Asked if he could recall his highest-ranked team in defensive efficiency, Nagy picked it out like someone being asked to name his first love.
In his second year in 2017-18, the Raiders were an impressive 12th in the country, allowing just .929 points per possession.
Loudon Love was a redshirt freshman and anchored the defense. His instincts and 6-foot-9, 280-pound frame made him the ultimate rim protector, almost completely eliminating buckets inside.
“Loudon was always a great defender. Nobody could score around the basket on him,” Nagy said.
The eighth-year coach easily rattled off the other defensive stars from that group: Grant Benzinger, Mark Hughes and Parker Ernsthausen.
They went 25-10, won the league regular-season and tourney titles and earned an NCAA berth.
“Grant was probably the toughest kid I’ve ever had since I’ve been here,” Nagy said. “I’ll tell you what else: Parker was a great defender, a GREAT defender. And Mark Hughes was great. We had a bunch of good defenders.”
Nagy can’t understand why his current team doesn’t take more pride in defense. But after 20 games and a 10-10 start, it’s not likely to get much better.
Wright State is a staggering 349th out of 362 teams in defensive efficiency (1.129).
In his eight years, the Raiders had only one other season where they ended up in the bottom half of Division I in that category — finishing 229th in 2021-22.
That team started 2-7 but rallied to capture the league tourney and win an NCAA First Four game.
The Raiders are one of the slickest offensive teams in the country. They went into the week first in field-goal shooting (53.5%), 12th in scoring (85.2) and 13th in offensive efficiency (1.159).
It galls Nagy that 13 of 20 opponents have scored 81 or more points. But the Raiders have kept themselves in the league race by being so hard to stop.
They successfully navigated a must-win game against Milwaukee on Saturday that lifted them into a tie for fifth at 5-4. Yes, even with 11 HL games to go, they couldn’t afford to fall further behind the leaders.
“I hate to put any more weight on one game than another, I really do. But, as flat as we were Thursday, that was pretty important,” Nagy said, meaning bouncing back from an 88-81 home loss to Green Bay.
“It was important because now we’re back on the road again, and this will be the first time we’ve played somebody that we’ve beaten at home.”
The Raiders knocked off Cleveland State, 82-70, on Jan. 4. But the Vikings, who host the rematch Thursday, were league tourney runner-ups last year after winning it in 2021, and they’ve finished first, first and second in the regular-season the last three years.
“They’ll be ready for us. Our records are the same. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing at home or wherever, they’re physical and aggressive. And they’ll be waiting for us,” Nagy said.
“Road games are how you win championships.”
BALL-HANDLING BETTER: The Raiders are committing only 11.1 turnovers per game, which is on pace for their lowest average since 2010-11.
They’ve had just 28 total turnovers in their last four games.
“We had that stretch with Cleveland State and Fort Wayne where we turned it over 18 and 17 times and won those games. I don’t know how we did. But since then, we’ve really started to take care of the ball,” Nagy said.
THURSDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Cleveland State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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