“They know it’s going to be an important stat for us. We get fouled a lot,” he said. “There’s a point where it’s so bad you may want to address it. I was close to that in the first half, but I’m glad I stayed away from it because guys responded in the second half.”
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The Raiders went 20 of 23 after halftime, turning a three-point lead at the break into an 85-72 to victory.
And they managed to accomplish what Nagy figured would be somewhat rare this season with the Horizon League weekend schedule — winning two games on consecutive days.
“Two win twice in a row is hard to do. But four teams did it, and I’m a little shocked by that,” he said, referring to Milwaukee, UIC and Cleveland State, all of whom started 2-0. “(Detroit) played harder and had more motivation Sunday. But we probably had too much inside for them.”
The post tandem of 6-8 senior Loudon Love and 6-9 sophomore Grant Basile played together often and took over both games. Love had 26 points and 13 rebounds Sunday and 14 and nine Saturday, while Basile had 21 points and eight boards a day after getting 18 and six.
Though the Titans tried double-teaming at times, all that did was allow them to notch a combined 10 assists Sunday, include a career-high six for Love.
Basile was starting in place of wing Tim Finke, who suffered a concussion two minutes into Saturday’s game after taking a forearm to the bridge of his nose. He didn’t play in either game after that but is expected to be back this weekend.
“Our last three games — Bowling Green really struggled with it, and Detroit really struggled with it,” Nagy said of his big lineup. “When they try to trap, our post players are pretty good passers.
“Loudon had six assists (officially), and I’m almost sure he had more than that. He had five at the half, and he had a couple in the second half. But they trap him, and there’s people wide open everywhere. He turns the ball over too much for me. I get really frustrated with that. But he’s an instinctive passer.”
Nagy thought the Raiders wouldn’t approach last year’s lofty scoring clip of 80.6 points per game. But they’re averaging 79.6 because they’ve been shooting at such a high clip.
Their percentages their last three outings are 55.2, 58.5 and 58.0, hiking their season rate to 51.0.
“It’s been amazing. In our last three games, we’ve had halves where we shot 66%. I’d shocked if anybody else has done that. That’s just hard to do,” Nagy said.
“The percentages we’ve shot the last three games are incredible. I’ve never had a three-game stretch like that — ever.”
They may be able to sustain it, too, because they’re getting such wide-open looks.
“We throw it in a lot. We get a lot of easy shots,” Nagy said.
“Grant and Loudon put a lot of pressure on a defense. We’re shooting the ball pretty well from outside, and that puts pressure on the defense, too.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Green Bay at Wright State, 4 p.m., ESPN3, ESPN+, 106.5
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