Detroit Faces Tough Road Test at Youngstown State

Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Jan. 7)

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Something's got to give on Thursday night when the Detroit Titans visit Youngstown State Penguins.

At 77.3 points per game, Detroit boasts the Horizon League's highest-scoring offense -- but YSU ranks second at 72.5 ppg. The matchup of premiere offenses features two of the top guards in the Horizon League in Ray McCallum and Kendrick Perry, both of whom are only juniors. McCallum, the two-time defending Preseason Player of the Year, leads the conference at 18.9 points per game -- but First-Team All-Leaguer and defending Player of the Week Perry is in second place at 16.5 ppg and led the League last season.

On Thursday, the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame named McCallum one of 20 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, annually given to the nation's top point guard. Perry was among the initial four Horizon League nominees with McCallum, Green Bay's Keifer Sykes and Loyola's Cully Payne before the cut down to 20.

A year after Detroit knocked off Youngstown State in the 2012 Horizon League Tournament en route to the League championship, both teams are looking to prove they belong in the championship conversation once again. So far in Horizon League play, Detroit has cruised to a pair of easy home wins. But the Titans are just 1-5 on the road this season and, if the first week-plus of conference play has been any indication, road wins will not be easy to come by.

In 12 Horizon League games so far, only three away teams have been victorious. Youngstown State picked up one of those road wins last Saturday at Loyola when Perry hit a game-winning jumper with less than five seconds left. (In a happenstantial aside, the Ramblers had  picked up the first road win by beating Valpo at the ARC -- then the Crusaders picked up a road win last night at UIC.)

In that win over Loyola, Penguins center Damian Eargle tallied a game-high 20 points and was credited with six blocked shots. The 6-7 senior now has 53 blocks this season, more than 192 Division-I teams have managed to compile, including six Horizon League members.

Detroit tends get a lot of points at the rim from forward Nick Minnerath and dunk-machine Doug Anderson, but Eargle's defensive affinity could force the Titans to turn their offense inside out. That would make McCallum (first in HLMBB with 4.9 assists per game), senior guard Jason Calliste (seventh in HLMBB at 13.5 ppg) and junior forward Juwan Howard, Jr., (third in HLMBB with a 44.6 3-point percentage) all the more vital to Detroit's chances.

"I think it's going to be really exciting," Perry said of the matchup in an interview with HLN. "You've go two teams that can get up and down [the court], that love to run, that can scored and can play defense going at it. With how competetive the [Horizon League] is, every game counts. If we take care of business at home, I think we'll be in great shape once tournament time comes around."

Tonight's matchup can been seen on HLN.

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