually started five freshmen, something that’s unheard of in today’s game.

“I’ve always said as a coach, I don’t care if you’re a freshman, if you’re a sophomore, if you’re a fifth-year guy, we’ve got to put the five best on the floor,” Montgomery said. “We made a little history.”

Detroit Mercy tied the game at Purdue Fort Wayne early in the second half, before PFW pulled away, 90-67, to hand the Titans their third straight loss, and eighth in the last nine games. Detroit Mercy is averaging just over 61 points a game over the last three games, but at least gets back its leading scorer in Lovejoy (16.1 points). It’s second- and third-leading scorers, Mak Manciel and Jared Lary, are out for the season with injuries.

A scuffling offense isn’t a great recipe against Oakland’s unique zone defense, which gives all opponents fits at the power-conference and mid-major levels.

The Golden Grizzlies, led by the best big men tandem in the Horizon League in seniors Buru Naivalurua and Allen Mukeba, have their own issues on offense, though, after losing five of their top six scores from last season. They haven’t found that consistent threat from 3-point range, a staple in head coach Greg Kampe’s system, and one possible threat, senior Malcolm Christie, is still out with a hand injury.

“Our half-court defense, I think, has become elite,” said Kampe, in his 41st season at Oakland. “But our offense is so bad, we don’t get to play half-court defense.”

Oakland has won two in a row and three of its last five, all in Horizon League play, after giving away a couple games at a holiday tournament in Hawaii, to Oregon State and Hawaii. Six of the Golden Grizzlies’ losses this season have come in games in which they had double-digit point leads. So finishing hasn’t been a strength.

Finishing against Detroit Mercy hasn’t been an issue in recent years. Oakland leads the all-time series, 20-15, and has won 14 of the last 16 games. It has won nine straight at Calihan Hall, with Detroit Mercy last beating Oakland on its own court in 2015. That was four Detroit Mercy head coaches ago.

Kampe isn’t worried about the history, though. He’s worried about the present, and trying to get Oakland established in a Horizon League it won (both the regular-season and tournament titles) a season ago.

“You know, I think the excuse time is over,” Kampe said. “It’s the middle of January now. It’s time to play. … I think we have a very high ceiling, but we’ve also proven we have a very deep low floor.

“We’ve gotta find a consistency level.”

The matchup features the worst (Oakland) and second-worst (Detroit Mercy) scoring offenses in the Horizon League. The rivals will play again Sunday, Feb. 16, at the O’Rena.