Only Hartford, at minus-15.4, was worse.
“That was the first thing we started with this summer. Literally, it was the first thing we did in practice,” Hoffman said.
“It’s just helpful when you have more players out there that love to rebound. Our returners have seen how that has helped us this year. They’ve really changed and have gotten in there to battle as well.”
The Raiders still aren’t brutes on the boards, but they’ve lowered that differential to minus-4.5, which is why they’re off to a solid start this season.
They’re 7-6 overall and 1-1 in the Horizon League with conference play returning full tilt this week. They’ll visit Youngstown State on Friday and Robert Morris on Sunday.
“We were dedicated to not let rebounding beat us this year,” Hoffman said. “We’re focusing, too, on getting more offensive rebounds and that being a number we can lean on.”
The Raiders are still only 285th nationally and eighth in the league in rebound margin. But because they’re so proficient in other facets — like connecting on free throws at a 79% clip — they may have enough pieces to compete for a league title.
They were picked seventh in the 11-team preseason poll but are tied with Milwaukee for the fifth-best overall record.
Cleveland State has a league-best 11-2 mark but lost preseason player of the year Destiny Leo to a season-ending knee injury after six games.
Green Bay was the preseason favorite and are a league-high No. 36 in the NET rankings. CSU is 93, Purdue Fort Wayne 121, Detroit Mercy 195, Wright State 201, Milwaukee 219, Youngstown State 261, Oakland 274, Robert Morris 275, Northern Kentucky 299 and IUPUI 326.
“Some teams are taking big hits like Cleveland State. But I think I know what I have in my team,” Hoffman said. “There’s a lot of consistency. There’s belief. And there’s a work ethic I really like.”
The Raiders, who went 4-19 and 8-24 in Hoffman’s first two years, are still dangerous from 3, but they’re shooting fewer.
They’re averaging 23.8 attempts per game, down from 27.8 last season, and are making 8.3 per game after finishing second in the nation a year ago at 10.1.
But they have plenty of weapons, beginning with emerging star Alexis Hutchison, a transfer from Malone University who is the league’s leading scorer at 19.2 points per game. She has two of the six highest-scoring games in the HL this year with 37 and 32 points.
Layne Ferrell, a transfer from Akron, is another stalwart, averaging 11.5 points. She’s leading the team in foul shooting (87.5%) and is second in 3-point accuracy (43.5%).
And junior Kacee Baumhower, who is second on the team in scoring with an 11.8 average, is one of several returnees making valuable contributions.
“I think we have a group that believes in each other, that believes we can walk into any gym and win,” Hoffman said.
“They’re bought in. They can see how good we can be and how fun it is to do it together.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Youngstown State, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+
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