But Nagy isn’t one to go fishing for excuses. And besides, the Thundering Herd had to shut down workouts for four of their first six weeks, and they certainly didn’t look fatigued while racing to an 80-64 victory Thursday.
“There are some realities to it, but so what?” Nagy said of dealing with the virus. “I feel like when it got tough, we didn’t get tough, and they did.
“When the game got tough, they fought. When things didn’t go our way, we didn’t fight. We kind of tucked our tails and ran.”
After trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half and 10 with 16 minutes to go, the Herd (2-0) surged to a 60-49 lead with 7:21 to go behind a 25-4 run.
The Raiders had no answer for Taevion Kinsey. The All-Conference USA guard from Columbus Eastmoor had 31 points, going 9 of 14 from the field and 13 of 15 on foul shots.
“We got our tails handed to us in the second half on both ends,” Nagy said.
Here are five things we learned from the game:
Defense falters
The Herd — who were picked third in the league preseason poll — were held to 29 points and 10-of-30 shooting in the first half, but they erupted for 51 points and made 16 of 30 shots after halftime.
“We couldn’t get over the frustration of how bad we played offensively and just gave up too many run-outs,” Nagy said. “We can’t give up 51 points and get outrebounded like we did (45-38 overall). In the second half, we just got whipped.”
Free throw woes
The Raiders were 288th nationally (out of 351 teams) in foul shooting last season, hitting 67.3%. That was one of their few deficiencies while finishing 25-7.
That still needs work. They went 11 of 24 against Marshall, coming up empty too often when the outcome was still in doubt.
“If you just make your free throws, it’s a completely different game,” Nagy said. “It isn’t like there’s something we can do about that. Players just have to step up and make those free throws. You’re very rarely going to have that many misses and win.”
A little more Love
Loudon Love, the preseason Horizon League Player of the Year, yanked down 16 rebounds, but he had just three points in the second half and 11 overall.
“We didn’t throw the ball in enough. I don’t know if our post players touched the ball in the second half,” Nagy said.
Marshall’s inside players sure did, gauging from their frequent trips to the foul line. The visitors went 22 of 27.
“That’s usually what we do to people,” Nagy said.
The news wasn’t all bad
No returning player was a bigger unknown than sophomore Trey Calvin, who was replacing all-league point guard Cole Gentry. Not only did he struggle from the field as a freshman (31.3%), but he just returned from quarantine Saturday.
The Chicago native, though, looked unflappable. He scored nine of the team’s first 14 points and finished with a career-high 16. He also had three steals with just two turnovers in 38 minutes.
“He was going against a first-team all-league point guard, who’s a pretty good player — one of the best defenders in their league,” Nagy said, referring to Kinsey. “I was pretty pleased with him. He’s going to keep growing and growing in his confidence. He’s going to be a heck of a good player for us.”
No home-court edge
Wright State tried to create a game-like experience — even placing a few dozen cardboard cutouts in the stands — but the crowd support was conspicuously absent.
Some things were the same. There was the customary fanfare for pre-game introductions and piped-in music during timeouts.
But the Raiders led the Horizon League in attendance last season at 4,154 per game, and given their lackluster showing, some buzz in the Nutter Center was sorely needed.
SATURDAY’S GAME
Miami (1-0) at Wright State (0-1)
4 p.m. Saturday
ESPN3/106.5
About the Author