Sunday, November 15th, 3:05 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Calihan Hall (8,295) -- Detroit, Michigan. Television: None. Home Record: WMU 0-0, Detroit 0-0. Away Record: WMU 0-0, Detroit 0-1. Neutral Record: WMU 0-0, Detroit 0-0. Conference Record: WMU 0-0, Detroit 0-0. Series Record: Detroit leads, 27-23.

GAME NOTES: The Western Michigan Broncos will begin their new campaign this evening when they take on the Detroit Titans this evening at Calihan Hall.

The Broncos will try to erase the memory of their 21-loss campaign from a year ago when their season tip offs tonight. Unfortunately making significant strides forward will be tough for Western Michigan, which has a roster filled with young, inexperienced players.

As for the Titans, they already played their first game this season, but the team would like to forget its 95-61 setback to California in Berkeley. The last two seasons have been difficult for the Titans as the team tallied just 14 total wins. Last year Detroit dropped 23 games, and finished a mere 2-16 in Horizon League action.

The Titans hold a slim, 27-23 edge over Western Michigan in the all-time series, but the Broncos have won the last two meetings, including a 71-58 victory over Detroit last year in Kalamazoo.

The Broncos struggled to find production offensively this past season, as the team averaged just 61.9 ppg. Western Michigan does return its top player in David Kool, but after him there is not much experience. Kool poured in 17.9 ppg a year ago, but for the Broncos to have any success this season the guard will have to carry the team on his shoulders. Joining Kool in the backcourt will likely be Mike Douglas, who played sparingly last season but has tremendous talent and ability. Also look for freshmen Brandon Pokley and David Brown to be thrown into the mix this evening. The frontcourt is a completely different story as the success of the Broncos down low will rest on the shoulders of Donald Lawson. The 6-10 senior dealt with some heart conditions a year ago, but he looks healthy and will likely start the opener for the Broncos.

The Titans did little offensively to prove they are capable of improving on last season's win total. Detroit shot just 35.1 percent from the field in the loss to Cal, and finished the game just 4-of-18 from long range and 17-of-27 from the foul line. Chase Simon led the way in the loss with 17 points and six rebounds, while Eli Holman posted 15 points, to go along with seven boards. Thomas Kennedy added 14 points, while Xavier Keeling pulled down a team-best eight caroms, but finished with just six points. Keeling, who led the team last year with 12.6 ppg, will need to play at a higher level if Detroit is going to have any success. Along with Keeling, Kennedy will also need to shoulder most of the load, because the remainder of the roster is rather inexperienced.

Neither team has a ton of talent on its respective roster, but the Broncos have Kool, and he is clearly the best player on the floor in this matchup. Expect WMU's senior guard to lead the Broncos to a slim win on the road.

Predicted Outcome

Western Michigan 66, Detroit 61