TV/Radio: ESPN+/106.5-FM
Series: Wright State leads 39-34
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 81-40 in his fourth year at Wright State and 481-280 in his 25th year overall. Dennis Gates is in his first year at Cleveland State after eight years as a Florida State assistant.
Probable Wright State starters
Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.
Loudon Love 6-9 Jr. C 14.8
Tanner Holden 6-6 Fr. F 10.8
Jaylon Hall 6-6 So. F 8.3
Bill Wampler 6-6 Sr. F 15.1
Cole Gentry 5-10 Sr. G 11.1
Probable Cleveland State starters
Torrey Patton 6-5 Jr. F 10.2
Tre Gomillion 6-4 So. F 9.3
Craig Beaudion 6-3 Jr. G 8.9
Hugo Ferreira 6-1 Fr. G 4.8
Algevon Eichelberger 6-8 Jr. G 13.7
About Wright State: The Raiders, who are a Horizon League-best 129th in the NET rankings, have a half-game lead in the congested conference standings over Youngstown State (4-1). … They dropped two spots to 15th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major poll after losing to UIC. … Love has had three straight double-doubles and seven in the 14 games he's played. Despite cold shooting in his last three outings (22 of 56), he's averaged 19.3 points and 15.3 boards. He's second in the league in rebounding at 10.3 per game (IUPUI's Elyjah Goss averages 11.0), and he's helped the team to a plus-5.1 rebound margin. … The Raiders and Vikings had two common non-league foes. CSU lost to Toledo at home (80-65) and Kent State on the road (81-59), while Wright State beat Toledo on the road (79-72) and lost to Kent State at home (72-71).
About Cleveland State: The Vikings, who are 305th in the NET rankings, suffered a blow in the offseason when junior-to-be Tyree Appleby, an all-conference guard who averaged 17.2 points and a league-high 5.6 assists, transferred to Florida. The roster has undergone a major overhaul with 11 newcomers, tied for the fifth-most in D-I. … Picked to finish 10th in the league, they've exceeded expectations with wins over Detroit Mercy and Youngstown State at home and IUPUI in Indy. They're off to their best league start since 2014-15. Three of their losses were to Minnesota, South Carolina and DePaul. … "The transfer stuff keeps happening," Nagy said. "I look at the guys we lost, and if we had them right now, how much better would we be? It's the environment we live in now. You have to do your best to take care of these guys, but, at the same time, coach them and coach them hard. If you need things to be perfect, you'll probably end up transferring wherever you go."
Coming up: The Raiders will play seven of their next nine games at home. Youngstown State visits at 7 p.m. Saturday.
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