“We felt good. We had two guys that they had a hard time stopping. It wasn’t any kind of magical calls. It’s pretty easy to go to those two.”
Alex Huibregtse scored a career-high 32 points, going 10 of 14 from the field, 3 of 3 on 3′s and 9 of 9 on foul shots. And Trey Calvin had 27 points, making 8 of 12 shots and 10 of 10 free throws.
The duo scored all 20 of their team’s OT points in a 107-99 victory Thursday, which ended the Vikings’ 18-game home winning streak.
“Our players have handled a lot of the disappointing stuff and some of the expectations that haven’t been met, and I feel like it’s hardened them a little bit,” Nagy said.
“Winning on the road after being down — most of the season, we would have just lost that game. That should give us some confidence.”
The Raiders didn’t take their first lead until a Huibregtse jumper with 1:54 to go in regulation.
They scored 67 points in the final 25 minutes, and they had their most points against a Division I foe since 1992-93.
They’re fifth in the nation in scoring at 86.3 points per game.
They also hiked their nation-leading field-goal percentage to 53.7 in pulling off their first two-game sweep of Cleveland State since 2019-20.
Huibregtse has averaged 16.1 points in his last eight games while shooting 58% from the field, lifting his average to 11.0.
“They’re not all easy shots he’s hitting. Those are some tough shots. But he’s doing it at a high percentage,” Nagy said.
“It adds to our offense, which is great. But defense and rebounding — if can we just shore those up, it’d give us a great chance because we’re clearly pretty efficient offensively.”
The Raiders improved to 11-10 overall and 6-4 in the Horizon League while ending the Vikings’ 18-game home winning streak.
But they’re 342nd out of 351 teams nationally in points allowed at 81.3 per game. And rebounding has become a pressing concern for Nagy after the last two games.
They beat Milwaukee a week ago despite getting out-rebounded by 14 and being credited with just one on the offensive end, though that was a “team” rebound after a dead-ball situation.
They were bashed on the boards by CSU in the first half, 24-7, and didn’t have a single offensive rebound, which left Nagy flabbergasted.
“We went a game and a half without getting an offensive rebound. It’s incredible. I’m sure I’ve never had that happen,” he said.
“It’s just such an important stat to our program. It always has been. And we’re getting demolished.”
The Raiders showed some moxie by out-rebounding their hosts by 11 after halftime.
But while they’ve never had a negative rebounding margin under Nagy, their current plus-1.0 average is the worst in his eight years.
“You can’t just think you can get beat that bad in an important thing, and It’s not going to catch up to you,” he said.
“In the last two games, we’ve been out-rebounded by 20, and we won both games, so it doesn’t feel like it’s that big a deal. But it’s got to get cleaned up.”
NEAR RECORD: The 99 points allowed by the Raiders are the second-most by a league foe in program history. UIC notched a 109-84 win on Jan. 29, 1994, when the team played in the Mid-Continent Conference.
CASHING IN: The Raiders went 32 of 38 on free throws for their most made foul shots since a 38-of-48 effort in an 84-49 win over Cleveland State on Jan. 16, 2021.
“We’re getting there more, which is what I want to do. Even as good as we are from the floor, it’s always better to be on the free-throw line,” Nagy said.
OVERTIME HISTORY: The Raiders hadn’t had an overtime game this season until the Cleveland State game. They’re 3-6 in OT games under Nagy.
SUNDAY’S GAME
Wright State at IUPUI, Noon, ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
About the Author