Where: UD Arena
When: 6:40 p.m. Wednesday
TV/Radio: truTV/980-AM
Series: First meeting
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 130-62 in his sixth year at Wright State and 540-302 in his 27th year overall. Jared Grasso is 62-53 in his fourth year at Bryant.
Probable Wright State starters
Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.
A.J. Braun 6-9 Fr. 5.7
Grant Basile 6-9 Jr. F 18.5
Tanner Holden 6-6 Jr. G 19.8
Tim Finke 6-6 Jr. G 8.6
Trey Calvin 6-0 Jr. G 14.3
Probable Bryant starters
Hall Elisias 6-8 Sr. F 8.8.
Adham Eleeda 6-5 Sr. G 10.3
Charles Pride 6-4 Jr. G 18.0
Luis Hurtado Jr. 6-6 Jr. G 4.2
Peter Kiss 6-5 Sr. G 25.1
About Wright State: The Raiders’ three previous NCAA trips ended in lopsided defeats, losing to Indiana, 97-54, in 1993; to Pittsburgh, 79-58, in 2007; and to Tennessee, 73-47, in 2018. … They are a nifty 45th in the nation in offensive efficiency this season at 1.064 points per possession, but they’re 226th in defensive efficiency, giving up 1.014 each possession. Opponents are shooting a robust 45%. … Holden has climbed to 13th on the all-time Raider scoring list with 1,432 points and needs 55 to move into the top 10. Next up is Grant Benzinger at 1,451. … The Horizon League has been a one-bid conference since 2010 and hasn’t won a tourney game since 2011. Butler made back-to-back finals appearances in 2010 and ‘11. … The Raiders are taking far fewer 3′s than Bryant (19.2 per game) and are shooting much better at 32.9%, but that’s still the worst clip in Nagy’s six years. They hit 37% last season. Basile (47.6%), Finke (41.3), Jaylon Hall (44.2) and James Manns (44.4) all shot over 40% last year, but nobody has reached that rate this season. … They’re shooting 76.8% on free throws, which is 20th in the nation and on pace to break the 2016-17 program record of 76.4. Calvin (86.2%), Basile (78.7), Holden (78.2) and Finke (76.9) all have been solid at the line.
About Bryant: The Bulldogs have won 16 of their last 17 games after a 6-8 start and are making their first NCAA appearance 14 years after joining Division I. … Bryant, located in Smithfield, R.I., went 16-2 in the Northeast Conference won the league tourney with three victories at home. The 70-43 win over second-seeded Wagner in the finals made national news because a fight broke out in the stands, delaying the game for 30 minutes. … The 10-team NEC had only two other teams with winning records: Wagner (21-6) and Long Island (16-14). In the KenPom ratings, the league is 30th out of 32 conferences nationally, while the Horizon League is 26th. … Robert Morris won the NEC tourney in 2020 and then left for the HL. … Eleeda, a Toronto native, played two seasons at Northern Kentucky before transferring to Bryant. He averaged 5.0 points with a high of 18 for the Norse in 2020-21. Before that, he played one season at UNC Greensboro. … The Bulldogs are tied with Miami University for the 23rd-most 3-point attempts this season at 884 (27.2 per game). They’re shooting only 30.8%. But their fast-paced, 3-point-happy style is apparently working since they’ve gone 37-16 the last two years.
Next game: The winner plays No. 1 seeded Arizona at 7:27 pm. Friday in San Diego.
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