But late in his previous stint at South Dakota State, he had to adapt to his personnel and come up with a different way to win.
“We had some pretty good offensive teams with that last group. We had Nate Wolters. He was such a good player. And then we had Mike Daum after that,” Nagy said.
Wolters averaged more 20 points his last two seasons and was a second-round NBA draft choice, while Daum became the 10th player in NCAA history to score 3,000 career points.
The Jackrabbits gave up considerably more than one point per possession and were ranked 294th or worse nationally (out of roughly 350 teams) four of Nagy’s last five years.
But they averaged 24.2 wins and made three NCAA tourney trips in that span, reaching the second round twice.
“We had such good shooting teams,” Nagy said. “Still, the focus was defense. We probably were as good defensively as we could be. We just didn’t have great athletes.”
The Raiders don’t have that kind of scoring prowess this season, but given their surplus of natural defenders, they probably won’t need it.
The post tandem of Loudon Love and Grant Basile are solid rim protectors. Love led the Horizon League in blocks last season with 40, while Basile racked up 29 and had three in Saturday’s 71-47 win over Miami.
Nagy also can surround them with dogged perimeter defenders in Jaylon Hall, Tanner Holden, Tim Finke and Trey Calvin.
Though it’s a small sample size, the Raiders are 29th this season in defensive efficiency at .859 points per possession. Their previous best mark under Nagy was .929 in 2017-18 when they won the league tourney and earned an NCAA berth.
“It just means everything,” Nagy said of defense. “Three of the four (full) years I’ve been here, the team with the best defensive efficiency has won the league. It’s probably the No. 1 indicator.
“We’re not as good a scoring team as last year. We just have to be (strong defensively). That has to be where we make our money, on the defensive end. Obviously, the Miami game was more of what we like to see.”
The Raiders’ defense will be tested against Bowling Green in their first road game Sunday. It’s a matchup of preseason favorites in the Horizon League and Mid-American Conference.
“They’re probably the best team we’ll play this year,” Nagy said. “They’ve got a lot of good players and good bench — just very talented.”
Justin Turner, a 6-foot-4 fifth-year senior, has been named first team all-league two years in a row, the first Falcon to do that since Anthony Stacey in 1999-2000. He’s averaging a league-high 23.4 points and led the team in scoring the last three seasons.
Normally, that would be an assignment for Hall, a long-armed, lock-down defender.
But Nagy has no qualms if his other wings have to do some of the heavy lifting.
“We just have more options where we don’t have to lean on one guy to guard the best offensive player every single time,” he said.
NOT HAPPY: An irate Nagy come close to getting slapped with a technical against Miami after Love was called for an offensive foul.
His issue is foes can get away with hacking the burly center because it doesn’t slow him down, while he gets whistled for fouls when refs see defenders bounce off him.
“That’s about as mad as I’ve been,” Nagy said. “I’m just trying to protect him. We think he doesn’t get near the calls he should get, and everyone else thinks he gets way more than he should get. Depends on what side you’re on.
“He just a hard guy to officiate. I know that. I didn’t feel very good about how I acted toward the officials.”
RECORD WATCH: Love needs just four rebounds to set the all-time program record, which is held by Bill Edwards with 907.
“He’s a great offensive rebounder, has a nose for the ball. Plus, he can move people without shoving them in the back. He moves them with his lower body. And once he gets rooted in there, you can’t move him,” Nagy said.
TODAY’S GAME
Wright State at Bowling Green, Noon, ESPN3, ESPN+, 106.5
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