“I keep telling everybody, ‘If your mindset is you’re going to score your way into the lineup, you’re just not,’” he said.
The Raiders have plenty of firepower on offense with the return of Tanner Holden, who averaged 16 points in his first three seasons before transferring to Ohio State last year.
They scored at a high clip without him. Star point guard Trey Calvin averaged 20.3 points and forward Brandon Noel 13.0 to lead the charge.
Even starting center A.J. Braun averaged 9.4 while playing a modest 20.8 minutes per game.
Though the Raiders could play bigger or smaller depending on matchups, they likely will need one more perimeter starter, and they have three returnees from last year with vast experience.
Junior Keaton Norris made 13 starts, senior Alex Huibregtse 12 and junior Andrew Welage five.
The 6-foot-3 Huibregtse had a 25-point game against Milwaukee, making five 3′s, and averaged 8.6 points.
The 6-6 Welage had the team’s best 3-point percentage at 47.7 and averaged 6.7 points.
The 6-foot Norris was a reluctant shooter and never cracked double figures. But he worked his way up the depth chart because of how trustworthy he is with the ball. He committed just 30 turnovers in 33 games while averaging 20.6 minutes.
“I just keep trying to explain to everybody — particularly when you look at Trey and Brandon and Tanner — to get on the floor for us, you don’t have to be a great scorer,” Nagy said.
“What we need you to do is the other stuff: get the loose balls, get rebounds. You’re going to make shots. Because of those three, you’re going to get wide-open shots. But mostly, we need those guys to be great defenders and make tough plays.”
Huibregtse started for the Raiders in the first of their two closed scrimmages against Bowling Green.
He made a team-high 57 threes last season, four more than Calvin, and hit a nifty 39.3%. But that’s not a priority for Nagy.
“I’m not overly concerned about how many we shoot,” he said. “We have a really good shooting team. We shot it really well this fall and summer.
“We went over to Italy, and in one game, we hit 18 threes. But we scrimmaged the other day (against BG) and only took 15 and made five.
“I’m not paying attention to it. We can do both,” he added, meaning play inside and outside.
Nagy was quick to point out that the battle for the last spot is still wide open.
“It could still be somebody else besides those three. We need somebody to stand out, particularly in the areas I’m talking about,” he said.
The NCAA has allowed teams to play up to two preseason games against Division-I foes as long as the outcomes aren’t published. Schools have a choice between “secret scrimmages” or playing exhibition games against lower-level foes.
Nagy prefers the former. The Raiders have another one coming up against Ball State.
The last time they played an exhibition was against Notre Dame College in 2018-19.
“We like the scrimmages better. I know fans like exhibitions. But the scrimmages, we can control those a little better,” he said.
“We can both work on zone and whatever else. You basically just get to practice against someone else and get to control some of it. A lot of people are going to that because it gives you an option to work on some things, rather than playing a game (that doesn’t count).”
Nagy said the teams can decide on a format that works for them. The Raiders played two 20-minute halves against BG with the normal allotment of timeouts.
Asked how they looked, Nagy said: “Not great. We weren’t good defensively. I’m trying to get that fixed.”
About the Author