Wirght State’s Clint Sargent was doing that throughout Tuesday’s 83-76 loss to Miami. He rotated 11 players, hoping to find five he could rely on.
That never happened.
“Honestly, I don’t know if I saw it with ANYBODY — the (passion) I know to be true when they’re going offensively and defensively and are emotionally connected with their team,” he said.
“I didn’t see it consistently really from a number of guys. Some of that stuff can be contagious. We’ll have to figure that out.”
The meeting with Miami seemingly would have easily gotten the juices flowing — especially with a chance to hand a rival its first loss after a 10-0 start.
But it was the RedHawks who brought the tenacity. And the biggest Nutter Center crowd of the year of 4,892, which included a healthy amount of red-clad patrons rooting for the visitors, never became a factor.
Having lost two of their previous three games to good teams on the road by a combined three points, the Raiders seemingly would have had even more incentive to be dialed in.
Sargent agreed.
“Conventional wisdom on the surface — you lose a tight one to Marshall, you’ve got a rivalry. All those things are true — a great crowd. But young kids and the psychology of this, it’s just so awesomely frustrating to try to solve,” he said.
“We have some younger guys at some spots. We’re just trying to drive the leadership on the floor of who’s steering the emotion of our team. And we finally got there in pockets in the second half. But it was too late against a really good team who clearly knows how to win.”
Anyone previously skeptical about the RedHawks with their gaudy record had to reassess that thinking.
The Raiders have played four MAC teams, including an exhibition game — all of them ranked in the top-six in the league preseason poll, and Miami is clearly the best of the bunch.
While other mid-majors are getting poached by top schools, coach Travis Steele was able to retain key players after going 25-9 last season and losing by two to Akron in the MAC championship game.
Brant Byers, a 6-8 forward, was the conference freshman of the year last season. He had 27 points and went 5 of 6 on 3‘s, helping his team go 10 of 19, and he’s surrounded by athletes inside and aggressive guards who know how to get to the hoop.
They racked up an astonishing 17 layups or dunks, most off dribble drives. And rumblings of discontent could be heard in the stands after a few of those defensive lapses.
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
The Raiders went into the game 140th in defensive efficiency, down from 330th last season. And in the last three games against quality foes (Youngstown State, Green Bay and Marshall), they’d hit their goal of holding opponents under one point per possession at .996.
“I thought we were putting together full games. Even though we didn’t get the win at Marshall and Youngstown, I thought they were full, competitive, physical efforts,” Sargent said.
(Against Miami), it was not even close to that. You’ve got to give them a ton of credit. But I just didn’t think we were right mentally. That’s something to a man, starting with me, where we’ve got to do a little soul-searching and figure it out. That’s what we’ll do.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Eastern Michigan at Wright State
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Streaming: ESPN+
Radio: 1410-AM, 101.5-FM
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