The 2012 Jackrabbits pulled out a 52-50 win in the Summit League finals against Western Illinois for Nagy’s first crown.
They needed a six-point triumph against North Dakota State to advance in 2013.
And in 2016, they won their three games by 10, 3 and 2 to hoist the trophy again after a three-year lull.
The Raiders’ biggest scare in their march to the 2018 Horizon League crown came in the semifinals when they led Milwaukee by just three with less than two minutes to go before prevailing, 59-53.
“All those teams were either first- or second place finishers,” said Nagy, who is in his fifth year as Wright State’s coach after 21 seasons at South Dakota State. “The thing that stands out is, there’s always one game — at least one game — where things didn’t look very good. It didn’t look like you would be able to win, and somehow you pull it out.
“There’s always going to be that game where you’re really, really tested. That gets you through and gets the confidence to play the next game. For anybody to think it’s going to be easy, that’s ridiculous. It’s just not going to be.”
The second-seeded Raiders will host No. 8 Milwaukee in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Tuesday. And while they swept two games at home earlier this month, the league co-champs never quite put the Panthers away, winning by 11 and 10.
No. 1 seed Cleveland State hosts Purdue Fort Wayne, which upset Green Bay in the first round.
No. 3 Oakland will face Youngstown State at home.
And No. 4 Northern Kentucky will get a visit from Detroit Mercy and perhaps the hottest player in America, Antoine Davis. He set a tourney record with 46 points Thursday against Robert Morris, going 10 of 16 on 3′s, and is averaging 29.3 points in his last 12 games.
Loudon Love and Jaylon Hall are the only current players on the Raiders’ last title team. The win against Milwaukee in the semis propelled them to a relatively easy, 74-57, victory over Cleveland State for the crown.
Though that was a joyous time in the program, Love was reluctant to reminisce about it — and maybe for good reason. The soul-crushing experience from last year is all too fresh.
The Raiders won their first outright regular-season title, received a double-bye into the semifinals and then were bounced by UIC, 73-56.
Whatever happens in the tourney this year, Love doesn’t want it to overshadow what they’ve already accomplished.
“It’s hard to tell (teammates) how special it is to win it without taking away from how special it is to win the regular-season,” he said. “Winning it outright was better last year, but it’s still great to be co-champs with everything going on — being No. 1 in the preseason poll and handling that pressure throughout the year. I take my hat off to my teammates and everyone who was involved in that.”
Claiming the tourney title “is a great feeling, but you don’t want to take away from the success we’ve had. It puts a lot of pressure on a one-bid league. It’s three games, and everyone is turned up. When the tournament starts, everyone is going to be playing their best basketball. If they’re not, they’re going to find out right away they’re not going to win a game.”
Milwaukee advanced by beating IUPUI, 84-72, in the fifth meeting between the teams this season. Because of COVID-19, the league called mid-week audibles and allowed healthy teams to play each other if their original opponents had canceled — even though, in some cases, they were already scheduled to meet.
Cleveland State will be facing Fort Waye for the fifth time, too.
The Panthers’ Te’Jon Lucas, a third-team all-league guard, had 22 points, and DeAndre Gholston, who had 49 in the two games against the Raiders, chipped in 20.
But while Nagy won’t have a hard time convincing his team to be on upset alert, the Panthers — and any future opponent — will have a hard time contending with the 6-foot-8, 255-pound Love.
The two-time conference player of the year is averaging 16.7 points and 10.3 rebounds and has been at his best while the Raiders were trying to make up ground on the Vikings. He’s averaged 22.7 points and 10.7 rebounds in the last seven games.
Before the scoring spurt, Love said: “I was trying to focus on being a better team defender. I knew with Grant (Basile) on the floor, I’d probably play more at the 4, so I took less focus and demanded less of myself offensively.”
Fortunately for the Raiders, he had an epiphany late in the year and realized he could do both.
“I was able to recognize that through film and stat sheets and conversations I had with my coaches and teammates,” he said. “Instead of being passive on offense and focusing on defense, I was trying to be good on both ends and being fully immersed for my teammates.
“Once I did that, the offensive numbers kind of flourished a little more. It took pressure off my defense, but I was able to still compete on that end, too.”
Women’s tourney: No. 1-seeded Wright State will host eighth-seeded Northern Kentucky at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The Norse beat Robert Morris, 68-54, in the first round Thursday behind Lindsey Duvall’s 29 points and 14 rebounds.
The Raiders beat NKU twice earlier this month by 14 and nine.
TUESDAY’S HL QUARTERFINALS
Women
NKU at Wright State, 2 p.m., ESPN+
Men
Milwaukee at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 106.5
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