Wright State basketball: Raiders looking to take burden off Calvin

FAIRBORN — Wright State coach Scott Nagy was surprised by how well Alex Huibregtse played in his first start of the year against Milwaukee four weeks ago.

Nagy also was taken aback by the drop in production from the sophomore guard after that breakout game.

Huibregtse tallied a career-high 25 points against the Panthers while going 5 of 10 on 3′s.

In the six games after that, he scored a total of 42 points on 15-of-40 shooting (37.5%).

“He needed to practice better. We talked about that. We had a good talk,” Nagy said.

“I don’t if that helped him or not, having a one-on-one with me. But he shot it with a lot of confidence Sunday.”

Huibregtse (pronounced HUE-brex) turned into a weapon again for the Raiders, scoring 24 points while going 6 of 9 on 3′s in a 77-75 loss at Purdue Fort Wayne,

In Nagy’s seven years, only one player has had more 3′s: Grant Benzinger, the career leader in that category, went 7 of 14 against Northern Kentucky on March 5, 2017.

Benzinger also had six once and five several times. Bill Wampler, Cole Gentry and Mark Alstork are the only other players with multiple games with five 3′s.

The program record is nine by Marcus Mumphrey, who did it three times from 1988-91.

“We needed that,” Nagy said. “We have a lot of guys who aren’t playing with confidence offensively. Trey needs somebody to come alongside him on that side of the ball.”

Trey Calvin has turned into one of the premier players in the Horizon League. He’s second in scoring with a 20.3 average and fifth in assists at 3.9.

But Nagy knows the Raiders’ final two foes, Oakland and Detroit Mercy, are planning to swarm him with defenders for 40 minutes.

“They’re going to make Trey a priority and double-team him when he brings it up the floor. We’re going to need other guys to shed the fear and anxiety and play like they’re capable of playing,” Nagy said.

All HL teams will finish their 20-game league schedules by Saturday night, and the Raiders are in a tie for seventh with Detroit Mercy at 9-9.

Youngstown State is in first at 14-5, followed by Cleveland State at 13-5, Northern Kentucky and Milwaukee at 12-6, Oakland at 10-8 and Robert Morris at 10-9

The top four seeds get first-round byes in the league tourney and a quarterfinal home game.

That’s out of reach for the Raiders, who are 16-13 overall, but the fifth seed is attainable. That would mean avoiding a first-round game and playing No. 4 on the road.

“I had to ask my coaches who won (league games last weekend). I don’t pay attention to it. It’s a distraction to me and makes me worry about things I can’t control,” Nagy said.

“I know people probably think that’s crazy. I guess I don’t care. It doesn’t help me — it’ll only hurt me — to look at standings.”

The tourney starts Tuesday at campus sites with three first-round games featuring seeds six through 11. And those teams face a daunting task, needing to win four games over eight pressure-packed days to capture the title.

Since Wright State joined the league in 1994, only one team has emerged from the first round to win the title. Fifth-seeded Milwaukee pulled it off in 2014, beating the Raiders, 69-63, in the finals at the Nutter Center.

“I have zero control over that. I’m not concerned about it,” Nagy said.

“Yeah, you’d like to have a bye. But I haven’t spent any time thinking about that. We just have to get ready for Oakland.”

THURSDAY’S GAME

Wright State at Oakland, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 980

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