The Oakland A’s once had the flexing sluggers, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire – the Bash Brothers.
The dynamic duo of Wright State’s basketball team – Brandon Noel and Alex Huibregtse – said they have no nickname, but their coach said they do have quite a narrative.
“It’s a story everybody loves,” WSU’s Clint Sargent said Saturday afternoon as he stood on the edge of the Millett Hall court following his team’s come from behind, 81-68 kayo of the Miami Redhawks.
In this – the 39th meeting between WSU and Miami – the Raiders had their own pair of road warriors.
The 6-foot-8 Noel was an offensive force in the paint in the first half and ended the game with 27 points and 16 rebounds. Huibregtse, a fearless shooting 6-foot-3 guard, took over the game in the second half and ended with 26 points.
Going into Wednesday night’s game at Toledo, the Raiders are 2-1 with Huibregtse averaging 22 points per game and Noel 21.7.
Sargent, who became the head coach in late March after Scott Nagy left for Southern Illinois, felt a surge of gratitude after Saturday’s game:
“Rewind to the spring and they both chose to stay in the program. Now fast forward to today, where we wanted to win on the road and have an identity, and these two guys are at the core of that. They’ve gone through a lot and now this is their team.
“It’s just a very special moment.
“I can guarantee you, if they’d have gone to a different university, you could maybe fill the stands with 12,000; you could maybe put more money in their pockets, but nothing could mean more than the win they just had here.
“It’s because they’ve got five years invested here. They’re invested in the coaching staff; they’re invested in their teammates; and they’re invested in each other and what they want to leave as a legacy.
“You just can’t manufacture all that (in a season.) That stuff takes years and unfortunately some heartaches until you really get the fruits of that labor.”
Some of the tough times Sargent referred to included seasons where both Noel and Huibregtse were relegated to the shadows.
Noel had only one Division I offer – Wright State – coming out of Chillicothe High School, even though, he’d eventually finish his prep career with 1,116 points and All-Ohio Division I honors.
Huibregtse, who scored 1,312 points at Grafton High School in Wisconsin, said he had just two Division I offers – Milwaukee and Wright State – the latter thanks to then Raiders assistant coach Shariff Chambliss, who was from Racine, Wis., and knew his high school coach.
When Noel got to WSU, he tore his ACL in one of his first practices and that started his long exile to the sidelines. He was redshirted two seasons in a row: one to recover from surgery and the other because the Raiders had older, more established players at his position, and he would have gotten limited playing time.
Huibregtse came off the bench as a freshman, but three games into his sophomore season, it was discovered he had a disc pressing against his sciatic nerve. He too needed surgery and missed the season.
As they both were trying to work their way into the lineup, they watched older players – from Loudon Love to Grant Basile, Tanner Holden and Trey Calvin — become the Raiders’ marquee stars.
Committed to Wright State
In these days of instant gratification – facilitated by the lure of NIL money and now, the always-ready revolving door of the transfer portal – many players would have chosen to leave for the supposed greener grass of somewhere else.
And that especially could have been the case with an out-of-the-blue coaching change.
Instead, neither player wavered.
“I committed here and told the coaches I was going to play here and I’m trying to stay true to my word,” Huibregtse said. “My parents have been big on that. The way I was raised, they taught me hard work and dedication and they said it would pay off.
“Obviously there have been rough days when sometimes I thought, ‘Man, I wish I could get out of here.’ But I came to believe growth is on the other side of sticking through the tough times.”
Noel, who drew more outside interest from other schools in the offseason, expressed a similar mindset, Saturday:
“It’s one of those things where they invested in us and we’re now investing back in them. It’s kind of like a tradeoff, know what I mean?
“We’ve worked hard to accomplish our goals and right now we’re seeing it pay off really nice.”
Both fifth-year players, they’ve already gotten their degrees and are in grad school.
Noel became a starter two seasons ago and in 67 career games has amassed 945 points and 569 rebounds.
Huibregtse moved into the lineup last season and in his 95 career games at WSU, he has 812 points, 264 rebounds and 189 assists
‘Dudes’
Although Kentucky – in front of a Rupp Arena crowd of 19,635 – overwhelmed the Raiders in the season opener, 103-62, Noel and Huibregtse combined for 36 points.
“Obviously I wish we would have performed better, but some of it was still awesome,” Huibregtse said. “To get that experience for all 14 of us, it was fun. Those are games you’ll talk about later in life.”
Noel was a little more tempered, but just as reflective when he compared the Kentucky trip to this one five days later in front of a crowd of 2,078:
“In terms of what we’re trying to get done, it’s the same thing, but today there was just a lot less noise. At the end of the day, we try to come out here and play physical and play defense and just win.”
Saturday’s the no-name duo – like the “No Name Defense” of the Miami Dolphins in their perfect season in 1972 – did that in stirring fashion.
Although WSU trailed 45-42 at the half – even with Noel scoring 17 points – the Raiders put on an impressive display after the intermission.
Noel added 10 more points and 13 rebounds in the second half, while Huibregtse – finding a variety of ways to score, including backing down smaller guards in the paint and draining deep, NBA-range threes – scored 18 second half points.
Meanwhile fellow guard Logan Woods came in and put the defensive clamps of Miami’s Kam Craft, who had 17 first-half points but was held to six after the break to finish with 23 .
Noel and Huibregtse each gave the other some postgame props.
“Brandon is the league’s preseason player of the year and it’s just amazing to play with him.” Huibregtse said. “I mean 16 rebounds. That’s crazy!
“It’s a luxury to have someone like that. When one of us shoots, you look up and wonder where the rebound’s going and then you see that 14 on the back of his jersey rise up and he grabs it off the rim.
“And offensively he’s just scratching the surface. One he gets his three-ball falling again, well, if you’re playing him, you better just pray.”
Noel was just as complimentary:
“When (Alex) gets in one of those modes like today, you just got to let him work. He’s hitting shots and playing physical and when he gets cut off, he’s finding someone else. When he’s doing that, we’re a really good offensive team.
“We’ve been together – on the floor and off – going on five years and it’s a blast. I can’t say how much I love playing with him.”
No one summed them up better after Saturday’s game than Miami coach Travis Steele:
“I thought Brandon and Alex dominated the game. Obviously (with) 27 and 26, they’ve got two horses. They’re all-league players.
“They played …like dudes!”
That might not be the best name for Wright State’s dynamic duo.
But it’s a good start.
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