Anyone caught watching others do the work can expect to end up in a seat near Nagy.
“If you’re going to play for us, you’ve got to rebound,” he said.
That’s why the 40-25 pounding they gave IUPUI on the boards wasn’t just the work of frontcourt players Loudon Love and Grant Basile, though they had eight and six, respectively.
Wings Tanner Holden, who had seven, and Tim Finke, who had six, were just as active.
“There are two things we kind of hang our hat on and talk about — defense and rebounding,” Nagy said. “That’s how we tell how physical we’re being.”
The Raiders have been brutes inside. They have a plus-10.0 rebound margin per game, which puts them ninth nationally.
They also out-rebounded foes in each of Nagy’s first four seasons, but were far less dominant. They finished +2.9, +3.0, +2.5 and +2.5 per game.
In each of the six seasons before that, the Raiders had negative rebound margins, finishing between minus-1.2 and -4.5.
Love leads the Horizon League with a 10.3 average, and Basile is at 6.9.
But Holden has had three double-figure rebound games this season and is averaging 7.7, eighth in the league. Finke also has had three double-digit efforts and is averaging 6.3.
“Defensively, if you’re playing well and keeping them from scoring, you’re probably going to win the rebounding battle,” Nagy said. “But we get on the offensive glass, too. The biggest question is, Can we get on the offensive glass and get back in transition?”
The Raiders certainly didn’t have trouble stopping IUPUI’s fastbreaks this weekend while winning 95-65 and 100-72.
In three of the first four halves, the Jaguars shot 34.4%, 39.5% and 35.5%. In the second half of Saturday’s blowout, they hit 54.5% from the floor, but the Raiders were an astonishing 73.1%, going 19 of 26.
As Nagy put it, “In the second half, we were out of our minds on offense.”
The Raiders completed their first weekend sweep after going 1-1 in each of the previous three weekends.
“I’m proud of the guys,” Nagy said. “It’d be easy to not have focus (in the second game), but our guys were really sharp.
“It was nice for us to complete a weekend. It’s mostly because of our defense. Our guys are really locking in.”
That may be true, but their offense is humming, too.
They shot 56.9% and 55.7% in the two games and have hit 50.0 or better seven times this season.
And while Nagy predicted they wouldn’t come close to matching last year’s scoring clip of 80.63 points per game, they’re actually surpassing it so far at 81.67.
That’s on pace for the highest average since the 1992-93 team put up 89.1.
Building depth: The Raiders essentially have a seven-man rotation when games are tight with 6-5 junior Jayon Hall the primary sub and 6-3 freshman Alex Huibregtse mostly giving Trey Calvin breathers at the point.
Nagy, though, wants to see more of his reserves step up, and 6-3 redshirt freshman guard Andre Harris showed some promise.
He had four points and two rebounds in four minutes Saturday. And while he didn’t score in four minutes of action Friday, Nagy liked that short stint even more.
“Andre did a great job on Burk,” he said of first-team all-league guard Marcus Burk. “He moved his feet well.
“I’ve been asking him to be a better defender. He should be one of our top defenders for sure, so I’m pushing him in that area. That stands out for me.”
Tight race: The Raiders (11-4, 9-3) are closing in on first-place Cleveland State (10-5, 10-2) after getting some help from Milwaukee on Saturday.
The Vikings blew a 13-point lead in the final two minutes of regulation, getting outscored 21-7, and fell in overtime, 81-80.
The Panthers’ Donovan Newby forced OT after being fouled on a 3 with 10 seconds left and making all three free throws. Trailing by one in the extra session, DeAndre Gholston made a layup with three seconds to go.
CSU’s lead is down to one game with eight to go.
FRIDAY’S GAME
Robert Morris at Wright State, 9 p.m. Friday, ESPNU, 106.5
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