Tanner Holden led all scorers with 18 points while Trey Calvin added 16 and Grant Basile had 13 for Wright State, a winner of six in a row after starting the season 2-7.
The Raiders shot 56 percent in the second half after making less than 38 percent of their shots in the first, and head coach Scott Nagy said it was a matter of getting used to attacking the Jaguars’ zone defense.
“It slowed us down, but we’re gonna see a lot of zone in league,” Nagy said. “Detroit and Oakland and Cleveland State and Northern Kentucky, they all play zone. And so we’ve got to be better against zone. We need to jump up and shoot the ball better. We’re going to have to shoot the ball better from the perimeter because teams are going to pack it in on us. They’re going to make things hard for Grant, and they know we like to go into the post.”
After falling behind midway through the first half, Wright State finished the opening 20 minutes on a 9-0 run to go into the locker room up 33-23.
The Raiders led by as many as 15 early in the second half, but the Jaguars (1-11) didn’t go away.
After they cut the deficit to five with a 3-pointer by B.J. Maxwell with 13:19 to go, Calvin scored five straight points to push Wright State’s lead back to double digits.
Keaton Norris then made it 13 with a trey from the wing coming out of the under-12 media time out, and Calvin pushed it to 17 with a pair of fast-break layups.
That was IUPUI’s last gasp as the Jags lost their sixth in a row.
Less than two days after allowing UIC to shoot nearly 50 percent from the floor and make 13 three-pointers, Wright State held IUPUI to 36 percent from the field (18 for 50) and seven makes from long range.
“The one goal is to try to keep a team under one point per possession,” Nagy said. “We did that. We were I think at 32 possessions at halftime, and they had 23 points. I think there were 69 possessions in the game, and they had 58. So we did that, and that’s the main goal. And for our defense, you know, we’re trying to get that done, but when guys are struggling offensively, everything feels like a struggle. And so that’s kind of where we were today.
“IUPUI is in a tough spot because they have guys injured and guys sick and they played with eight players, and I thought they played super hard.”
The Raiders return to action at Northern Kentucky on Monday night — if the Norse have enough players available.
They have canceled their last two games because of issues with COVID-19 within the program.
IUPUI knows all about that, as do many teams around the country.
The Jaguars were supposed to play at NKU on Thursday night but could not because of issues with both squads. Prior to Saturday, they had not taken the court since Dec. 21.
Wright State is not scheduled to be back at the Nutter Center until Jan. 28 when they play host to Cleveland State.
The Vikings entered the weekend in first place in the Horizon League standings at 5-0 with WSU a game back in the loss column (now 5-1). Oakland (4-0) and Detroit Mercy (3-0) are also unbeaten in league play.
The Raiders will open February by playing host to the two teams from Michigan.
Next weekend, they play at Robert Morris then at Youngstown State before rematches with IUPUI and UIC the week after that.
“We’re supposed to have five in a row on the road, but at least for right now on the road against all quality clubs,” Nagy said. “And that’s how you win championships. You don’t win them at home.”
MONDAY’S GAME
Wright State at NKU, 6 p.m., ESPN+, 103.9
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