But the top four seeds in the HL tourney get byes and a home game in the quarterfinals, and that’s certainly attainable, especially with a little midseason course correction.
HOME GAMES: The Raiders are a respectable 2-3 in league road games but just 2-2 in the Nutter Center. The latter is alarming, but not a killer. Yet.
They have to hold serve in their final six homes games.
What’s working in their favor is they have four games left against the bottom three teams in the standings: IU Indy, Detroit Mercy and Green Bay. Hard to see them losing any of those.
REBOUNDING: Two games ago, their board work was fairly anemic, having snagged fewer total rebounds than their foes, 613-611.
But a renewed commitment to attacking the glass is paying off — along with the arrival of impact freshman Andrea Holden.
The Raiders outrebounded Purdue Fort Wayne, 49-35, and Northern, Kentucky, 41-29, in their last two games. It’s a small sample size, but it’s progress.
“I think the guys are starting to see how much it can impact a game,” Sargent said. “Andrea had nine of them in 11 1/2 minutes (against NKU). I think he sparks some of that ‘All right, he’s doing it, so I’m going to do it.’”
The Raiders had a combined 30 offensive rebounds in those games.
“We’ve always been a pretty good defensive rebounding team. But to be able to find those extra possessions on the offensive glass is something we’ve been really honing in on with how we’re messaging everything, and some of that’s helping. And, obviously, Andre is helping tremendously.”
DEFENSE: Giving up 120 points in the double-overtime loss to PFW would make it seem as if the Raiders never practice defense. They do. A lot. And they have a few metrics to prove their diligence is paying off.
Their goal each game is to hold opponents to no more than one point per possession. They did that in a 78-70 win at NKU on Sunday, and, according to assistant Nick Goff, whose game-day duties include charting that stat, it’s the sixth time this season they’ve done it (not counting the two non-Division-I games).
They’ve already surpassed last year’s total of five.
They’re 265th out of 364 teams nationally in defensive efficiency, giving up 1.074 points per possession. They were 341st in 2023-24 at 1.154.
They’re 254th in points allowed at 74.0 after finishing 346th last season at 81.2.
FREE THROWS: The Raiders are only seventh in the league in foul shooting at 72.6%, but that’s not the problem.
Not getting to the foul line enough is what’s holding them back.
They’ve had 310 attempts and average 15.5 per game. Their opponents have had 387 attempts and average 19.4.
Throw out the Ohio Christian and Central State games, and opponents are averaging 19.8.
Those extra attempts don’t always show up in the final score, but the Raiders have had eight tight games this year and have only won two. They matter.
“Those dynamic, physical playmakers with the ball … our roster is not completely full of them. Jack (Doumbia) is that. But for other guys, it can be hard for them to create that physicality,” Sargent said.
The Raiders are still averaging a healthy 77.4 points, trailing only Milwaukee (78.3) and PFW (84.4) in the league.
“We do it differently in terms of how we put pressure on teams offensively. Robert Morris has a lot of downhill, physical drivers that we can’t match. Northern Kentucky is kind of built the same way,” Sargent said.
“We’re trying to flip that trend as best we can within our personnel packages. But some teams are just built differently offensively, and that’s how they score.”
The Raiders averaged 16.5 assists last season, which was the highest for the program in 30 years. They’re averaging a hefty 15.0 this season.
“Our ability to spread the floor and then pass and cut is what we do best,” Sargent said.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Milwaukee at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
About the Author