It was one of those nights where anything that could possibly go wrong went wrong for Wright State. With WSU starting a three-game road trip after losing a pair of home games, UW-Milwaukee dominated the Raiders Tuesday night by a 67-41 decision.
Wright State is 2-4 in league play marking its worst Horizon League start in 12 years. The Raiders have dropped three games in a row after falling to Cleveland State and Valparaiso at home.
The Raiders lacked depth going into Tuesday’s game as WSU was without JT Yoho and Steven Davis. With two key players out, the Raiders could ill afford to lose another player.
Just minutes into Tuesday’s contest, guard Kendall Griffin fell to the ground hitting his head against a chair. He was taken back to the locker room but returned to the bench for the second half. After suffering from a concussion earlier in the season, Wright State’s coaching staff opted to sit Griffin as a precaution.
“That was hard to see for our players,” Wright State head coach Billy Donlon said. “For him, when it is that part of the body, it is rough for our players.”
Donlon said that Griffin’s injury was nothing like the one he had on Nov. 14 versus Belmont that cost him nearly two months of play.
After Griffin’s departure, center Michael Karena picked up his second foul of the contest. Within minutes, the Raiders were going deep into the bench and forcing players into roles they’re not used to.
The result showed.
Donlon apologized to his team’s fans after the game.
“We’re better than that, much better than that,” Donlon said.
Milwaukee went on a 27-5 run to go up 20 with 3:41 left in the first half. Wright State went 13 minutes with only one field goal, which came off a Reggie Arceneaux 3.
After trailing 34-15 at the half, WSU quickly hit a pair of 3s to start the second half to cut UWM’s lead to 13. That was as close as the Raiders got. Milwaukee’s 16-4 run extended the Panthers’ lead to 25.
Only having two forwards available to Donlon, WSU was undersized by a large margin as the Raiders played with five guards at times in Tuesday’s game. Size differential showed off the glass as UWM outrebounded WSU 47-19.
Karena was WSU’s leading scorer with 11 points. No other WSU player scored more than six points. Four Panthers were in double figures for UWM, led by Justin Jordan’s 17 points.
Wright State has six days to reflect on this blowout loss before taking on Detroit next Monday.
