Game to game decisions

By Marc Katz | Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 02:32 PM

FAIRBORN — Cooper Land was not a starter, but as Wright State basketball coach Brad Brownell said, “It’s never good to lose a guy who gives you double-figure minutes.”

That’s what Land was giving the Raiders, more than 16 minutes a game on the inside, which is where the Raiders are short on big men. Land, at 6-foot-8, is one of only two Raiders that tall (6-9 Ronnie Thomas is the other), and was also a guy who could take the ball outside and shoot.

Monday, Land tore his right ACL in practice and will miss the rest of the season. Surgery will be scheduled as soon as his knee swelling goes down.

Land not only played a lot of minutes for the Raiders, he averaged 5.5 points and 2.9 rebounds.

Thursday, WSU hosts Milwaukee and Saturday Green Bay visits. Both those teams beat the Raiders at their places, if barely. Green Bay won by two with two free throws in the final second of play. WSU lost at Milwaukee in overtime.

Without Land, 6-6 Scott Grote becomes the biggest bench man with the most minutes, while freshman Paul Darkwa at 6-7 will be expected to absorb more playing time.

Brownell said he would consider downsizing his lineup with more use of 6-4 freshman Tyler Koch as well.

“It will be game to game,” Brownell said. “A lot will depend on who we’re playing.”

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment

Land finished for season with knee injury

By Marc Katz | Monday, February 8, 2010, 07:09 PM

FAIRBORN — Junior forward Cooper Land will miss the rest of the season following an ACL injury to his right knee suffered in practice with the Raiders this afternoon.

He is expected to have surgery soon if preliminary reports of a tear are confirmed.

Land, who was averaging 5.5 points and scored in double figures three times, is one of the first big men off the bench for the 15-9 Raiders, who host UW-Milwaukee on Thursday and UW-Green Bay on Saturday.

Wright State lost on the road at both those places early last month, by two points at Green Bay in the final second and in overtime at Milwaukee.

Land, one of the Raiders’ best 3-point shooters, averaged 3.2 points as a freshman and 4.2 points last season.

He was also having his best season as a rebounder with an average of three a game.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment

Raiders have to find another way

By Marc Katz | Sunday, February 7, 2010, 02:17 AM

INDIANAPOLIS — All is not lost, but there is a realization now that this basketball season will not be the spectacular one Wright State envisioned.

With Saturday’s 74-62 loss at Butler, the Raiders are 15-9 and 8-5 in the Horizon League, this with a veteran team that has nine seniors and juniors coming off three straight seasons of 20 or more victories.

There are six regular-season games to play, plus the Horizon League tournament, ample time to get to 20 again, but the Raiders will have to win the HL tournament to get what they really want, an NCAA bid.

And that means not only winning enough in the tournament to get to Butler again, but trying, for the third time this season, to beat the Bulldogs in that tournament.

“We haven’t shown them we can play a full 40 minutes,” WSU coach Brad Brownell said. “We have to get better. We have to improve in the last month. We can’t be the same. Whether it’s some player, whether it’s something we’re doing in the system, we have to find something else. Just to come in here and throw a fast ball — that doesn’t mean we have to play differently, but we have to do something to be better in the last month if we’re going to beat them.”

For most of the game, WSU was as good — or better — than Butler. However, as has happened so many times before this season, the end of the first half and the beginning of the second got away from the Raiders.

A 29-29 tie turned into a 35-29 halftime deficit in little more than a minute. To start the second half, the Bulldogs went on a 10-2 run. It happened in a blink, the final 1:19 of the first half, the first 3:27 of the second. Less than five minutes of a 40-minute game.

It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. The Raiders faltered almost the same way at Northeastern, at Miami, at Green Bay, at Milwaukee. A little letdown at the end of the first half. A little letdown at the beginning of the second.

“I don’t know if there’s subbing involved, if we don’t have our starters on the court,” Brownell said. “It could be poor coaching for all I know. It could be a million reasons.”

It would be easy to say the Raiders had to play most of the game without their best inside player, Cory Cooperwood, who for the second straight game was called for his first foul in the first two minutes of play. Cooperwood managed to play only 12 minutes before fouling out. He scored eight points and grabbed two rebounds.

But Butler’s big man, Matt Howard, also was in foul trouble. He played just 16 minutes, yet managed 12 points and five rebounds — and Butler didn’t seem to miss him.

Sure, something has to change, and maybe it will. Butler ran roughshod over the league last year as well, and won two regular-season games against Cleveland State. In the HL tourney final, at Butler, CSU finally won.

Holding that up as a goal is what the Raiders have left to reach theirs.

Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment

Raiders can’t do it Butler’s way

By Marc Katz | Saturday, February 6, 2010, 09:53 PM

INDIANAPOLIS — Butler increased its personal winning streak over Wright State to six straight games and its overall winning streak this season to 12 in a 74-62 victory at Hinkle Fieldhouse this evening.

