Wright State at Louisville: What you need to know about Saturday’s game

Who: Wright State (0-1) at Louisville (0-1)

Where: KFC Yum! Center

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

TV/Radio: ESPN+/980-AM

Series: Louisville leads, 3-0

Coaches: Scott Nagy is 131-64 in his seventh year at Wright State and 541-304 in his 28th year overall. Kenny Payne, who is in his first season, played for Louisville on its 1986 national championship team and spent 11 seasons in the NBA. He’s a former Kentucky associate head coach and spent the last two seasons on the New York Knicks’ bench.

Probable Wright State starters

Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.

A.J. Braun 6-9 So. C 11.0

Amari Davis 6-2 Sr. G 17.0

Tim Finke 6-6 Sr. G 11.0

Trey Calvin 6-1 Sr. G 37.0

Keaton Norris 6-0 So. G 7.0

Probable Louisville starters

Jae’Lyn Withers 6-9 Jr. F 17.0

Sydney Curry 6-8 Sr. F 0.0

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield 6-10 So. F 9.0

El Ellis 6-3 Sr. G 14.0

Mike James 6-5 Fr. G 16.0

About Wright State: The Raiders haven’t played Louisville in 25 years. Their losses in three meetings were 71-55 in 1982-83, 90-69 in 1983-84 and 65-51 in 1996-97. … They’re coming off an impressive performance against Davidson in their opener, albeit in defeat. They put four players in double figures while falling, 102-97, in double-overtime: Calvin with 37, Davis 17 and Finke and Braun 11 each. Davis had 13 rebounds, Braun nine, and the Raiders had a 46-44 edge on the boards. They kept their turnovers low (12 in 50 minutes). But they attempted only 15 free throws, making 11. Davidson made more than Wright State shot, going 22 of 36. And after starting 6 of 13 on 3′s in the first half, the Raiders finished 8 of 30 overall. … They’ll need time to recover since four starters played between 42 and 47 minutes. … Freshman guards Logan Woods and Drey Carter didn’t dress for the game, and Nagy said they’ll be redshirted unless injuries force them into action.

New recruits: The Raiders landed three players in the early signing period: DayJaun Anderson of Ponitz High School; Kaden Brown of Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Solomon Callaghan of Wadsworth, Ohio.

The 6-3 Anderson averaged 19.5 points last season and was the Dayton Public School player of the year. The 6-0 Brown averaged 19.5 points and was named first-team all-state in Division 2. And the 6-2 Callaghan averaged 18.2.

About Louisville: The Cardinals were stunned in their seasonopener by visiting Bellarmine, losing 67-66 to a team that’s in year two of a four-year transition period from Division II to Division I. Louisville was down 12 points with 4:41 to go and cut it to one with 1:02 left, but neither team scored after that. … They played two exhibitions, beating Chaminade, 80-73, behind Ellis’ 28 points and Lenoir-Rhyne, 57-47. Withers averaged 18.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two exhibitions. … The Cardinals didn’t have a double-figure scorer last season. Ellis averaged 8.7, Curry 7.1 and Withers 5.8. They finished 13-19 and 11th at 6-14 in the ACC. They’re picked 12th in the league preseason poll. … They have not played an NCAA game since a first-round loss in 2019, but they were considered a potential Sweet 16 team going into the 2020 tourney before it was cancelled by the pandemic. … Chris Mack was fired midway through last season. He posted a 68-37 record in four seasons, including a 38-23 mark in the ACC. … Payne is the only Division I coach in the country who was an NBA draft pick and a collegiate national champion.

Next game: The Raiders host Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

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