Archdeacon: The silver linings of Wright State’s tournament experience

During that surge back to respectability, the Viejas Arena crowd – where Wildcats fans far outnumbered the modest contingent for Wright State – suddenly had begun cheering for the Raiders.

It wasn’t as loud as two nights earlier – when the chants ‘Let’s Go Raiders” rocked UD Arena late in the second half of WSU’s stirring First Four victory – but it was noticeable.

Over in the other huddle, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd heard what was happening:

“You could feel, when they made the run, I think more fans got behind it than just Wright State fans.”    He thought the followers of both Seton Hall and TCU, who were playing in the next game, all started cheering for the never-quit Raiders, who Las Vegas bookmakers had as a 21.5-point underdog and history books made even more of a longshot.

Only once in NCAA Tournament history had a No 16 seed like Wright State beaten a No. 1 one like Arizona. That was in 2018 when UMBC stunned Virginia.

Back in the WSU huddle, coach Scott Nagy – a man whose sideline intensity sometime prevents him from seeing through the dark storm clouds – suddenly got his silvery view.

“What was nice for me in that timeout was that I just looked at the players and all I said was ‘Hey!’

“And they all shook their heads (as if to say) ‘We got it, Coach. Now we can play.’ And that was a good moment for me. I didn’t have to say anything. All of a sudden they were excited.”

Finally, the Raiders realized they could play against the Wildcats.

Early on that didn’t seem the case.

Except for the fearless play of Tim Finke and Trey Calvin, the Raiders seemed timid, distracted, at times defeated and trailed by double digits four minutes into the game.

Not only did WSU have to contend with a team that was much taller and had more talent – the Wildcats have two guards who’ll likely be first round NBA picks and trio of towering inside players who stand 7-foot-1, 7-feet and 6-foot-10 – but they also had deal with a couple of personal crises of their own.

It all made for a herculean task and they finally were beaten, 87-70.

As the players walked off the court, Finke and Tanner Holden stopped to wave to the WSU followers who stood and cheered, some with tears washing over their pride of a resilient team that had overcome so much in this historic season.

Afterward, though, Holden said he and his teammates weren’t looking for a consolation prize:

“We weren’t just here for the experience, we were here to make a name for us and the program.”     That did happen at UD Arena, where Wright State and University of Dayton fans alike seemed to get a new and full-throated appreciation for Raiders basketball during the 93-82 triumph over Bryant University.

Here in San Diego there was a little of that after the game, as well.

Lloyd and three of his players praised some of the Raiders, especially Finke, the 6-foot-6 defensive specialist who battled inside against the Wildcats’ big men who were 6 and 7 inches taller. He also took on the task of guarding Bennedict Mathurin, the Pac-12 Player of the Year and a second team All American.

Mathurin did finish with 18 points, though some of his scores were against other defenders. And he did have four of the Wildcats’ 19 turnovers.

“He was a pretty good player,” Mathurin said of Finke, who had 15 points. “He was pretty active, always cutting and looking for the ball and he was always running. He has a lot of energy.”

Meanwhile, the Wildcats 7-foot-1 Christian Koloko – whose monster night included 17 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocked shots – praised the Raiders’ 6-foot-9 Grant Basile, who had started the game slow, but became more aggressive in the second half and finished with a game-high 21 points.

WSU’s two other double-figure scorers – Trey Calvin with 16 points and Holden with 12 – had to cope with other issues, as well.

Calvin was battling a stomach virus that left him throwing up before, during and after Wednesday’s First Four victory and caused him to miss practice here Thursday.

After scoring 14 points in the first half Friday, he managed just two in the final 20 minutes.

Nagy said being ill for two days finally caught up to Calvin: “It took a toll on him.”

Holden – who scored 37 points Wednesday – struggled in the first half Friday. His first four shots were blocked and he reinjured his ankle. After crumpling onto the court, he limped off, was worked on by a trainer and then changed shoes before returning to the game.

It wasn’t as easy dealing with the emotional tug he was feeling Friday.

