The only team that can catch the Vikings (who are 19-7 overall) is Purdue Fort Wayne (18-10, 13-6), which has won seven straight games since losing at Wright State on Jan. 30. Both teams finish with the same two opponents, Oakland and Detroit Mercy on the road.
But the top four seeds in the league tourney get first-round byes and quarterfinal home games, and the Raiders (16-13, 13-7) have put themselves in danger of getting closed out.
They’ve dropped to fourth place behind Northern Kentucky (16-11, 12-6). Oakland (18-10, 11-6), Youngstown State (18-11, 12-7) and Detroit Mercy (12-13, 9-6) are all looking to climb into the top four.
Since CSU has already locked up the No. 1 seed, that means six teams are fighting for three spots.
But while that would seem to be something the Raiders could use for fuel, coach Scott Nagy has no intention of making that part of his pep talks.
“Like I told the players, ‘Quit thinking that if these people do this … blah, blah. Just focus on the next game and figure out how to win the next game. That’s all you’ve got to do. Otherwise, you just get distracted and worry about things you can’t control,’” Nagy said.
He added: “It doesn’t register with me that, ‘Oh, we’ve got to finish in the top four.’ That’s garbage. I think that’s how you lose. That’s the way losers talk. If our focus is to finish in the top four, then I don’t like that focus at all.”
The Raiders finish with home games against Youngstown State at 7 p.m. Thursday and Robert Morris (7-21, 5-14) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
“What matters is we’re playing Youngstown, and they scored 90 points on us last time,” Nagy said. “That’s the most they’ve scored in the league. And we were not very good last weekend defensively at all. We’ve got a lot of issues.”
The Raiders overcame a 3-point barrage at Oakland on Friday to pull out a 78-74 win on ESPN2. The Grizzlies went 15 of 30 from the arc, but the Raiders stepped up at crunch time, finishing on a 20-5 run in the final 6:40.
Needing to recharge after a tight 38-hour turnaround, they had little in the tank against Detroit Mercy, falling behind by 26 in the second half in an 80-75 loss.
“We just seem to have a problem with emotionally being in a good spot one game and not the next,” Nagy said. “We can’t even it out.
“We played so well Friday. They just hit a bunch of shots, which were guarded. We played hard. But we were as flat as we can be (Sunday). And it’s not like we’ve got a bunch of inexperienced guys.”
Cleveland State was the preseason favorite, while Wright State was picked second and Northern Kentucky third.
Because of COVID-19 cancellations, the Raiders are one of only two teams (along with Milwaukee) that will play all 22 league games. They faced two teams with just five scholarship players to make it happen, winning at Robert Morris and losing at Youngstown State.
But while none of the other leaders will play a full schedule — which conceivably would expose them to more losses -- CSU, Fort Wayne and NKU all had games against IUPUI cancelled.
The Jaguars are the lowest-ranked Division-I team in the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings at No. 357.
Plus, the Vikings and Mastodons met for a third time in the regular-season to make up for one missed game. CSU prevailed in two of the three (giving them the tiebreaking nod in case the teams end up with the same league records).
After a fifth-place showing in his first season with personnel he didn’t recruit, Nagy’s last four HL finishes have been impressive: second, tied for first, outright first and tied for first.
Second is still within range this season, but Nagy is more concerned about getting consistency out of his players.
“At this point, the only thing that can be done is for people to stop being a victim and start demanding more from themselves, instead of having some kind of blame go somewhere else,” he said. “Say, ‘No, I’m the problem. Not anybody else, it’s me.’ Then you’ve got a chance to change.
“Even as a coach, you can get to where you want to blame your players. If I’m going to take my own advance, instead of blaming the players, I’m going to say, ‘I’m the problem. I’m the one who has to change. I’ve got to do a better job.’ That’s what I’m trying to do.”
THURSDAY’S GAME
Youngstown State at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 980
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