But while winning streaks have been elusive, so have prolonged slumps. After a defeat, no matter how demoralizing, they almost always show some spunk and keep their season alive.
“I think that’s the positive way to look at it — and it IS positive,” coach Clint Sargent said. “These guys respond all the time. They respond daily in practice.
“But for me as their coach, I’m trying to figure out the consistency. How can there be multiple (levels of play) against good teams on the road (instead of saying,) ‘It doesn’t matter, we know who we are.’ That identity piece for us, it’s just kind of been hot and cold.”
The Raiders — whose longest losing streak was a three-game skid in December — put together one of their best showings of the year Saturday against IU Indy, building a 51-30 halftime lead and coasting to victory.
They shot 63% from the field, went 9 of 15 on 3′s and muscled their way to a 36-27 rebounding edge.
That came three days after one of their most listless performances all season in an 87-64 loss at Purdue Fort Wayne.
They followed the same pattern one week before that. They squandered an 18-point lead in losing at Youngstown State, but then beat Robert Morris, 75-72 — finishing the game on a 10-0 run against one of the top-four teams in the Horizon League.
“I was so pleased with the Robert Morris game because that was kind of an ugly, uphill battle, and our guys just fought, fought, fought,” Sargent said.
“We’ve had games you can look back to in stretches and think, man, this is the best team in the league. And then there’s stretches where it’s certainly not that. We’re trying to figure out the rhythm to that.”
The Raiders are 13-13 overall and seventh in the HL at 7-8 with five games to go.
They’ve got their two-game Wisconsin swing this weekend, visiting Milwaukee (16-9, 9-5) on Friday and then woeful Green Bay (2-23, 0-14) on Sunday afternoon.
The Panthers won, 95-79, in the first meeting at the Nutter Center — the Raiders’ worst home loss since being pounded by Robert Morris, 80-59, on Dec. 1, 2022.
But while Sargent would admit he’s been fooled before, he sees confidence brewing among his players — including a few who seem to be peaking at the right time.
Point guard Keaton Norris is coming off a 17-point, seven-assist outing and has reached double figures in five of the last seven games.
Shooting guard Solomon Callaghan, a redshirt freshman, made his fourth start of the year and scored eight of the team’s first 13 points and finished with 12.
He also went 2 of 4 on 3′s and had one taken away on a bizarre call. After hitting a corner trey, he was called for an offensive foul for extending his leg and making contact with the defender.
The refs ruled the kick came before the shot.
He had been shooting 33.6% from the floor (worst among the 10 players who regularly see action), 32.7% on 3′s (third-worst) and 78.8% on free throws (best on the team).
He moved into sixth in scoring with a 5.4 average.
“I’ve just been waiting for that lid to come off for him. He puts in so much time. He has such a bright future,” Sargent said.
“I’d say in that first half that’s probably the best we’ve guarded the ball all year, just steering off drives. They have good, physical offensive players. And I thought Solomon was kind of the leader in the pack in how he guarded.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Milwaukee, 8 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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