TV/Radio: ESPN+/980-AM
Series: Wright State leads 35-33
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 122-59 in his sixth year at Wright State and 532-299 in his 27th year overall. Will Ryan, a former Wisconsin assistant and son of the legendary Bo Ryan, is 12-35 in his second season at Green Bay and 26-48 in three seasons overall.
Probable Wright State starters
Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.
A.J. Braun 6-7 Jr. F 6.8
Grant Basile 6-9 Jr. F 17.5
Tanner Holden 6-6 Jr. G 20.6
Tim Finke 6-6 Jr. G 8.7
Trey Calvin 6-0 Jr. G 14.2
Probable Green Bay starters
Cade Meyer 6-8 Fr. F 8.3
Emmanuel Ansong 6-4 Jr. F 11.9
Ryan Klaflin 6-6 Fr. F 2.2
Kamari McGee 6-0 Fr. G 10.3
Nate Jenkins Jr. 6-2 So. G 4.7
About Wright State: The Raiders are in third place in the Horizon League with seven games to go. They have a .733 winning percentage, trailing 12-2 Cleveland State, which has an .857 winning clip, and 9-3 Oakland, which is at .750. … They won the first meeting with Green Bay, 72-69, on Calvin’s game-deciding 3-pointer. Nagy wasn’t on the sidelines because of Covid-19. Lucas Stieber had 22 points for the Phoenix, which shot 51% from the field. After Calvin’s trey, GB had two 3-pointers in the final 20 seconds but couldn’t connect. … The Raiders’ assist numbers are going up. They had 23 on 31 baskets against Purdue Fort Wayne to start their three-game winning streak and have averaged 19 in that span. In their 21 previous games, their highest totals were 19 against Youngstown State and 20 against UIC. Holden and Calvin are tied for the team lead with 68, while Finke has 64. … The Raiders have out-rebounded 10 of their last 11 opponents and have a positive rebound margin for the season at plus-0.9. They’ve had to climb out of a huge hole after getting battered on the boards by Purdue, 56-23, on Nov. 16.
Honorees: The Raiders have more HL player of the week awards than any other team. Basile has won it three times, including Monday, and Holden once. Oakland’s Jamal Cain has won all three of his team’s awards.
About Green Bay: The Phoenix has lost four straight games and is lurking near the bottom of the league standings. Its only non-league win came against Division-III UW-Superior. It sorely misses former Trotwood-Madison star and all-league guard Amari Davis, who transferred in the offseason and is Missouri’s second-leading scorer at 10.3 per game. He once scored 35 against the Raiders. … Donovan Ivory, a 6-6 guard who transferred from Boise State, was tied for the team lead in scoring with an 11.9 average but left the program for undisclosed reasons in late January. At least two other role players have been out for several weeks. That means four of the team’s top five scorers are either freshmen or redshirt freshmen. … The Phoenix finished seventh in the league last season and were picked 11th out of 12 teams in the preseason poll. … Meyer was named league freshman of the week Monday after averaging 15 points in games against Cleveland State and Purdue Fort Wayne. …McGee has won the award twice this season.
Next game: The Raiders play at Milwaukee at 7 p.m. Friday on ESPNU before returning home to meet Northern Kentucky at noon Sunday.
National TV: The Raiders’ game at Oakland on Feb. 18 will be broadcast on ESPN2. The teams met Saturday at the Nutter Center with Wright State winning, 75-64.
About the Author