“I tell the guys, ‘You see us moving up in that, we’ll move up in the standings.’”
The Raiders were miserly again on defense against Green Bay, holding their hosts to just eight points in the first 12 minutes of the second half, and rolled to a 79-62 victory Wednesday to move into second place in the league.
Since giving up 90 points in a three-point loss at Youngstown State on Jan. 15, they’ve held their last eight opponents to an average of 64.8 points.
“At the 12- or 14-minute mark (of the first half), we just kept getting stop after stop after stop,” Nagy said on his post-game radio show. “We shot the ball well tonight, had a high percentage in the second half (65%).
“This was easily a game we could have been flat. We started the game very well. Our kids were locked in and ready.”
Junior forward Grant Basile scored 19 points and now has 1,004 for his career. He’s the 36th Raider to reach the milestone and 15th to make the 1,000-point, 500-rebound club.
Junior wing Tanner Holden scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and had team highs in rebounds (seven) and assists (five). He’s also a member of the 1,000-500 group.
Leading, 40-37, early in the second half, the Raiders went on a 17-3 run to take control. Basile and Holden each had five points in the surge.
The Raiders held the Phoenix, which lost its sixth straight game to tumble to 4-19 and 3-11, to the lowest total for a league foe this season aside from last-place IUPUI.
WSU moved to 15-10 overall and 12-4 in the league with their fourth straight win. Oakland dropped a 78-71 decision at Youngstown State to fall to 9-4.
Cleveland State is 12-2 going into Thursday’s home game with UIC.
“Green Bay did a nice job of hanging in there. But when we started to pull away, you could just see it in their body language. They’ve had a tough year. I’ve been through that and know how it feels. It catches up to your kids. It’s hard on everybody,” Nagy said.
Trey Calvin had 10 points, and Tim Finke went 3 of 4 on 3′s for nine points.
The Raiders, who have won 11 of the last 13 games in the series, shot 55.4% from the field and started 6 of 12 on 3′s before finishing 7 of 16.
UIC out: The Horizon League banned UIC from the conference tourney Wednesday for not giving the required one-year notice about its intentions to leave for the Missouri Valley Conference.
The Flames’ absence means the top five teams will receive byes into the quarterfinals. The fourth and fifth seeds will play each other, and the top three seeds will face winners from the first round.
UIC’s ban also includes all winter and spring sports.
In an interview with WGN in Chicago, Flames AD Michael Lipitz called the decision “absolutely wrong” and added, “We are going to fight.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Milwaukee, 7 p.m., ESPNU, 980
About the Author