The unexpected transfer of three-year starting center A.J. Braun meant Nagy had to be asked about the status of his two other multi-year starters with even more upside: Brandon Noel and Alex Huibregtse.
“They’re back,” Nagy confirmed.
Folks in Raider Land will be relieved to hear that.
Noel, a 6-foot-8 junior-to-be, is a two-time second-team All-Horizon League pick. He averaged a career-high 14.5 points and 8.0 rebounds.
“He still has a very high ceiling he hasn’t reached yet,” Nagy said.
Huibregtse, a 6-4 senior-to-be, hiked his average from 8.6 last year to 12.3.
He was ninth in the league with 3.3 assists per game, and he reached career highs in shooting from the field (52.5%), on 3′s (41.7) and at the foul line (82.9).
He was at his best when the pressure was most intense. In the final nine games, he averaged 16.3 points and shot 54.9% from the field and 50.9 on 3′s.
The duo seems poised to take their games to another level, softening the blow of losing a pair of 2,000-point scorers in Trey Calvin and Tanner Holden.
“I’m very excited about the nucleus we have coming back without question,” said Nagy, whose team finished 18-14 and tied for third in the league.
“Brandon and Alex, obviously, will get most of the attention. We’ll be leaning on them a lot for leadership. But we think we’ll get it from other areas, too.”
Another part-time starter from 2022-23, point guard Keaton Norris, will be back after redshirting as a junior this season.
“We feel like he’s made big jumps,” Nagy said.
A pair of redshirt freshmen, 6-9 Drey Carter and 6-4 Logan Woods, along with 6-0 true freshman Kaden “KK” Brown were part of the regular rotation. And though none averaged more than 4.2 points, they all were willing defenders.
“When you look at our young guys with Drey and Logan and KK, they all got some experience this year, and they’ll be way more counted on next year,” Nagy said.
“The other guy we really like is Solomon,” he added, referring to Solomon Callaghan, a 6-2 freshman from Wadsworth, Ohio, who redshirted this year.
“He’s a robot. He’s just in the gym all the time and is physically ready to go. He’s going to be a great leader, too.”
The Raiders are easily first in the nation in field-goal shooting at 53.0%, fourth in scoring at 86.5 per game and 11th in 3-point shooting at 38.3%. (Those positions may fluctuate some when NCAA games are concluded.)
But their defensive average of 81.2 is 347th out of 351 teams.
Nagy prefers defensive-efficiency ratings to measure his team because it takes into account pace of play. But the Raiders are dismal there, too, at 341st.
In his seven previous years, they never were worse than 229th, and they finished 16th in 2020-21 and 12th in 2017-18.
He’s a strict man-to-man coach, so he’s not likely to attend Zone School in the offseason. But he may have to mix it up a bit more next year.
Asked if he’s thought about adding at least a few possessions of zones each game, he said: “Believe me, we’ve talked about everything.”
As for next season, Nagy said: “What has to improve is our rebounding and defense. I think, offensively, that’ll be our strength again.
“The core group is there, and all of them are pulling in the same direction. We’re excited about that.”
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