Yikes!
When coach Scott Nagy took over in 2016, his first game was against the Yellow Jackets, albeit in an exhibition. Top assistant Clint Sargent was the scheduler then, and he admits to having had some trepidation going into that night.
“I knew one of our coaches had their first game against Cedarville and lost. And I’m sitting there having scheduled that game, feeling like, man, what did I do?” Sargent said with a chuckle.
No worries. The Raiders made Nagy’s unofficial debut an enjoyable one, winning 88-62.
Sargent’s team has already faced one lower-division team this year in Ohio Christian, and, after scuffling for a half, prevailed, 89-60.
They’ll play another when Central State visits at 7 p.m. Saturday.
But don’t get the idea the first-year coach is trying to pad his record. In the last 10 years (not counting the COVID season), the Raiders have averaged two non-Division-I foes each year.
Their peers generally follow the same scheduling model, and Sargent says it serves a purpose.
“You want a competitive balance,” he said, meaning a mix of top-tier teams, mid-majors and those not expected to pose much of a challenge.
“Everybody does it in different ways. High-major programs have ‘buy’ games like Kentucky. There was a competitive balance to their scheduling in playing us. In a lot of ways, that’s what these non-D-I games are.”
Wright State opened at Kentucky and is coming off back-to-back road games against Miami and Toledo, both of which are picked to finish in the top half of the MAC.
A steady diet of those would have left the Raiders operating on fumes before Horizon League play.
“You have to have home games, and they’re not always easy to get. You can’t always get the dates you want when you need them,” Sargent said.
The Raiders will play only four of 11 non-league games at home — just two against D-I teams.
“Obviously, we have a number of road games, and then we’re at Myrtle Beach,” he said of the Nov. 21-24 tourney, which includes Princeton, Bradley, South Florida and Ohio U.
“We had to sprinkle these (lower-division) games in, and I wanted them as early as possible because we’re still learning. We’re playing a lot of players. You want to get them as many reps early in the year as you can,” Sargent said.
Of course, season-ticket holders probably aren’t too thrilled with having to pay for games against the likes of Division-II Central State and Ohio Christian, an NAIA team.
But the coaches aren’t counting them as automatic wins. OCU was only down five at halftime, and Central State put up a fight when the teams last met in 2019-20, losing 98-77.
“I get it from a fan standpoint. I get some of the criticism there and that expectation for our home games,” Sargent said. “But I would just ask that they would understand there’s a big puzzle we’re trying to put together.
“Competitively, putting together a balanced schedule that will undoubtedly equip us when we get to the league race in January, February and March — and all these games play into that.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Central State at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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