It has been weeks since fans have seen Wright State at home in the Nutter Center. The wait will finally be over after a six-game road trip tomorrow as the Raiders host Division II Urbana at 7 p.m.
The Raiders enter tomorrow’s game 4-4 on the season after a 2-4 road trip that included wins at Charleston Southern and USC Upstate. However, the Raiders lost contests against Bowling Green, Cal State Fullerton, Florida International and Evansville.
Wright State head coach Billy Donlon said his team does not have its usual toughness. Donlon, a defensive-minded coach, said his team is focused too much on the offensive side of the ball.
“We’re not a Wright State tough team,” Donlon said. “We are a team that has to win with offense and you don’t do that. Our record is 3-1 when we score in the 70s and we’re 1-3 when we don’t score in the 70s. That is usually not a recipe for success."
With different personnel, Donlon said he is not surprised that his team has not displayed the kind of toughness he expects from his teams. With Matt Vest’s graduation and Kendall Griffin’s head injury, the Raiders have not had their two top defenders from a season ago.
“In sports culture, we emphasize offense and we don’t talk about defense,” Donlon said. “You never write about a great defensive player. We lost great defensive players.”
After losing three of its last four, perhaps Urbana is the perfect opponent for WSU. In the final five nonconference games after Urbana, there is not a game Wright State will be overwhelming favorites to win. As of the publication of this article, Urbana is 2-5 in the Division II ranks. (Urbana has a game today at 4 p.m. versus West Liberty University.)
Sunday’s meeting marks the first time that WSU has faced Urbana since WSU’s program became Division I in 1987. Wright State leads the all-time series against Urbana 3-0. Despite playing a lower division team, Donlon does not expect his squad to take the Blue Knights lightly.
“I would hope with our record that we would not have any problem getting up to get wins,” Donlon said. “We will just address trying to get better in practice. Hopefully our guys will be ready to play in front of our great fans.”
During the Raiders’ road trip, Donlon opted to not start senior guard Reggie Arceneaux who has shot below 40 percent from the field. Donlon said the decision to have Arceneaux come off the bench was due to Arceneaux’s past success in coming off the bench.
“I took Reggie out of the starting lineup because we were starting Joe (Thomasson), Reggie and Chrishawn (Hopkins) and I thought we needed pop off the bench,” Donlon said. “Reggie has done a good job in that role when he comes off the bench.”
While Donlon has been disappointed in how Hopkins and Arceneaux have started the season, he has been impressed by how well new players Grant Benzinger and Thomasson have performed.
“Before going into the season before anything happened, we brought back the least amount of points and least amount of minutes back and now it is even more so,” Donlon said.
In the Raiders’ 86-78 loss Tuesday, Thomasson led the squad with 20 points. Benzinger had 18 points Tuesday along with sophomore Steven Davis who set his team record.
