There is a Division I team in America that is thankful it did not have to take on Wright State Monday evening.
Manchester University replaced a Division I team on the schedule that did not want to play the Raiders in the CBE Classic Monday night. The Spartans were no match for the Raiders as WSU won 83-33.
The level of talent and ability Manchester displayed compared to the Raiders’ previous two opponents was substantially lower.
“What I think is unfair is that we play people on the road,” Wright State head coach Billy Donlon said. “I haven’t backed away to a challenge on the road. I can’t help it if teams won’t come here. We’re working hard to do that.”
But was Monday’s game against a completely overmatched opponent worth it for the Raiders?
“Yes, the tournament we had one option: Either not play a game at all or play a game tonight,” Donlon said. “Now that we played it, I am grateful that we played it instead of not playing a game at all. I thought the way we lost at DePaul (Saturday), had we just gone to practice, I think the guys needed to get to a game quickly to get the bitter taste out of their mouth.”
Monday’s contest was the second fewest amount of points the Raiders have allowed since joining Division I basketball. It was also WSU’s most lopsided win since defeating Greenville on Nov. 17, 2000 by 52 points.
“We wanted to get back to guarding,” WSU guard Matt Vest said. “That is our identity as a team and that is flying around and being in gaps and we did that a little bit against DePaul but we really wanted to get back to that as a team.
It doesn’t matter who you play, our identity is guarding people and turning it over.”
The Raiders improve to 2-2 but await their first win against a Division I team after losing to a pair of Big East squads last week.
Offensively, Jerran Young, who scored 14 points in just 15 minutes of action, led WSU. Miles Dixon, Vest, and Cole Darling were all in double figures.
WSU will continue the CBE Classic Friday evening in Mobile as the Raiders take on Houston Baptist.
The game was a mismatch from the beginning. Wright State was off to a 19-4 lead in the opening 5:17 of the game. WSU continued piling on the lead before going to the locker room at halftime up 50-17.
WSU kept its foot on the pedal at one point extending its lead to 58 with 5:16 left. The Spartans went on a 9-2 run late in the game for their best run of the contest.
WSU had a 53.4 shooting percentage for the contest compared to just 24.5 percent for Manchester.
The Raiders forced the Spartans to turn the ball over 25 times.
