Coming out of Wright State’s 45-point loss at Ohio State Satruday, the Raiders are beat up and bruised as the start of nonconference comes Friday as WSU hosts Detroit in the Nutter Center.
Wright State head coach Billy Donlon said Wednesday that forward Steven Davis is out for at least a pair of games and likely longer after suffering from a bone bruise on his foot late in Saturday’s game. Davis ran into Ohio State’s Jae’Sean Tate in the lane causing Davis to land awkwardly on his feet.
Donlon also said that the statuses of guards Joe Thomasson and Chrishawn Hopkins are up in the air for Friday’s contest. Thomasson is recovering from a knee injury. Hopkins has come down with the flu.
Donlon added that senior guard Reggie Arceneaux has been battling a broken bone in his foot in recent games. Arceneaux has played through the injury, but Donlon said he thinks it has affected his performance. Arceneaux has shot just 6-for-25 in the last four games.
“If you look at his shooting the last couple of games, (it’s because) he is not practicing,” Donlon said. “We are trying to keep him off the court as much as possible. We’re just playing him in the games until he can practice and it correlates. His practice stoppages to how he shoots the ball, it correlates.”
With many question marks going into the Horizon League opener, Donlon is expecting the rest of his team to enhance their performance.
“Other guys have to step up,” Donlon said. “Right now, we’re not healthy but we have enough guys that can play well; JT (Yoho), Mike (Karena), Grant (Benzinger) and Justin (Mitchell) and other guys who can play well and give us a chance to win Friday.”
The Raiders concluded the nonconference slate with an 8-6 record. Eight of Wright State’s 12 Division 1 opponents are in the RPI’s Top 150. Playing a schedule comparable to the level of competition in the Horizon League, Donlon thinks his squad is well prepared for league play despite WSU losing its last two games.
“Certainly the teams we played, you can’t argue with what they’re doing and what they have done,” Donlon said. “We have played some good people. As a coach, you want to play well going into your league. We did not, but that doesn’t mean we’re not a good team and we won’t play well Friday. It just means we didn’t play well those last two games.”
After playing against 40 minutes of zone defense from the Buckeyes Saturday, Donlon expects Detroit will also play a lot of zone on Friday. While WSU only put up 55 against OSU’s zone defense, Donlon said the Raiders got good looks at the basket.
“Ohio State, their zone is good, they have great length, great athleticism, but we missed a lot of shots,” Donlon said. “I showed the film from the first 15 minutes and I said, ‘Hey, I don’t know if we had played better, we win, but I know if we played better and made some plays that we made all year long, we don’t lose by 45.’”
What was most concerning for Donlon coming out of the contest at OSU was the Raiders’ lack of defensive effort. The Raiders allowed 100 points for the first time under Donlon.
“The difference with our team is previous teams would never have allowed the offense to affect the defense,” Donlon said. “That is what we have done the last two games. When our offense isn’t going the way we like it, we don’t lock up and really defend. You can’t be a good team and have inconsistent defense.”
Detroit enters Friday’s game with a five-game losing streak but has its leading scorer leading the league in points. Juwan Howard Jr., son of former NBA All-Star Juwan Howard, is leading the Horizon League with 19.1 points a game. Standing 6-foot-5, he will be a tough player to guard for WSU.
“He is more than capable of taking a game over, we’ll have to do some things to bother him,” Donlon said.
