TV/Radio: ESPNU/980
Series: Wright State leads 28-16
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 144-75 in seven years at Wright State and 554-315 in 28 years overall. Darrin Horn is 70-42 in his fourth year at Northern Kentucky and 241-143 in 13 years overall.
Probable Wright State starters
Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.
Brandon Noel 6-8 Fr. F 12.7
Alex Huibregtse 6-3 So. G 7.8
Tim Finke 6-6 Sr. G 8.4
Trey Calvin 6-0 Sr. G 20.0
Andrew Welage 6-6 Jr. G 6.2
Probable Northern Kentucky starters
Chris Brandon 6-8 Sr. F 6.5
Sam Vinson 6-5 So. G 11.0
Trey Robinson 6-6 Jr. G 6.7
Marques Warrick 6-2 Jr. G 18.3
Xavier Rhodes 6-1 Sr. G 8.1
About Wright State: In the Raiders’ first game with Northern Kentucky, Calvin scored 31 points, but he didn’t get much help. Amari Davis was the only other player in double figures with 10. … NKU is the lone Horizon League team with a winning record against Nagy at 9-7. … Calvin has one of only 25 40-point games in Division I this season with 44 against Youngstown State last week. It’s also the first by a Raider in Nagy’s tenure. He could fight off Warrick to finish second in the league in scoring, but he won’t catch Antoine Davis at the top. The Detroit Mercy star went into Thursday’s game at Milwaukee leading the country with a 26.6 average. At 3,399 career points, he could conceivably make a run at Pete Maravich’s all-time record of 3,667. He’d need to average 38.2 points in the last seven games, counting one game in the league tourney. If the Titans win their first game and play eight, he’d need to average 33.5. Of course (asterisk alert), the legendary Maravich played just three seasons and averaged 44.2 points, while Davis has played five.
About Northern Kentucky: The Norse get the benefit (perhaps) of preparing all week for the Raiders. Their last game was a 74-56 road loss at Youngstown State on Saturday. … The defeat dropped them out of a first-place tie. They also lost, 75-74, at home to Milwaukee a week earlier, squandering a 21-point lead with 16:27 to go. Those three teams are likely to battle the rest of the way for the No. 1 seed in the league tourney. … Trevon Faulkner, a former all-league pick, has been coming off the bench most of the season and has turned into one of the top sixth men in the league with an 8.6 average. … The Norse, primarily a zone team, have the top defense in the league, giving up just 63.4 points per game. They’re sixth nationally in steals at 9.7 per game. But zones mean fewer box-outs, and they’re one of the HL’s weakest rebounding teams with a margin of minus-1.5 per game.
Next game: The Raiders finish the regular-season with four road games, starting at Cleveland State at 7 p.m. Friday.
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