But four sophomores — Grant Basile, Tanner Holden, Tim Finke and Trey Calvin — have emerged more quickly than he could have imagined, putting scoring threats around the reigning conference player of the year, 6-foot-8 senior center Loudon Love. And the Raiders can punish opponents in a variety of ways.
They’re averaging 81.7 points per game, which is five more than the No. 2 team in the league and 24th nationally.
They’re slightly ahead of last year’s 80.6 clip and are on pace to be the highest scoring team at Wright State since the Bill Edwards-led 1992-93 bunch put up 89.1 per game.
“Offensively, I didn’t think we’d be where we are. I was worried about our shooting, and I didn’t know if we could play Grant and Loudon together. Fortunately, since Loudon moves so good, we can play those two at the same time,” Nagy said.
The 6-9 Basile was named league player of the week Monday — the third Raider after Love and Holden to be honored this season. He scored a combined 44 points on 15-of-19 shooting in a pair of blowout wins at IUPUI.
Those three have the top field-goal percentages in the league: Basile at 64.7%, Holden 57.9 and Love 56.3.
“We have three players who are all shooting in the high 50s or over 60 percent, and it’s putting pressure on the other defense,” Nagy said.
“We’re just fortunate we have two guys we can throw the ball into on the post — actually three, because Tanner is great in the post, too. We’re shooting a good percentage because we’re playing inside-out.”
The Raiders are hitting 49.0%, up from 45.6 last season. That’s also on pace to be the best since the 51.6% clip of 1992-93.
“We’re happy about where we are, but there’s still a long way to go,” Nagy said. “And the worst thing, especially with these young guys, is for people to be patting them on the back and telling them how great they are. It’s tough to stay motivated. You don’t want to be satisfied.”
Still, it’s hard not to be impressed with how dominant the Raiders have been.
They’re also first in the league in scoring defense (65.3) and field-goal percentage defense (38.1). And the gap between them and the second-best team in two other categories is borderline silly.
They’ve outscored foes by 16.4 per game, and Milwaukee is second at 2.3. They’ve outrebounded opponents by 9.9 per game, and Purdue Fort Wayne is second at 1.7.
If Nagy wants to harp on something, he could point to turnovers. They’re averaging 14 per game, their opponents 12.3. Only two teams in the league have a worse turnover margin than the Raiders’ minus-1.7.
“We’ve been good defensively, which is what I thought about this team. I thought this could be the best team we’ve coached since we’ve been here and maybe the best I’ve ever had, and we’ve proven it to this point,” said Nagy, who is in his fifth year at Wright State and 26th season overall.
The folks at ESPN have certainly taken notice. The network allotted a handful of Friday night slots for Horizon League games and made them wild-card selections, meaning the teams providing the best matchups would be picked.
The Raiders will be featured for the third time this season when they host Robert Morris on ESPNU at 9 p.m. Friday.
Asked if that would be a motivator, Nagy said: “It hasn’t helped us in the past. Our last two losses were both on national TV.”
The Raiders fell to Youngstown State and Cleveland State at the Nutter Center in the final second.
“Honestly, I think it’s harder to play at home right now than it is on the road,” Nagy said. “Being on the road, there’s an extra level of urgency. When you’re at home now, there’s just no energy (without fans).
“For us, it’s been way more difficult to play at home.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Robert Morris at Wright State, 9 p.m., ESPNU, 106.5
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