Purdue Fort Wayne
Detroit Mercy
'Dons Play at Detroit Mercy With a Chance for a Regular Season Title
2/25/2022 12:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game Day Information
Who: Purdue Fort Wayne (19-10, 14-6 Horizon) at Detroit Mercy (13-13, 10-6 Horizon)
When: Saturday, February 26 | 1 p.m. ET
Where: Detroit, Mich. | Calihan Hall
Listen: 1380 The Fan
Live Stats: Link
Watch: ESPN+
Game Notes: Purdue Fort Wayne (PDF) | Detroit Mercy
POSTSEASON INFO:
// The 'Dons have clinched a top four seed in the 2022 Keeps Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship and a bye in the first round.
// The 'Dons will open with a quarterfinal game Thursday, March 3rd in a 7 p.m. tip at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
// Tickets will go on sale Monday, February 28th at 10 a.m. ET via Ticketmaster.
KNOW YOUR FOE:
// Leading scorer: Antoine Davis (23.6 ppg)
// Head coach: Mike Davis
// Detroit-Mercy picked up a win over first-place Cleveland State on Thursday 74-67. The Titans are a perfect 8-0 at home this season.
// The 'Dons lead the all-time series 3-2, including a 62-60 win in Fort Wayne earlier this season.
A WIN WOULD...:
// ... give the Mastodons a share of the 2022 Horizon League Regular Season Championship if Cleveland State falls to Oakland on Saturday.
// ... clinch the No. 2 seed in the Keeps 2022 Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship for the 'Dons.
// ... give the 'Dons their fourth 20-win season as a Division I member.
// ... be the Mastodons' ninth straight victory. The last time they won nine in a row was the 1992-93 season.
ON THE EIGHT-GAME WIN STREAK:
// The Mastodons' eight-game win streak is the longest in Division I program history. The program record for consecutive wins is the 1988-89 team that opened the season 11-0.
// All eight wins have come in February, it is the first time the 'Dons have won eight games in February as a Division I member. The last time they did it was in February 1993 when the 'Dons went 8-1. The 'Dons have never won nine games in any month. Per sports-reference.com, only nine times since 2010-11 has a Division I team won nine or more games in the month of February.
// The 'Dons are giving up only 63.5 points per game in regulation in the seven wins, this excludes the 15 minutes of overtime against Cleveland State.
// The 'Dons are shooting 42.0 percent (84-of-200) from three.
// Four 'Dons are averaging in double-digits: Jalon Pipkins (16.1), Jarred Godfrey (13.4), Damian Chong Qui (12.3) and Deonte Billups (10.6).
// The 'Dons are forcing 16.4 turnovers per game and recording 9.5 steals a game.
// The 'Dons are out-rebounding opponents 32.9 to 31.3.
// The Mastodons overcame double-digit deficits in three games: Milwaukee at home (10), UIC (11) and Cleveland State (14).
// Deonte Billups has made two or more 3-pointers in each of the eight games.
// Four different players have led the team in scoring.
'DONS AND ENDS:
// Saturday's contest at Detroit Mercy will be Jon Coffman's 250th game as Mastodon head coach. He enters the game with a 137-112 career record. He is already the Mastodons' all-time leader in Division I coaching victories. However he is nearing the program record for career wins. That total is held by Andy Piazza who went 142-108 with the 'Dons from 1987 to 1996.
// The 'Dons are receiving votes in the latest Mid-Major Top 25 Poll.
// The 'Dons finished the regular season 13-2 at home this season. The last time the 'Dons won 13 games at home in a season was 2017-18 when they went 13-3 in the Summit City. A year prior in 2016-17, the 'Dons were 14-3 at home.
// Cameron Benford set a new program record for games played when he entered the game on Feb. 10 against IUPUI. Benford has now played in 138 games. The previous record holder was current Memphis Grizzlies member John Konchar at 133.
// When Cameron Benford started on Senior Night on Monday, it broke a streak of the same starting five for 25 straight games. The 'Dons entered the contest as one of seven teams in the nation to make it that far in the season with the same starting five.
// Johnathan DeJurnett, who scored 12 total points last season in his freshman season, has 70 this season. He played a season-high 19 minutes on Feb. 18 at Green Bay.
// The 'Dons have held a lead for at least five minutes in every game this season except for losses at SIUE and at Wright State.
// Seven different players have led the team in scoring for a game this season. That ties a single-season high for a Mastodon team under head coach Jon Coffman. The 2019-20 team also had seven scoring leaders.
// When Jalon Pipkins shoots better than 50 percent from the floor, the 'Dons are 9-0 this season.
// Freshman JoJo Peterson scored a career-high 11 points at Milwaukee (Feb. 20). Over the last four games he is 7-of-10 from three.
// Per KenPom, the 'Dons are the 20th most experienced team in the nation.
// The Mastodons rank 14th in the nation in 3-pointers per game (9.9).
// The 'Dons are the only team in the league with three players in the top 10 in made 3-pointers: Jarred Godfrey (3rd, 64), Deonte Billups (63, 4th) and Bobby Planutis (T-7th, 55).
// Per KenPom, the Mastodons recorded the highest Effective field goal percentage in program history (77 percent) in the home win over Robert Morris (Jan. 21).
ON THE HOME CLEVELAND STATE WIN:
// KenPom's excitement ranking is "a measure of how much the win probability changed over the course of a game." The Cleveland State victory had a value of 4.01, the third highest of every game played in the nation this season.
// Jalon Pipkins played a career-high 51 minutes in the game, making him the 12th player in NCAA Division I this year to play 51 or more minutes in a game.
// The 'Dons forced a season-high 24 turnovers against a Division I opponent.
// The 'Dons recorded 15 steals. The last time the 'Dons recorded 15 steals against a Division I program was Jan. 10, 2019 at home against Oral Roberts.
// The game was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter as Scott Van Pelt's "Best Thing I Saw Today"
DO GET DEFENSIVE:
// In league play only, the 'Dons own a 97.8 defensive efficiency according to KenPom, the best in the Horizon League.
// The 'Dons have 13 games of double-digit steals this season, including nine in the last 13 games.
// The 'Dons have given up 70 points in only five of the last 13 games.
// The Mastodons allowed 74.0 points per game through the first 11 contests of the season. Over the last 18 the 'Dons are giving up 66.1 per game.
// The 'Dons are giving up 69.1 points per game on the season. Only nine times in program history have the 'Dons finished a season giving up less than 70.0 points per game. They've done it only five times as a Division I program.
// The 55 points the Mastodons allowed to Green Bay on Feb. 6 and Feb. 18 stand as their best defensive performance of the season against a Division I team.
// The 'Dons are 22nd in the nation in steals per game (8.9) and 12th in total steals (257).
FROM THE LINE:
// The 'Dons are 36th in the nation in the Horizon League in free throw shooting (76.0 percent). The program record for single-season free throw percentage came in 2010-11 at 77.2 percent.
// Free throw shooting in league play: Jarred Godfrey (43-of-52), Jalon Pipkins (50-of-56), Bobby Planutis (21-of-22), Damian Chong Qui (39-of-47) and Deonte Billups (18-of-25).
// The Mastodons shot 16-of-16 from the free throw line on Dec. 2 against Wright State. It stands as the most free throws the Mastodons have made in a Division I contest while connecting on 100 percent of their attempts.
TURN, TURN, TURN:
// The 'Dons have six single-digit turnover games this season.
// The Mastodons are forcing 15.97 turnovers per game, 23rd best in the nation and first in the league.
// The Mastodons' 2.1 turnover margin ranks 65th in the nation
~ Feel the Rumble ~
