TV/Radio: ESPN+/980
Series: Wright State leads, 36-33
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 552-313 overall and 142-73 in seven years at Wright State.
Bart Lundy is in his first year at Milwaukee. He went 333-103 in nine years at Division II Queens University (N.C.), making seven NCAA tourney trips.
Probable Wright State starters
Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.
A.J. Braun 6-9 So. C 9.2
Brandon Noel 6-8 Fr. F 13.9
Amari Davis 6-2 Sr. G 10.8
Tim Finke 6-6 Sr. G 8.7
Trey Calvin 6-0 Sr. G 19.1
Probable Milwaukee starters
Ahmad Rand 6-8 Sr. F 7.8
B.J. Freeman 6-6 So. G 15.3
Kentrell Pullian 6-0 So. G 11.1
Markeith Browning II 6-4 So. G 10.1
Elijah Jamison 6-3 Fr. G 7.1
About Wright State: The Raiders put together perhaps their best performance of the year in a 78-74 overtime win at Milwaukee on Jan. 14. Calvin shared scoring honors with Noel with 23 points, including eight of the team’s nine in OT. He’s topped 20 points in seven of his last nine games and is averaging 22.6 in that span. … The Raiders went into the week fifth nationally in field-goal shooting at 50.2%. Noel is first in the Horizon League (by a wide margin) and 15th nationally at 63.2%. … They’re coming off their best foul-shooting effort of the season, going 21 of 23 (91.5%) in an 85-77 loss to Cleveland State. Sub Andrew Welage is the team leader in free-throw accuracy (18 of 19 for 94.7%) and 3-point shooting (18 of 37 for 48.6%). … The Raiders average 15.3 turnovers, four more than their opponents. That’s on pace for their worst showing in at least 17 years (the school’s online records only go back to 2006-07). Their worst average under Nagy is 13.1 twice.
About Milwaukee: The Panthers are the surprise team in the league. They were picked ninth in the HL preseason poll, ahead of only Green Bay and IUPUI. They’re coming off six straight losing seasons, including 10-22 last year. They had an impressive 88-75 home win over Youngstown State in their last outing. Freeman, a junior-college transfer, had 30 points and 11 assists. He also had 26 points against Robert Morris two days earlier and earned his second HL player of the week award this season. … The Panthers are tied for first with Northern Kentucky at 8-2. It’s their best 10-game league start since going 9-1 in 2005-06. … Their season seemed to turn on four consecutive league wins starting New Year’s Eve, all by five points or fewer, three of them on the road. They lost after that to Wright State, but they rallied from 16 down in the final 10 minutes in that game to force OT. They’ve won two straight since then.
Next game: The Raiders host Green Bay at 7 p.m. Saturday. They’ll have eight regular-season games after that, six on the road.
About the Author