But that doesn’t work with the Raiders. Each starter — and even their sixth man — is capable of leading the team in scoring, which means foes have to take an every-man-for-himself approach on defense.
“That’s how we want it,” Nagy said. “We want to have a lot of guys who are able to score, and, any one night, somebody can get 20. But we’ll probably never have anybody average 20.”
The Raiders have five players averaging in double figures: Loudon Love 12.7, Trey Calvin 12.3, Tanner Holden 12.0, sub Grant Basile 11.7 and Tim Finke 11.0. And starter Jaylon Hall, after a scoreless first game, has averaged 13.0 in the last two.
“Since we’ve been here, you’ve seen that from our teams,” said Nagy, who is in his fifth year. “We share the ball pretty well.
“I’d love to have five guys who can get double figures because then you’re not relying on one guy each night. And the defense can’t think they just have to shut one guy down.”
Mark Alstork averaged 19.0 points in Nagy’s first season before transferring to Illinois. And having one player occupy the ball so much is probably why the Raiders finished just 20-12 overall and fifth in the Horizon League at 11-7.
Wright State had four players with double-figure averages last season: Love 15.9, Bill Wampler 15.6, Holden 11.1 and Cole Gentry 10.8.
They had three in 2018-19 with another player averaging 9.3. And they had three in 2017-18 with three others averaging between 9.7 and 9.1.
The Raiders went 25-7, 21-14 and 25-10 those three years, winning two regular-season titles and a conference tourney crown.
“Over the years, as I think back, most of our teams have been like that,” Nagy said. “When I was at South Dakota State, we had one player who was an NBA player (Nate Wolters) and was getting about 20 a game. But that was very rare for us.
“We like everybody touching the ball and sharing the ball, and we have a team that does that now.”
Nagy and his staff have developed a culture where the team comes first. And they only recruit players who they believe won’t have trouble blending in.
“Coach always says we have to play for each other: ‘Don’t play for yourself, don’t play to puff your chest out,’” Holden said. “I think that’s how we play — very unselfish.
“We like to see other people score. We like to see them do well. If it’s not your night but somebody else is doing well, we’re cheering them on like you’re scoring 40 points. That’s how our team is. We’re all in it for each other. And that’s going to make us really successful this year.”
Defending Davis: The Raiders’ upperclassmen probably haven’t forgotten what Detroit’s Antoine Davis did to them two years ago as a freshman, scoring 48 points in a 79-58 win. He was 15 of 24 from the field, 10 of 15 on 3′s and 8 of 9 on free throws.
He was five short of the Wright State record for most points by an opponent (Central Michigan’s Tommie Johnson had 53 in 1987), but the 6-1 guard, the son of coach Mike Davis, played the whole game in trying to reach 50 points.
Nagy had some strong words afterward about how his team wouldn’t forget that, and Davis was held to 17 points the next time the teams played as the Raiders won by 23.
After averaging 26.1 as a freshman and 24.3 last season, he’s dipped to 18.3 through four games this season.
“He’s down a little this year because their team is better,” Nagy said. “They have more and better individual players. They’re extremely athletic.”
The Titans (1-3) may have better personnel, but Davis is off to a rocky start. He’s shooting 33% from the field and has made just 4 of 34 3′s.
On a roll: The Raiders (2-1), coming off a blowout win at Bowling Green on Sunday, aren’t the same team that opened the season with an 80-64 home loss to Marshall. They’ve had two weeks of practice since then with their full squad, which was a rarity in the preseason.
“The players are feeling confident. They’re in much better shape. We’ve been able to put together 10 solid practices in a row,” Nagy said.
“We know some of our opponents — like Detroit — have had a tougher schedule. But our schedule hasn’t been easy, and the players feel good about themselves. Everybody has had to rush into (league games) and have played a different schedule than they thought. But we feel like we’re ready.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Detroit Mercy, 2 p.m., ESPN3, 106.5
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