Game Day Essentials:
Wright State (0-2) at Indiana (2-0)
- Tip Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern
- Location: Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (17,222), Bloomington, Indiana
- Television: BTN (Kevin Kugler, Stephen Bardo)
- Stream: Fox Sports
- IU Radio Network: IU Radio Network
- Point Spread: Indiana is a 9.5 point favorite
- KenPom Projected Score: No. 61 Indiana 80 – No. 170 Wright State 69
- Series: Indiana leads series, 2-0.
Wright State’s Scott Nagy
Scott Nagy is in his 8th season as head coach for the Wright State men’s basketball team. In his eight seasons, Nagy has led the team as either a regular season or tournament Horizon League champions five times with his most recent coming in the 2021-22 season. In that season, Wright State won the Horizon League tournament championship and made the NCAA tournament.
Nagy has a career record of 558-319 (.638) over his 29 seasons as head coach of both Wright State and South Dakota State. At SDSU, he guided the school to Division I status and compiled an overall record of 410-240 (.631). Nagy’s teams went 207-101 in Summit League play, and made the NCAA tournament in 2012, 2013 and 2016.
Nagy won Horizon League Coach of the Year in three consecutive years (2018-20) after posting a 42-12 overall record in those seasons. In 2018, Nagy guided the Raiders to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007.
Nagy worked under Lou Henson as he started his career as a graduate assistant at Illinois for two seasons (1988-90) after graduating from Delta University.
Wright State’s results and roster
Wright State has opened with a 105-77 away loss to KenPom No. 54 Colorado State and a 78-77 loss at home to No. 108 Toledo.
Wright State’s stand out point guard and leading scorer from last year Trey Calvin returns for the Raiders. Last season, Calvin averaged 20.3 points per game and shot 49 percent from the field. His performance was enough to land him All-Horizon first team in 2023. His 250 field goals made and 508 total field goal attempts on that season both ranked inside the Top 25 nationally.
Veteran starters Tanner Holden, AJ Braun, Brandon Noel and Alex Huibregtse also return for the Raiders. Noel was the second scoring option behind Calvin last season, averaging 13 points and over eight rebounds a game. Holden transferred back to Wright State after a stop at Ohio State.
Greensburg, Ind. native Andrew Welage also sees some time off the bench. He averaged just over 16 minutes a game last season.
Wright State notes (via Wright State Athletics)
LAST TIME OUT
Wright State had a chance for a game-winning basket on Tuesday night but Trey Calvin’s contested pullup jumper at the horn hit front rim and the Raiders fell 78-77 to Toledo in the home opener inside the Nutter Center. Four Raiders finished in double figures, led by Calvin’s game-high 22 points, while shooting 55 percent from the floor on the night. The sides were even in nearly every category except for turnovers, with Wright State turning the ball over 15 times to give Toledo a 25-9 edge in points off turnovers.
HEY YOU, IU
The Raiders and Hoosiers squared off in Indianapolis March 19, 1993 in Wright State’s first Division I NCAA Tournament game after winning the 1993 Mid-Continent Championship inside the Nutter Center. Raider radio analyst Jim Brown is in his 11th season calling games alongside Chris Collins. Brown was on the Raider coaching staff as an assistant, associate and head coach for 28 years and was on the bench for Wright State’s first NCAA Tournament game against Indiana in 1993.
INDIANA CONNECTION
Wright State assistant Dan Beré made it to college basketball’s highest game as a student manager at Indiana, as the Hoosiers danced to the 2002 national championship game before falling to Maryland in the title tilt. Beré spent four years as a manager for the Hoosiers under current Detroit Mercy (and Horizon League foe) head coach Mike Davis.
LOOKING TO AVOID THE SLIDE
Wright State dropped its first two regular season contests for the first time since opening 0-3 in head coach Scott Nagy’s second season in 2017-18.
ALL IN THE NUMBERS
Wright State has been efficient inside so far this season, shooting 85.7 percent (24-of-28) in around the rim baskets, nearly 25 percentage points higher than the current Division I average of 62.1 percent. The Raiders are also above the Division I average in mid-range jump shots, connecting at 48.3 percent (14-of-29), ahead of the 34.6 percent Division I average
BIG BRAUN
AJ Braun tallied 16 points in the Nov. 14 home opener against Toledo on 8-of-10 shooting, his most points since scoring a career-best 22 points against IUPUI in Feb. 2023 (8-of-9 shooting). Through two contests, Braun is shooting 70.6 percent overall, 10 percentage points higher than his current career best (60.9 percent last season), while he’s connecting at an 87.5 percent clip in shots under 4.5 feet.
ANOTHER ASSEMBLY (HALL)
Tanner Holden will visit Indiana and Assembly Hall for the second straight season after playing as a visitor on January 28 while at Ohio State. Holden logged five minutes of game action and was 0-of-2 from the floor while grabbing a pair of rebounds.
40 MINUTE MAN
Brandon Noel played all 40 minutes in Wright State’s Nov. 14 contest against Toledo, the first time in his career he has played the entirety of a game. The 40 minutes were not Noel’s career high, however, thanks to his 48 minutes of action in Wright State’s triple overtime contest at Youngstown State in February 2023.
Wright State’s KenPom notable numbers:
(out of 362 teams)
Tempo – No. 154 (Offense No. 180 / Defense No. 141)
Offensive Efficiency – No. 91
- Wright State finds a lot of their points coming from the two-point range, and are very efficient (60 percent as a team, No. 32 in the country). The Raiders are top-50 in the country (No. 43) in effective field goal percentage.
- Wright State does not take a lot of threes, as only 19.5 percent of their total points come from beyond the arc. That ranks No. 315 nationally. 66.2 percent of their points come from twos (No. 13 in the country).
- The Raiders do shoot well from the line (75.9 percent, No. 88) but they aren’t getting to the line often thus far.
- The main offensive downside is the team’s 21.2 percent turnover rate (No. 280) which has limited their full capabilities on the offensive end.
Defensive Efficiency – No. 264
- Opponents of Wright State are getting high-quality shots off easily, as they have one of the worst defensive effective field goal percentages in the country (63 percent, No. 350).
- Although they are good inside the arc offensively, the same cannot be said on defense. Opponents of the Raiders also make a lot of two-point shots as well (66.3 percent, No. 347). They aren’t defending threes much better (37.8 percent, No. 287).
- Part of the problem — the Raiders aren’t turning teams over. Their 13.4 percent defensive turnover rate is just No. 320.
- If there’s one positive, Wright State isn’t sending teams to the charity stripe. Foul shots are just 19.1 percent of opposing field goal attempts, No. 19 nationally.
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