His beloved grandfather died in January and he’s struggled to cope since then. In warmups he wears a black T-shirt that bears a picture of his “Papaw.”

Friday was his grandfather’s birthday.

“It’s his first birthday in heaven,” Holden said. “It was definitely an emotional day. But I felt like I have guys in this locker room who care about me and love me.”

Several other players and Nagy, too, lost loved ones this season and the unmooring that came with that contributed to the team’s 2-7 start this season. But the personal losses also brought the players together and helped buoy them to a 22-14 season.

“I don’t think it’s the March Madness I’m going to remember so much,” Holden said. “It’s all the things we went through off the court that have brought us closer together.

“We’re more of a band of brothers honestly.”

Showcase for the program

Wright State fared better Friday night than it did in the program’s other three trips to the NCAA Tournament, all ending in lopsided losses to top-seeded teams.

They certainly did better than the other time they were a 16 seed and faced a No. 1. That was 1993 when they lost by 43 points to No. 1 Indiana in Indianapolis. It was the largest margin of defeat in NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional history.

After that game, I remember Mark Woods – an 1,849-point career scorer at WSU – dejectedly telling me:

“What I feel worst about is that people across America see us and figure, ‘Well, that’s the way it should be.’ That we were supposed to be blown out. That we’re a 16 seed. A team at the bottom of the bracket.

“And that’s what is wrong. We’re better than that. I just wish people across the country got to see it.”     These Raiders were able to showcase themselves in small spurts Friday and in a big way Wednesday at UD Arena when they won their first NCAA Tournament game (at the Division I level) and the first by a Horizon League team since Butler went to the finals in 2011.

Before the game, WSU Athletics Director Bob Grant focused on Butler and Xavier, regional programs that became national powers:

“This gives us a chance to elevate the program to another level… And those are the kind of schools we want to emulate

“Can we do that? What does it look like? I’m not sure.

“The question is: ‘When you knock on the door, do you keep knocking? Or do you fall back? And if you keep knocking hard, do you finally push it open?’”

“This is just the start’

Nagy and his players believe they’ll have a better chance at that next year.

As of now, the team’s top nine players all are returning and they’re adding some quality recruits and red-shirt players. They’ll have this season’s experience under their belts and the raw hurt of their personal loses will be eased by then.

“I had talked to the guys this year about being an at-large team (in the NCAA Tournament), but obviously the start we got off to was so bad that we had no chance of doing that,” Nagy said. “I think we’ll be more suited for it next year. We’ll be in a great spot in terms that we’ll be deeper and obviously extremely experienced. We’ll have a good team for sure.”

Holden agreed: “This is just the start of it. I think we’re going to do a great job in the offseason and we’re going to get back to this point and hopefully win some more (NCAA Tournament) games.”

But before there was any more talk of the future, Nagy took one last look at some special moments from this year’s tournament.

The first one he never would have mentioned publicly had he not been asked about it.

With just 65 seconds left in Friday’s game, he cleared most of his bench and that brought his son, T.J. –  a 6-1 walk-on in his final season – onto the court.

And 14 seconds later T.J. got a defensive rebound and came barreling down the floor. He drove to the basket where taller defenders awaited and was fouled. He made one of the two free throws.

“I was happy for him,” Nagy said. “This is it for him. He graduated in three years. I’m proud of him.

“(But) I mean when he got that ball, he took off. It’s like, ‘What’s he doing? What’s he doing?’

“It’s the first point he scored all year. And it’s the last one of his career. But he’ll always get to say he scored a point in the NCAA Tournament. So as a dad, I’m happy for him.”

This was Nagy’s fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament. Three came when he coached South Dakota State and this was his second at WSU.

Asked if this had been any different than the others, he didn’t hesitate:

“Yeah, what was different was playing in Dayton in the First Four. To get to play in Dayton with that crowd is one of the highlights of my career, for sure.

“It was a lot of fun. It felt incredible. That’s something that will always stick out to me.”

As it turns out, this NCAA Tournament had a lot of silver linings for Wright State.