“It’s hard for everyone this year,” sophomore wing Tanner Holden said. “It’s really made our team come together a lot more. You’ve got to bring the energy because there’s no feeding off the crowd.”
Holden pointed out how even families have had to adapt. Instead of attending games in person, they’ve had to get ESPN+ subscriptions and watch their loved ones from home.
“Dad is probably still trying to coach me up, but I can’t hear him,” he said with a laugh.
Actually, Holden is playing so well that he hasn’t needed his father’s insights. After making the league all-freshman team last season — and being named to the CBSSports.com list of 10 freshmen who exceeded expectations — he’s upped his play this season while helping the Raiders to a 4-1 start.
In a pair of wins at Detroit last weekend, the 6-foot-6 wing had a combined 34 points and 12 rebounds.
He’s third on the team in scoring with a 14.0 average and tied for second in rebounding at 6.6.
He’s also shooting 56.3% from the field while playing a team-high 171 minutes.
“He just has such a tremendous feel for the game, and he has a great motor on top of it,” coach Scott Nagy said. “He plays hard. He’s physical. He’s a way better defender this year, which is typical. Freshman aren’t usually as good of defenders as they should be, and by the time they get to their sophomore year, they understand what’s expected of him.
“He’s just a great all-around player and gives us a lot of flexibility in terms of what we can do with him.”
Holden, who averaged 11.8 points (third on the team) and 6.5 rebounds (second) last season, always has had the tools to be a lock-down defender with his athleticism. He was a three-time Division III All-Ohioan in basketball at Wheelersburg High School while also being named the state’s 2017 Division V co-offensive player of the year in football.
But while he may have been overmatched physically at first, he tried to make it a priority.
“Defense is a mindset. Either you want to play defense or you don’t,” Holden said. “For me, I feel like my defense gets my offense going. My dad has always told me that, and my mom has told me that, too. That’s a huge part of basketball. You play defense, you get stops, and your offense will come.”
Holden comes from an athletic family. His father, Rodney, played at Marshall from 1984-88 and is second in career field-goal percentage (.586), seventh in rebounds (812) and tied for ninth in games played (117).
His mother, Tammy, played sports and was a cheerleader, while his sister, Sydney, was all-conference in basketball at the University of Rio Grande and was named the school’s female athlete of the year as a senior in 2019-20.
“From my freshman to sophomore year, I’ve gotten quicker. I think I’ve also gotten smarter on the defensive end. I’ve learned the system a lot better, and I feel like that’s definitely a huge part of it,” Holden said.
While he’s made a sizeable jump from last season, the other true sophomore on the team has improved dramatically, too.
No one knew what to expect from Trey Calvin when Nagy handed him the keys to the offense this season — as a freshman back-up point guard, he averaged 4.8 points while shooting 31.3% from the field and 25.4% on 3′s — but he’s playing with a swagger that has infused confidence in the rest of the team.
He’s averaging 12.4 points with just eight turnovers in 170 minutes over five games. He’s also shooting 44% from the floor and 39.3 on 3′s.
“He’s playing great,” Holden said. “He’s a good player. He has such a tremendous feel for the game. He’s a great rebounder. He’s a good ball handler, too.
“If you stood in a gym and watched him shoot, you wouldn’t say he’s a great shooter, but if you look at his stats from last year, it’s an unbelievable (change) — mostly from 3. He doesn’t take a lot of them, but he takes the right ones and makes them.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Green Bay at Wright State, 4 p.m., ESPN3, ESPN+, 106.5
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