Wright State head coach Billy Donlon issued a challenge this week to his team to play tough. While the Raiders are not where Donlon wants them to be yet, they made a step in the right direction in WSU’s 81-58 win over Urbana Sunday evening.
Wright State is coming off an 86-78 loss at Evansville Tuesday that ended the Raiders’ six-game road trip.
“Anything would have better than what we did at Evansville,” Donlon said. “We took a step in the right direction. That is what I’ll say. We are no where near where we need to be.”
First-year Raider Joe Thomasson said he took what Donlon said to heart.
“Everything Coach D does, he does with a purpose,” Thomasson said. “Some of the things he says are to fire us. We weren’t playing tough. We lost a couple of games that we shouldn’t have lost because we got out-toughed… It is about being tough on a consistent, on a day-to-day basis.”
Yesterday, Urbana scored 133 points in a losing effort against the No. 1 Division II school in the country. Tonight, WSU held the Blue Knights to 58 points.
“Coach preached all week that they can score the ball so we’re going to have to be great defensively,” Sunday’s leading scorer JT Yoho said. “They came out and hit some tough shots but we continued to play Wright State defense and had each other’s backs and that is what coach has been preaching.”
Playing in his first game of year at the Nutter Center, Yoho scored 23 and Thomasson added 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting and contributed eight assists. Thomasson said his team wants him to shoot more, but he likes to see other score.
“Coach D yells at me all the time for not shooting the ball, Yoho yells at me for not shooting the ball, my whole teams yells at me,” Thomasson said. “I would rather see my brothers score than me score. It is about making my teammates happy, it isn’t just about myself.”
Donlon said he likes the passion he brings to the team.
“His passion is relentless and I hope it becomes contagious,” Donlon said. “He is non-stop talking. I mean that in the best way. What he has done and how he has played is real good.”
Sunday’s victory puts the Raiders above .500 at 5-4 on the season and WSU has a week off before visiting Belmont Thursday.
“It is always good to play in front of the Nutter Center crowd,” Yoho said. Being on the road, we had six on the road, we were gone for forever so to come home in front of our fans was great.”
Center Steven Davis did not play and Chrishawn Hopkins only played three minutes Sunday. Donlon confirmed that both players had injuries but was unsure on the severity of the injuries.
Freshmen Grant Benzinger and Justin Mitchell made their first collegiate starts Sunday. Benzinger scored 11 points. Mitchell had 16.
“I started the guys I started because I felt like the most passionate guys at Evansville were Justin Mitchell, Grant Benzinger and Joe Thomasson,” Donlon said. “I thought they played with the greatest amount of passion and urgency. Other guys had nice stat lines but every time we came to a timeout, their passion and urgency was there and continued through practice.”
Wright State got off to a quick start 20-10 before Urbana responded with an 8-0 run. The Raiders responded with an 12-0 run led by Yoho who worked the ball towards the basket and drew fouls.
The Raiders led 42-30 going into halftime before pulling away early in the second half. Urbana cut WSU’s lead to 45-36 early in the second half but WSU’s 10-0 run put the game out of reach.
