While most of us were still digesting our Christmas ham, Wright State head coach Billy Donlon reconvened his squad Thursday night in preparation for the Raiders’ nonconference grand finale at Ohio State Saturday.
Wright State is coming off a 68-60 loss at home to George Mason Tuesday snapping the Raiders’ four-game winning streak. The Raiders enter Saturday’s game with an 8-5 record. The Buckeyes are 10-2 and ranked No. 21 nationally by the Associated Press.
Ohio State is 10-0 in the Schottenstein Center this season against a scrawny nonconference schedule. OSU lost both of its contests away from Columbus against quality opponents. Meanwhile, Wright State has played well on the road going with a 4-2 away record.
Donlon is expecting a tough challenge from the Buckeyes on their home court.
“Thad Matta is one of the best coaches in the country,” Donlon said. “From a national perspective, he doesn’t get talked about at the same level as some of the other elite guys, and he should be. He is phenomenal and it is always a great challenge to play Ohio State.”
Donlon is hoping Wright State joins a long list of mid-major programs that have pulled off stunning upsets in Big Ten gyms this season. While, Ohio State has avoided the upset bug so far, other Big Ten powerhouses such as Michigan, Indiana and Michigan State have not been as lucky.
Last Saturday, Michigan State lost in the Breslin Center to Texas Southern. Michigan has lost at home to NJIT, Eastern Michigan and SMU. Last month, Indiana lost in Bloomington to Eastern Washington.
This season, the Horizon League has struggled against major conference opponents. The conference is 1-16 so far against teams from the “Big Five.” The lone win over a major conference opponent was Green Bay’s victory over then No. 15-ranked Miami three weeks ago.
“I’ll remind everyone that I have been in this league for a long time and for two of those years, we had a back-to-back national champion participant (Butler in 2010 and 2011),” Donlon said. “Playing Ohio State, I don’t want this to be fodder for them, but, we have had to deal with high level opponents in our own conference. I think sometimes in this region, it gets forgotten.”
The last time Wright State traveled to Columbus was to open the 2011-12 season. The Buckeyes beat the Raiders 73-42 in that contest on Nov. 11, 2011. That was the first collegiate game for Reggie Arceneaux and Kendall Griffin who are seniors at WSU. Arceneaux started and scored 11 points. Griffin came off the bench and had three points.
“That was my first college game. Eyes wide open coming in,” Griffin said. “I just remember being super excited and nervous about getting in the game."
Griffin has been out for the majority of the 2014-15 season after suffering from a head injury in the season opener against Belmont. Arceneaux is off to a rough start this season as he was held scoreless in the loss Tuesday to George Mason.
With Griffin injured and seniors Chrishawn Hopkins and Arceneaux struggling to score, Donlon has utilized his two junior college transfers and freshmen Grant Benzinger and Justin Mitchell along with sophomore Steven Davis and junior JT Yoho.
Davis is coming off one of his best games of the season scoring 13 points along with six rebounds. When WSU struggled in the first half to George Mason, Davis used his 6-foot-7 frame to get to the rim.
“We wanted to drive them, I thought they were tired at times, we wanted to run them,” Donlon said.
After a hot start to the season, Hopkins has cooled in the month in December averaging just five points a contest. He has been battling knee issues this month, which has slowed his performance. Hopkins showed glimpses of the play he had to start the year late in Tuesday’s contest when he drove into the lane a few times to make contested buckets.
“To be fair, Chrishawn didn’t play poorly but he certainly did not play to the level he is capable of,” Donlon said. “He did some good things for us defensively. I am not down on Chrishawn’s performance; I thought he played well. We want his numbers to be better, but statistics don’t always tell the truth.”
Matta said he expects Wright State to give different defensive looks Saturday including to press and play zone. He also expects the Raiders to attempt a lot of 3s.
The Buckeyes have played a lot of zone defense themselves this year, which Matta said the team has done well to adjusting to this season.
Notes:
Ohio State leads the all-time series with Wright State 3-0... Matta confirmed Friday that OSU backup forward Anthony Lee is doubtful after he injured his ankle Monday versus Miami University.. Ohio State enters Saturday with the 166th best strength of schedule so far. Wright State's strength of schedule is No. 137 nationally... Wright State's only win over the Big Ten was Dec. 30, 1999 when then No. 6-ranked Michigan State lost in the Nutter Center.
