He’s more vulnerable than most in his profession would dare to be, and he uses terms that at times require some Clint Clarification. A glossary would help.
Personalities. The second-year Wright State coach trots that word out often, as in he wants his guys to bring their personalities along with their games.
He believes encouraging players to be themselves will likely make them less inhibited on the court and foster team chemistry.
“I don’t need robots,” he said.
Compete. That’s not a verb in Sargent’s vocabulary. It’s a noun. As in, “I love my team’s compete.”
It’s short for competitive spirit. And it’s usually a good day when the Raiders have more compete than the opposition.
Margins. This is one of Sargent’s go-to terms, and it’s integral to how he measures performance.
He can look at what he calls the margins on a stat sheet and know instantly why they won or where they fell short.
“The margins of the game are where it’s really not dependent on the ball going in — it’s who’s getting out-rebounded, who’s getting to the free-throw line and then assist-turnover ratio,” he said.
The Raiders are 5-5 (3-5 against D-I teams), which means the measurable are pedestrian, at least compared to their high goals.
“It hasn’t been where I thought it would be. Our (defensive) activity, we’ve made a big push for that — being disruptive. That’s where it needs to be. But our rebounding isn’t,” he said.
In their last two games, the Raiders were out-rebounded by 16 at Youngstown State and had a 33-29 edge on Green Bay at home.
For the year, they’re fourth in the league in rebound margin at a middling plus-1.4 per game.
But it goes deeper than that.
“We want to get to 35% or greater for our offensive-rebounding rate of missed shots,” he said.
The Raiders have 104 offensive rebounds and 301 missed shots. That’s 34.5%. It looks good on the surface, but take away the two D-III foes, and it drops to 29.5%.
“Between Mike (Imariagbe) and Andrea (Holden) and Sam (Alamutu) — guys that have been proven rebounders — I think we’ll get there. But it’s a huge step,” Sargent said. “I thought we could have been one of the better rebounding teams in the country. Maybe I was a little off in my evaluation, but I think we can get there.”
The Raiders dug a hole for themselves at the foul line, going 9 of 21 against Franklin and 10 of 18 at Cal in the first two games.
They’re last in the league at 64.9% but are 69.2% in the eight games since then.
Percentages matter, of course, but Sargent is more concerned with getting to the foul line.
The Raiders were only 3 of 6 at Stetson and 2 of 3 at Butler. They want to average more than one point per possession, and trips to the foul line are critical.
They were 15 of 28 in a 69-68 loss at Youngstown State and 20 of 25 in an 86-58 win over Green Bay.
“Those numbers are really where you’re going to carve out efficiency. We were under one point per possession at Youngstown offensively, but we missed 13 free throws. If you get to the free-throw line and make them, you’re going to be efficient,” Sargent said.
“If we can take the ball from you, our defensive numbers are probably going to be good, too (under one point per possession).”
Sargent is confident foul shooting will go up because he’s seen what his players can do. They made a combined 80,000 in the offseason, according to the coach.
“Per guy, that’s 100 a day. You had to make 100. We charted it and kept track of it,” he said.
“Those are all the quiet hours where there’s no external pressure, there’s no variables. We also shoot them all the time to run sprints (on misses). As much as we can, we put their feet to the fire.”
His belief in his players’ foul-shooting also stems from the intangibles, as expressed in typical Sargent-ese.
“I know we have real guys with real hearts, and they understand it’s not an accident you’re there. It’s just embracing that and stepping into it,” he said.
“It’s an honor to feel that pressure. It’s an honor to be there. They’ll get it figured out.”
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