Wright State basketball: Players excited to get crack at Kentucky

First-year Wright State head coach Clint Sargent watches his team during an exhibition game vs. WIlmington at the Nutter Center on Oct. 26, 2024. Joe Craven/Wright State Athletics

Credit: Joseph R. Craven

Credit: Joseph R. Craven

First-year Wright State head coach Clint Sargent watches his team during an exhibition game vs. WIlmington at the Nutter Center on Oct. 26, 2024. Joe Craven/Wright State Athletics

FAIRBORN — Wright State players have the highest respect for Kentucky, knowing about the program’s storied past and that 20,500-seat Rupp Arena is usually filled to the brim.

But no one should expect them to be like the Hickory Huskers from the movie Hoosiers, walking into Hinkle Fieldhouse with their mouths agape before the state championship.

The KNOW the basket is 10 feet high. They KNOW it’s 15 feet to the foul line — just like their home gym.

And they’re motivated, not awed, in facing the Wildcats.

“For a lot of us, I feels like it’s a dream to play in an environment like we’re going to play in,” point guard Keaton Norris said. “It’s a great opportunity for us — but it’s not one where we don’t think we can go in there and win.”

Mike Imariagbe, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound transfer, will be facing a much taller frontline but is ready to do battle.

“It’s a big game, but I’m going to come in level headed. I don’t know how everybody else thinks, but to me personally, they’re talented but they’re just another group of players with a name,” he said.

Kentucky is launching a brand-new era with John Calipari having left for Arkansas. Former BYU coach Mark Pope, a captain on the Wildcats’ 1996 national little team, is taking over and had a mammoth rebuilding job.

UK doesn’t have a single player who scored a point for the team last year.

Four followed Calipari to Arkansas, and two went to the NBA. Pope couldn’t persuade the others to stay.

But we’re in the rent-a-team era with the transfer portal and NIL, allowing a program with the Wildcats’ pedigree to reload instantly.

Four 1,000-point scorers from other schools were lured to Lexington, two of them having been conference defensive players of the year.

They have two other conference sixth-men of the year, including Dayton’s Koby Brea, who led the nation in 3-point shooting (100 of 201) and averaged 11.1 points for the Flyers.

The 6-foot-7 5th-year player had a combined 20 points as a top sub in the team’s two exhibitions, going 4 of 10 from 3.

“He’s a dangerous, dangerous man, for sure,” Pope said. “He’s got the ability to go get a bucket on his own. He’s obviously a lethal shooter. He’s been guarding very well for us.

“He brings an unbelievable personality and dedication to the game. He’s going to be massively important to our team. By the time he’s finished, he’s going to have done some really special things at Kentucky.”

The Wildcats have been ranked in 57 of 64 AP preseason polls, coming in at 23rd this year, and have made an all-time best 970 appearances in the weekly Top 25.

But Pope has been impressed with what the Raiders have done, too.

“They were one of the top shooting teams in the country and one of the top scoring teams in the country (last year). They’ve had incredible success,” he said.

“We expect them to be everything they are — which is a really, really dangerous offensive team for anybody in the country. I’m sure they’re going to give us everything we can handle.”

In the second of two exhibitions, the Wildcats notched a 98-67 win over defending DivisionII national champion Minnesota State.

Jaxson Robinson, a BYU transfer, was the leading scorer in both games with 24 and 19 points. The 6-6 fifth-year player was a preseason third-team All-SEC pick.

Kentucky was predicted to finish eighth in the league.

“I know they’re good. I know they’re talented. I’ve watched a lot of Mark Pope. I love his story. I’m a big fan of what he’s about,” Wright State coach Clint Sargent said.

Pope, who also coached at Utah Valley, played eight years in the NBA and then enrolled in medical school at Columbia, spending two years there before getting into coaching.

“I love how they play. But they have a new group, so we’ll see,” Sargent said.

MONDAY’S GAME

Wright STate at Kentucky, 7 p.m., ESPNU, 101.5, 1410

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