"Green Hornet" Stinging for NOLA in Playoff Push

Former Detroit Titan standout Willie Green has led his New Orleans Hornets to the NBA playoffs-- and is making an immediate impact.  Green contributed an efficient eight points in just 13 minutes off the bench as the visiting Hornets nabbed a 109-100 Game One win over the Los Angeles Lakers in the First Round of the teams' series at the Staples Center Sunday. 

Some of his work down the stretch in the regular season propelled the Hornets into the seventh seed in the perennially-tough Western Conference.  Most notably in the run was a game on April 8 where Green connected on each of his first 12 shots en route to a season-high 31 points. 

"I knew I was in a rhythm. I knew I was in a zone," Green told the Associated Press after his franchise-record achievement. "But I didn't know I was 12-for-12. It was a good feeling. I had it going and I was trying to keep it going. I was just trying to be aggressive."

Green's next NBA regular season game will be his 500th in his eight-year career.  He carries a 9.3 points per game average over the length of his career.

Green played at Detroit from 1999-2003, leading the Titans to an NCAA tourney berth and two NIT tournaments including a NIT Final Four berth in 2001.

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Men's Basketball 2010-11 Top 10 Highlights: No. 5-1

5. Chase Simon Scores His 1,000th Collegiate Point
Junior guard Chase Simon scored a team-high 19 points, his final point giving him exactly 1,000 career collegiate points (freshman season at Central Michigan) in a 90-69 rout of Loyola in the Horizon League tourney opener.  Simon's efforts came as six different Titans registered double-digit point totals.  Simon will go into next season needing just 91 points to become the 35th Detroit player to reach 1,000 points at the school.

4. Two Titans Named to All-Horizon League Teams
Junior Eli Holman and freshman Ray McCallum (both pictured above) were each named to the All-Horizon League Second Team at the season's end.  Holman was also named to the league's All-Defensive Team and McCallum grabbed the conference's top newcomer award.  It marked the second straight season that Holman was recognized on the All-Defensive team and McCallum became the fifth Titan to win the HL's Newcomer of the Year since 1993.  He was also the first true freshman to land on an all-league team in Detroit men's basketball history.

3. Rashad Phillips Has His Jersey Retired.
Rashad Phillips, UDM’s all-time leading scorer, was honored pre-game on Nov. 19 in the home opener by having his jersey adorned in the Calihan Hall rafters, joining other Titan greats such as Bob Calihan, Dave DeBusschere, John Long and Terry Tyler.  Phillips led Detroit to two NCAA tournament appearances and an NIT Final Four berth.  The 5-foot-10 spark-plug racked-up an impressive 2,319 points in a UDM uniform, just the second Titan player to eclipse the 2,000-point plateau.  He is the school’s career leader in points, three-pointers (348) and free throws (541) and is second in steals (190).  He was a two-time League Player of the Year (2000, 01) and received the 2001 Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as the leading player in the nation standing six-feet-tall and under.  His #3 was ceremoniously passed to current guard Ray McCallum as part of the pre-game festivities.

2. Detroit Defeats First-place Cleveland State
Chris Blake's two free throws in the final second and Eli Holman's block of a desperation three at the buzzer led the host Detroit Titans to a 81-78 win over Cleveland State on Feb. 7 at Calihan Hall in one of the bigger wins of the season.  Four Detroit players finished in double figures with Blake adding 13 and Chase Simon chipping-in 10.  Ray McCallum, despite being in early foul trouble, scored nine points with seven assists. The Vikings came into the game atop the Horizon League standings and this loss damaged Cleveland State's bid for an NCAA at-large bid as the Vikes just missed out and were invited to the NIT as a No. 2 seed.

1. Detroit Wins at Wright State to Secure Home Playoff Game
Detroit used an 8-for-13 effort from the three-point line to grab a 77-67 win over host Wright State at the Ervin J. Nutter Center in the regular season finale on Feb. 25.  With the win, UDM clinched the fifth-seed in the Horizon League tournament, marking the first home playoff game for Detroit since 2006.  The win also gave the Titans their 10th Horizon League win of the season, most since 2003-04.