Wright State basketball: Raiders hope to duplicate last year’s success in Wisconsin

FAIRBORN — Wright State’s season hasn’t gone as smoothly as coach Scott Nagy had hoped, but his teams haven’t let shaky starts prevent them from achieving their goals in the past.

Even with three wins in their last four games, the Raiders had only their third losing non-league record in Nagy’s eight years, going 5-6.

They went 3-6 in 2021-22 but rallied to win the Horizon League tourney and earn an NCAA berth.

They went 6-7 in 2018-19 but shared the regular-season crown and advanced to the NIT.

“For me, it’s disappointing. Obviously, you move on from it. But no road wins …,” Nagy said, shaking his head.

“To win the league, you’ve got to go on the road and win games. I was hoping for better.”

The Raiders, who are 6-6 overall and 1-0 in the league with a home win over IUPUI, had three days off for Christmas and return to action with their annual Wisconsin swing, playing at 1 p.m. Friday at Green Bay and 3 p.m. Sunday at Milwaukee.

The Phoenix was picked last in the HL preseason poll but is 6-7. The Panthers were picked second but are 5-7.

“The Wisconsin trip is just a hard trip. Travel’s not easy,” said Nagy, referring to the eight-hour bus ride and then visiting two schools in three days.

“You know there won’t be great crowds. The game times are odd. It’ll be a challenge for the home teams, too, in terms of the atmosphere. But at least they get to play at home.”

The Raiders have a 39-33 series edge over Green Bay, winning six straight and 12 of 15 under Nagy.

They lead the Milwaukee series, 38-33, and are 12-5 under Nagy.

They pulled off a road sweep in the Wisconsin swing for the first time since 2012-13 last season.

They’ll play 19 straight league games over the next nine weeks, and Nagy feels as if his team is on an upward trajectory.

They beat Miami, 92-82, last week but were out-scored by a jarring 38-4 in bench points.

In their next game against Muskingum, subs scored 33 points — Kaden Brown 14, Drey Carter 12 and Bo Myers seven.

Andrew Welage started in place of Brandon Noel, whose sore knee needed a rest, but the senior wing had come off the bench in the other 11 games. He scored 17 points and went 5 of 7 on 3′s.

“Our bench has struggled, and I was anxious to see them gain some confidence,” Nagy said.

“Those guys got good minutes and had good production.”

Trey Calvin, who went into the week averaging 17 shots per game, had just 11 points against Miami and 13 against Muskingum, going a combined 9 of 20 from the field.

He tied his season high with four assists against the RedHawks and topped it with six against the Muskies.

“For so many of these guys, (they think) if you’re not scoring, you’re not playing well. And I just wish we could get off that,” Nagy said.

“There’s so many other things Trey can do for us. I’d like to see him have more assists, play better defense, score a little bit less. When we beat IUPUI, I’m not even sure he had double figures, and we won by 30.”

He actually had 15 points but took only nine shots, making four. He was 2 of 5 on 3′s and 5 of 5 on foul shots.

He’s shooting a spiffy 49.1% overall, 42.6 from the arc and 94.7 on foul shots while averaging a league-leading 20.5 points.

“I’m not saying if he shoots less, we’ll win. I don’t need him NOT to be aggressive. But there are other things that can be done,” Nagy said.

The Raiders are second in country in shooting at 52.5%, trailing only Colorado at 52.6.

They’re first in the league in scoring (84.1) but last in points allowed (78.0).

“I think our defense is slowly creeping to where we want it,” Nagy said, “but we still have a long way to go.”

FRIDAY’S GAME

Wright State at Green Bay, 1 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410

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