“I was concerned,” he said, “but our assistant coaches continued to say, ‘Just hang on. He’ll come around.’”
Nagy’s staff — which he often credits for helping him snap out of funks — was right.
When the Raiders played at the Gulf Coast Showcase last week, they saw a different Noel.
“He wanted the ball,” Nagy said. “That’s a big change from when we started.”
The 2023 Horizon League Freshman of the Year scored just 22 total points in the first three games, going 7 of 22 from the field. The meager totals stood out even more because he’d played a team-high 37.7 minutes per game.
But he had 16, 17 and 19 points to help the Raiders finish 2-1 in Estero, Fla., going 19 of 33 from the field.
He’s also broadening his skill set by making the 3-pointer a bigger part of his game. He went 5 of 11 on 3s in the tourney and is shooting 44.4% from the arc.
Nagy has seen all kinds of fluctuations in production over the years — even from his best players.
Noel, who averaged 13 points and 8.7 rebounds last season and shot a league-best 60.9%, had a relatively quiet 10-game span toward the end of last season where he averaged 10.5 points.
“Some kids are naturally confident. Some kids SHOULDN’T be confident and they are,” Nagy said. “Brandon is the opposite. He should be full of it, and he struggles with this confidence sometimes.
“But one thing I don’t have to worry about with Brandon is how much he cares about the team and his teammates, because he does.”
Having a 6-8 forward who can occupy defenses should pay off for the Raiders offensively, giving them more open looks from 3.
They’re cashing in at a reasonable rate so far — 35.8% on 18.2 attempts per game.
They shot 35.7% and averaged 17.4 attempts last season and 33.3% and 19.4 tries in 2021-22.
“We’re a much better shooting team than we’ve shown at this point, in terms of the 3,” Nagy said.
His biggest gripe — and it may be something only he notices — is that shooters come up short far too often.
“It just frustrates me,” he said. “We hit the front of the rim all the time. I tell them, ‘If you’re going to shoot it, shoot it! It never goes in if you hit the front of the rim.’
“They get sick of hearing me say that,” he added with a chuckle. “But if you’re going to miss, miss long. Don’t miss short.’”
NATIONAL STATS: The Raiders have faced a meaty schedule so far, and it’s part of the reason they’re near the bottom in several NCAA stats.
They went into the week 341st out of 351 teams in opponent field-goal percentage at 49.9%.
They’re 331st in points allowed at 81.8 per game.
And their turnover margin of minus-2.8 puts them in a tie for 310th.
That last category has been costly. Foes are averaging 19.3 points off turnovers, while the Raiders are only converting miscues into 10.8 points.
But they’ve already played four top-100 teams in the NET rankings. Indiana went into the week 31st, Toledo 82nd, Hofstra 85th, Louisiana 86th, Colorado State 115th and Illinois State 283rd.
Wright State is 197th.
ABOUT IUPUI: The Jaguars (3-4), who visit the Raiders on Wednesday, ended a four-game losing streak with a 78-70 overtime win against Cleary University, an NAIA team.
IUPUI is 360th in the NET out of 362 teams, which is where they’ve been hovering the last few seasons.
They were picked 10th in the league preseason poll, one spot ahead of Green Bay (361st in the NET).
They went 5-27 overall and 2-18 in the league last season.
They were 3-26 and 1-16 the year before that.
Junior guard Jlynn Counter, averaging 15.6 points, was a preseason second-team all-league pick.
Matt Crenshaw is in his third season as coach.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
IUPUI at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 1290, 95.7
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