Vaughn Duggins led the Raiders with 18 points, his 12th straight game in double figures.

The victory put Butler on the brink of a fourth straight regular-season Horizon League championship and kept the Bulldogs undefeated in league play at 13-0.

Wright State failed in the way it has in most of its nine losses this season, allowing bursts of points at the end of the half and the beginning of the second half.

Butler closed the first half by scoring the final six points to take a 35-29 lead, and opened the second half with a 10-2 run.

The loss dropped WSU out of second place in league play and to a 15-9 overall and 8-5 league record. It also snapped a four-game winning streak.

Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment

Howards share friendly elevator

By Marc Katz | Friday, February 5, 2010, 05:53 PM

INDIANAPOLIS — Prior to today’s practice at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse (don’t know why there’s no “historic” sign on the building), Wright State radio broadcaster Chris Collins had an interesting discussion in the team hotel.

“There were a bunch of people on the elevator, and I asked if it was going up or down,” Collins said. “One lady noticed my WSU shirt and said, ‘Maybe you don’t want to get on with us. I’m Matt Howard’s mother and the rest of us are family, too.’”

Collins laughed and said it was okay. Howard in the 6-foot-8 junior center for Butler, the team WSU plays Saturday. The Howards are from nearby Connersville, Ind.

“What’s it going to take to get along with you?” Collins said. “I respect Butler and I respect your son, but I’m not changing my shirt.”

Everybody laughed.

Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment

Raiders hold off scoring run to top Valparaiso

By Marc Katz | Friday, February 5, 2010, 02:11 AM

INDIANAPOLIS — At least three times this season, Wright State has held big leads in the first half and went on to lose the games.

It happened at Northeastern in a non-conference game the Raiders led at one time by 14. It happened at Green Bay, where the Raiders were up by nine. It happened at Milwaukee, where the Raiders were up by 15.

All road games. All close losses — at the buzzer on a half-court shot at Northeastern, with .9 seconds to play on a questionable foul call in a tie game at Green Bay, and in overtime at Milwaukee with a final play in regulation went south for the Raiders.

Only the first part happened to the Raiders on Thursday at Valparaiso. The Raiders led by 15 with 2:41 to play in the first half.

Even after Valpo scored the final five points of the half to cut the lead to 10, it didn’t seem to matter. The Raiders were holding the highest-scoring team in the Horizon League to well below its average. Valparaiso, which had scored 82 or more points in each of its previous three games, was held to 21 in the first half.

Then, of course, Valpo came back.

N’Gai Evans and Vaughn Duggins made sure the Crusaders weren’t on top at the end.

Evans scored 11 of his team-leading 18 points in the final 8:04, and Duggins scored 13 of his 17 points in the final 10:12. Wright State won 75-71.

Their heroics lifted the Raiders into second place by themselves, as Detroit lost 63-58 at Butler, where the Raiders play Saturday.

Wright State hasn’t won at Butler since Jan. 22, 2005. Some of those games have been close — like the 62-57 loss in the Horizon League semifinals last season — but they have been losses.

Wright State knows two things. At some point, the Bulldogs have to be beat. Not doing so on Saturday only tightens the race for second even more. Six teams have no more than six losses in league play, with WSU and Cleveland State having the fewest losses at four.

Cleveland State, though, has played one less game than WSU.

WSU coach Brad Brownell was right when he said there are too many games left to rejoice over being in second place right now.

That may be so, but the Raiders know this. They are in control. If they win out — not easy to do — second place is theirs.

Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment

Raiders alone in second after victory

By Marc Katz | Thursday, February 4, 2010, 09:48 PM

VALPARAISO, Ind. — N’Gai Evans led a second-half comeback after Wright State squandered all of a 15-point first-half lead and the Raiders rallied to beat Valparaiso 75-71 in a key Horizon League game tonight.

The victory — with Evans scoring 18 points and Vaughn Duggins 17 — leaves the Raiders alone in second place in the league since Detroit lost to Butler tonight.

Saturday, WSU is at Butler for an 8 p.m. game on ESPN2.

When Valpo scored on a layup at the buzzer to end the first half, it brought to mind painful losses at Green Bay and Milwaukee for the Raiders, who held big first-half leads in those games, had their leads closed significantly at the half, then lost, by two points at Green Bay and in overtime at Milwaukee.

Valpo eventually took the lead, 40-39, with 12:28 to play, but the Raiders regained the lead on a 3-point Duggins shot to make it 44-43 and never trailed again with Evans making several game-saving plays.

Valpo had the ball trailing 74-71 with less than 10 seconds to play when on a loose ball, Ryan Broekhoff was called for a foul, giving WSU’s Todd Brown two free throws with 7.5 seconds to play.

While the crowd booed, Brown made the second free throw to finish the scoring.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment