TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo men's basketball team (27-8, 16-2 MAC in 2022-23) opens its 109th season on Monday, Nov. 6 when it hosts Horizon League foe Detroit Mercy (14-19, 9-11 HL in 2022-23). The Rockets and Titans will tip off at 7:00 p.m. in Savage Arena with streaming on ESPN+. The Rockets are 38-4 in Savage Arena over the last three years and will be looking to continue their recent home-court success.

Toledo is coming off a season where it became the first current Mid-American Conference program to win three consecutive outright league titles. UT will be looking to continue a run of success that has seen it post a 139-59 (.702) record over the last six years. Toledo's 139 wins during this time period rank 18th in the country. In addition, the Rockets' 74 wins over the last three years rank 13th in the nation.

Toledo returns two starters from last year's squad with junior guards Dante Maddox Jr. and Ra'Heim Moss. Maddox is UT's top returning scorer with 11.3 ppg and a MAC-best 45.1 three-point field-goal percentage, while Moss has started all 69 games in his Rocket career and averaged 8.5 ppg and 4.2 rpg last season.

Another veteran guard the Rockets can turn to is junior Tyler Cochran, who played only nine games last season due to a toe injury. Cochran averaged 11.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg and a MAC-best 2.0 spg for Ball State in 2021-22 before transferring to Toledo.

Detroit Mercy welcomes 11 newcomers to its program and was picked ninth in the Horizon League's preseason poll following the graduation of the Titans' all-time leading scorer Antoine Davis (3,664 pts.). Davis finished just three points shy of Pete Maravich's NCAA career scoring record and led the nation with 28.2 ppg. Senior guard Jayden Stone (13.9 ppg, 51.9 3PTFG%) is the Titans' lone returning starter.

Toledo has won its last five meetings vs. Detroit Mercy, including an 81-73 win in its home opener in the 2021-22 season. Ryan Rollins led the Rockets to the victory with 19 points, with JT Shumate tallying a double-double (17 pts., 11 reb.).

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Monday, Nov. 6, 2023.
Tip-Off: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Toledo, Ohio.
Arena: Savage Arena (7,014).
Streaming: ESPN+. Mason Lowry will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Rhett Boyd serving as analyst.
Radio: Rocket Radio Network. WSPD (1370 AM) in Toledo. Mark Beier will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Jay Lehman serving as analyst.
 
SERIES
Toledo leads 37-25. Toledo has won its last five matchups vs. the Titans, including home wins in 2016 (73-65), 2018 (101-57) and 2021 (81-73). Toledo's last loss to Detroit was a 75-72 road setback in 2015.

A LOOK AT THE ROCKETS
Toledo captured its 11th Mid-American Conference title in program history last season to become the first current MAC program to capture three straight outright MAC titles. The Rockets have registered five 20-win seasons in the last six years as well as seven 20-win campaigns in the last 10 seasons. Last year, the Rockets tied a school record with 27 victories, matching the total by the 2013-14 squad. 

Twelve of Toledo's 16 MAC victories last season were by seven points or more. In 2021-22, UT won 15 of its 17 league triumphs by eight points or more. In the 2020-21 season, 13 of Toledo's 15 MAC victories were by nine points or more. 

Toledo is ranked No. 24 in the CollegeInsider.com's Mid-Major Top 25 Preseason Poll after finishing last season with a No. 12 ranking.
 
TOLEDO RANKING AMONG TOP 20 IN WINS IN LAST SIX YEARS
• Toledo's 139 wins since the start of the 2017-18 season are tied for 18th in the country. The Rockets were 23-11 in 2017-18, 25-8 in 2018-19, 17-15 in 2019-20 and 21-9 in 2020-21, 26-8 in 2021-22, and 27-8 last year.
• Toledo ranks first in the MAC during this stretch, 10 more than Buffalo's total of 129 victories. Kent State is third with 115 wins. The Rockets are also the only MAC school to win 13 or more league games in five of the last six seasons.
 
TEAM TIDBITS
•  Toledo has won its home opener in each of the last 12 years. The last time UT lost a home opener was a 57-51 loss to UIC on Nov. 19, 2010 in Coach Kowalczyk's first year at UT.
•  The Rockets opened their season at home last year for the first time since 2017 when UT posted a 98-87 victory over Saint Joseph's.
•  Toledo is the only MAC school to win 13 or more league games five of last six years.
•  Toledo has had an eight-game win streak or longer in each of the last three years. UT registered a school-record 17-game winning streak last year, a nine-game unbeaten stretch in 2021-22 and an eight-game unblemished streak in 2020-21.
•  The Rockets were the fourth program ever to capture at least a share of three straight MAC titles, matching Cincinnati (1947-51), the 1979-81 Toledo squads and Kent State (2002-04).

HOME SWEET HOME
• Toledo is 38-4 (.905) over the last three seasons in Savage Arena. The Rockets' defeats have come at the hands of Ball State last year, Dayton and Kent State in the 2021-22 season and Bowling Green in the 2020-21 campaign.
• The Rockets' home records over the last three years are 13-1 (2022-23), 13-2 (2021-22) and 12-1 (2020-21).
• The Rockets' unbeaten home mark (15-0) under Coach Kowalczyk in 2013-14 was their first since 1966-67 and just the fourth time in school history UT accomplished the feat.
 
ROAD WARRIORS
The Rockets have posted a 26-14 (.650) win-loss mark in road games since the start of the 2020-21 season. Toledo possesses a 50-34 (.595) win-loss mark on enemy courts since the start of the 2017-18 season.
 
ON THE HORIZON
Toledo will play its first game of this year's MAC-Sun Belt Challenge when it hosts defending Sun Belt Conference tournament champion Louisiana (26-8, 13-5 Sun Belt). The Ragin' Cajuns were picked fifth in the Sun Belt Preseason Coaches Poll, with junior guard Themus Fulks being named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference Team. The second MAC-SBC Challenge contest for each team will take place on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, with the matchups based on real-time NET rankings and announced in January.