TV/Radio: ESPN3/106.5
Series: Wright State leads 33-32.
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 95-44 in his fifth year at Wright State and 505-284 in his 26th year overall. Will Ryan is in his first season at Green Bay. He’s the son for former Wisconsin coaching great Bo Ryan.
He went 14-13 in his lone season at Division II Wheeling University in 2019-20. Before that, he was an assistant at Wisconsin, North Dakota State and Ohio U.
Probable Wright State starters
Name Ht. Class Pos. Avg.
Loudon Love 6-8 Sr. C 15.6
Tanner Holden 6-6 So. G 14.0
Jaylon Hall 6-5 Jr. G 9.2
Tim Finke 6-6 So G 8.3
Trey Calvin 6-0 So. G 12.4
Probable Green Bay starters
Japannah Kellogg 6-8 Fr. F 7.2
Paris Taylor 6-6 Jr. F 5.3
Amari Davis 6-3 So. G 15.3
P.J. Pipes 6-2 Sr. G 13.3
Josh Jefferson 6-2 Sr. G 15.3
About Wright State: Love is fifth in the nation in rebounding with a 12.2 average. He just passed Todd Brown (2006-10) to move into 10th on the Raiders’ all-time scoring list with 1,471 points. Seth Doliboa (2001-04) at 1,486 and Mark Vest (1984-86) at 1,559 are ninth and eighth, respectively. … The Raiders have a rebound margin of plus-6.8 per game. Since being out-rebounded by Marshall, 45-38, in the opener, they’ve out-boarded foes by 10.3 per game. …The Raiders’ defensive efficiency rate of .881 points allowed per possession has been excellent. Of the 330 Division-I teams that have played this season (27 have not), they rank 44th in that category. They’re averaging 79.6 points per game, just short of last year’s 80.6 mark. The last time they averaged more than 77 before that was 1992-93.
About Green Bay: The Phoenix, which went 17-16 last season, have had to replace leading scorer JayQuan McCloud (17.1 average) and another stalwart in Kameron Hankerson (11.1), and they’ve had a hard time finding help for Amari Davis, the former Trotwood-Madison star who was named preseason first-team all-league. He had 21 points in the team’s last outing, but he averaged 15.9 points in 2019-20, slightly above his current mark. Shooting was considered his least-developed skill, but he’s 9 of 18 on 3′s this year. … The team is a mess, though. Along with a brutal slate of road games (Marquette, Wisconsin and Minnesota), the Phoenix started league play with two close home losses to Milwaukee last weekend. GB was picked to finish eighth in the league, though it actually has been one of the teams giving the Raiders fits of late, going 2-3 the last two years. But the school fired Linc Darner after four years and a 92-80 record last spring.
No Scrooge: Nagy didn’t want to practice on Christmas, but since his team was playing the next day, he didn’t have much choice. They had an early afternoon workout Friday.
“You want to make that a special day, but it’s difficult,” he said.
With COVID-19, though, it’s unclear how many players could have left town anyway.
“We’ve always had a day or two when the guys could get home, but we’ve never had anything like this year,” Nagy said. “It’s just a nutty time.”
Next game: The Raiders host the Phoenix at 2 p.m. Sunday and then play at Oakland next weekend.
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