Though athleticism is hard to measure, you know it when you see it. And the Raiders are at a disadvantage in that department in many games.
That’s why, going into the week, they were next-to-last in the Horizon League in forcing turnovers. They average 10.3 per game, ahead of only hapless Green Bay’s 10.0 mark.
Coach Clint Sargent is aware of that paltry number, and it’s something he’s trying to address.
To prepare for Detroit Mercy last Saturday, he watched a season’s worth of clips of ball-screen defense, looking to see if the Raiders could create more havoc there.
“Seeing some techniques and tendencies in our ball-screen coverage, I felt like I had to give our guys some clear rules and guidelines to help them be connected and have an aggressive nature. We really struggle to force turnovers. We’re just not overly disruptive,” he said.
Sargent’s pointers may eventually pay off, but they didn’t against the Titans, who had a mere two turnovers in their 67-50 loss.
Though Wright State’s game-by-game stats online only go back to 2006-07, that’s the fewest by far for an opponent in that 19-year span and likely a school record.
The previous low for opponent turnovers since 2006 was six. That occurred a half-dozen times, most recently by Youngstown State and IU Indy in 2023-24.
The Raiders are ninth out of 11 league teams in turnover margin at minus-1.14 per game.
“Some of that’s personnel, some of it is scheme,” Sargent said of the lack of defensive pressure. “You have to be incredibly connected and all on the same page to be very good defensively with that type of DNA to you.”
The Raiders (11-11, 4-6) play at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Youngstown State (13-9, 7-4), which is one of four teams in the HL with a positive turnover margin, forcing 13 per game and committing 12.5.
The Penguins have won five in a row and nine of the last 11 games in the series, including an 80-70 victory in the Nutter Center on Dec. 18.
The Raiders had 14 turnovers that night while forcing only seven.
“In my three years playing, (we’re) 0-5 against them. That’s really, really upsetting and something we as a group have to correct,” junior center Brandon Noel said.
“Every game at this point is a big one. I’m not going to act like it’s the biggest. But we’ve got to go up there and get a win. We just have to if we want to keep our season alive and get a good seed in the (HL) tournament.”
No matter how important the game, Sargent is taking a big-picture approach to the rest of the season.
“Watching our guys, I just want them to play with a high level of joy and freedom in the sense of, whatever bad just happened, keep playing,” he said.
“If you can do that when you struggle offensively, it’ll show up in the defensive categories.”
THURSDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Youngstown State, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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