“I just want our guys to be encouraged by winning ugly,” he said.
Not that the Wright State coach is opposed to seeing an offensive flurry from his team. But after a 7-8 start to his career, he realized his players were coming up short in the competitive toughness department, and he needed to take a fresh approach.
“Some of it can be vague, and they can be, like, ‘Coach, can you define toughness for us?’ We just defined it by asking, ‘OK, what do you guys think winning plays are?’ They defined them, and we wrote them on a board,” he said.
“We told them, ‘OK, this is all that matters. We’ll give you some (scouting reports). But until we start doing these things, it won’t matter.’”
The players came up with three must-haves: winning 50-50 balls, getting offensive rebounds and taking charges.
Sargent couldn’t have come up with a better list himself.
The 74-51 win over Green Bay on Thursday may not have been the best measuring stick — the Phoenix are 330th out of 364 teams in the KenPom ratings — but the Raiders were committed to doing the basketball version of Mike Rowe’s “Dirty Jobs.”
“We had nine offensive rebounds, Solomon (Callaghan) took a charge, and I know we were on the floor a lot,” Sargent said.
“What that does is create belief, and you don’t have to be dependent on the ball going in to create that. If I’ve got it going and am making shots, that doesn’t necessarily give everybody else life. … That’s our ‘toughness,’ and we’re trying to define that specifically so they can hold each other accountable.”
🎥 Four Raiders tallied double figures scoring tonight, led by Brandon Noel's game-high 20 points, as we shot 48% and had 20 assists on 29 made baskets. Roll those highlights!#RaiderUP | #RaiderFamily pic.twitter.com/QHjJSSieGF
— Wright State Men’s Basketball (@WSU_MBB) January 3, 2025
The Raiders (8-8, 2-3) still have to prove they’ll keep embracing the least-fun parts of the sport — nobody took up hoops as a kid because he dreamed of drawing charges — but they were desperate enough to make changes.
Sargent, much like predecessor Scott Nagy, is candid and authentic, and he gives blunt assessments of his team.
After their third straight loss at Cleveland State on Dec. 29, he said: “By and large, in our regular-seasons in the league, we’ve just been too susceptible to getting punked.”
Sargent said the bad habits go back a couple of years — the Raiders leaned on a high-powered offense, and all it got them was records of 18-15 and 18-14 — and the players seem to be as tired of mediocrity as he is.
Asked what the coaching staff wants, star Brandon Noel said: “Just being connected more. Mainly, it affects us on defense — even though it might look like (the problem) is the offensive end.
“On the defensive end, we don’t really trust one another the best — and it’s not even on purpose, but unconsciously. We’re trying to work on that, repping it out in practice, trusting the other guy is going to be there. It’s easier said than done. We’re still working on that.”
In the last two-plus seasons, the Raiders are just 4-19 in games where they’ve scored 75 points or fewer, and that’s another reason the Green Bay win was promising.
Sargent wants to be able to win when the offense isn’t purring.
He wants to win ugly.
“Our guys understand how (scrappy plays) are such a recipe for success, but people also don’t understand how complicated that can be when you’re facing pressure,” Sargent said, meaning the internal tug-a-war between doing what’s right and doing only what comes naturally.
“You’ve got all these different factors that start getting to you emotionally and mentally — whether it’s yourself, me, fans. That’s the journey I love to take with our team and why we try to recruit kids who can understand that.
“If you don’t have it, you cannot win. You cannot win consistently.”
THURSDAY’S GAME
Oakland at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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