They also responded to their first two-game losing streak in two years with a 93-55 blowout win over Youngstown State in their last outing.
But while Nagy has been pleased with the stretches of dominant play, he’s quick to point out they’re far from a finished product.
“We don’t lose two times in a row very often. It doesn’t happen very often because the kids want to win, and it brings good focus,” he said.
“We’re only 11 games into it, so we’re still figuring things out. Normally, we’d have a lot more games in at this time. We’re still working through things and trying to put the right pieces in place. ... I’d probably give us a B right now if I had to grade us.”
Wright State will need its A game with first-place Cleveland State (8-3, 8-0) coming for two games this weekend. The HL schedule is a marathon-ish 20 games this year — it’s never been more than 18 before — but the stakes are still high.
A sweep catapults the Raiders into a first-place tie. Getting swept means they probably can forget about winning the regular-season title.
“The players understand what’s going on. It’s not like you have to talk a lot about the standings,” Nagy said. “We’re trying to keep them focused on doing their jobs and not getting caught up in some big hype deal because, after these games, there’s still 10 games left to play.”
Tanner Holden, the team’s leading scorer with a 17.1 average, knows the Raiders will need to be in peak form.
“They’re undefeated. They’re a good team They’re definitely different from last year,” he said. “Coming out with two wins would be huge in the league race for the end of the year and getting a good seed for the tournament. It’s definitely a big weekend for us.”
The Raiders just notched their fifth game of shooting 50% or better from the field, hitting at a 51.5 clip in the Youngstown State thrashing on Saturday.
They also lit up Bowling (55.2%), Green Bay (50.8) and Detroit Mercy twice (58.5 and 58.0)
They’re shooting 48.8% overall. If they maintain that pace for the whole season, it’d be their best mark since hitting 51.6 in 1992-93 when superstar Bill Edwards averaged 25.2 points on the way to an NCAA tourney appearance.
They’re also averaging 80.1 points, which no doubt is a surprise to Nagy. He didn’t think they’d come close to last year’s 80.6 clip.
But the Vikings rank first in the league in defensive field-goal percentage (39.3) and steals per game (9.3).
“In the past three halves, we’ve done a better job of taking care of the basketball, and it’s going to be important in this game,” Nagy said. “It’s important in every game, but these guys force the most turnovers and really feed off it.”
A two-game series of this magnitude would ordinarily draw the Raiders’ biggest crowds of the year. But they won’t be able to count on a boost from fans.
Youngstown State clearly brought some juice to an empty Nutter Center in a 74-72 win Friday. Their staff and reserves were doing cheers in unison on the sidelines, and the Raiders came out flat in the opening half.
“We’re not a team that goes out there and is always chanting. That’s not how we roll. We just go out there and play,” Holden said.
“It’s definitely a different atmosphere not having the fans and feeding off them. It’s more between the lines. This season, there’s no homecourt advantage for anybody. It’s really whoever brings the energy that night and plays hard for 40 minutes.”
But getting fired up for a first-place team shouldn’t be a problem — especially with Friday’s game also airing on ESPNU.
“Being on national television, everybody gets hyped up for that,” Holden said. “There’s going to be a good amount of energy in the gym.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Cleveland State at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPNU, 106.5
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