“I think the biggest thing is the regular-season title. That’s what Coach Sargent is always on,” redshirt senior Alex Huibregtse said. “Obviously, the postseason (is important) as well. But he’s definitely getting back to wanting to win the regular-season title.”
The Raiders won or shared three consecutive crowns from 2018-21 but have been blanked since then. The only other title since joining the league in 1994 came in 2006-07.
Huibregtse and fifth-year wing Andrew Welage are the only current players on the roster who suited up for the last league champs in 2020-21. They had only minor roles with Huibregtse averaging 2.6 points and Welage 1.6.
Sargent and his staff also have been zeroing in on another troubling trend: a lackluster approach to protecting their home court.
The Raiders have been 18-14 and 18-15 overall the last two seasons, including a middling 9-7 and 9-6 at the Nutter Center.
Their league records at home haven’t been exactly stellar, either, going 6-4 and 5-5.
“The other thing coach (Sargent) has been saying is we’ve got to be way better at the Nutter Center. The last couple of years, we just haven’t been as good at home for whatever reason,” Huibregtse said.
The league adopted a 20-game schedule in 2021-22, and that’s meant conference play needs to start before Christmas.
Teams will play three HL games while still going through their non-league seasons.
The Raiders open at Oakland on Thursday and Detroit Mercy on Saturday afternoon.
They also will face Youngstown State next week between non-conference games against Marshall at home and Eastern Michigan on the road.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Sargent said of starting with two HL games away from home. “If you can get any win on the road, you really put yourself in a great spot.”
But he admits adjusting to the schedule is a challenge.
“It’s always been difficult for teams to shift from non-conference right into the league. It’s just a hard gear to pull, and our guys understand that,” he said.
“We’ve been talking about these two road games since we knew our schedule. We were picked fifth. And I feel like I have a group of guys who understand the league race. … They want to win the league title.”
What you need to know about the Horizon League:
NCAA DARLING: Oakland gave the conference a bump in perception last season with an upset of third-seeded Kentucky, 80-76, in the NCAA tourney behind Jack Gohlke’s 10 threes (he’s now playing pro ball in Europe).
That may have been the final nudge for John Calipari to leave for Arkansas.
The Grizzlies weren’t finished, either. They took NC State into overtime in the second round before falling, 79-73.
Oakland gave the league its first win in the field of 64 since Butler made back-to-back NCAA final trips in 2010 and ‘11, though Wright State won a First Four game in 2022.
WHO’S HOT: Well, nobody, really. Going into the week, Robert Morris had the best record at 6-3. Purdue Fort Wayne (5-3), Milwaukee (5-4) and Wright State (5-4) have the only other winning records.
PRESEASON POLL: PFW and Milwaukee were named the league co-favorites, followed by Northern Kentucky, Oakland and Wright State.
Beware of the Raiders, though. Their preseason ranking is their worst since also being picked fifth in 2017-18. That team went 25-10, won the league tourney and played Tennessee in an NCAA game.
BEST WIN: League teams haven’t knocked off any major-conference foes, but Milwaukee beat 2024 Atlantic 10 tourney champ Duquesne on the road, 80-74, and Oakland rolled to an 85-52 win at Toledo, which has won the last three MAC regular-season titles.
INDIVIDUAL STANDOUTS: Green Bay’s Anthony Roy, who was an NAIA All-American at Langston (Okla.) last year and played at New Mexico State before that, leads the league in scoring with a whopping 27.3 average through eight games.
The 6-foot-5 guard is shooting 50.4% from the field, 44.3% on 3′s and 86% on foul shots.
Two players are averaging double-doubles: Milwaukee’s Jamichael Stillwell (12.6 points per game, 10.3 rebounds) and Robert Morris’ Alvaro Folgueiras (11.2 and 10.4).
NET RATINGS: The Horizon League is ranked the 20th-best conference among 31 nationally, according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool.
HL teams went into the week with a 29-49 record against Division-I foes going into the week.
Fort Wayne is a league-best 89th in the NET. Wright State is second in the HL at 109th — 44 spots higher than last year’s finish.
The league is weighed down by three teams in the 300s: Cleveland State (306th), Youngstown State (307th) and IU Indy (342nd).
THURSDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Oakland, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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