On paper, Saturday’s contest between Wright State and Cleveland State should not be pretty for the Raiders. WSU has the league’s worst offensive output in conference play and is going against the league’s most dominant defense.
But in college basketball, games are not played on paper. One anomaly in Wright State’s favor going into Saturday is the road team has won the last five regular season contests between the Raiders and Vikings.
It is a fact that Wright State head coach Billy Donlon is fully aware of, but is not going to advertise to his team.
“Every game is close,” Donlon said. “We went up there and won by two or three last year and obviously they came down here and won at the end on a foul call. And this year, they won at the end again on a made shot by (Dunbar High School alum Andre) Yates basically. It just shows in the history of this series, there’s a lot of parity between the two places.”
The Raiders (11-12) enter Saturday’s game versus Cleveland State (14-10, 8-2) on a two-game losing streak, and have lost five of their last six contests. But Donlon thinks his injury-riddled team can turn the corner despite having to rely on first year Division I players.
“It’s a grind for us right now. I think the guys are trying. We’ll figure it out,” Donlon said. “There’s no question that we’ve got some difficulties that we’ve got to figure out and plug some holes with some game-planning and also with some player improvement, just like any other team. We’ll see how we are on the road Saturday.”
The task is tall for Wright State this weekend. As Horizon League play is just past the halfway point, the Raiders have the worst scoring offensive in the league scoring 60 points a game in conference games. Meanwhile, Cleveland State has kept conference opponents to a Horizon League best 60.3 points per game.
While Cleveland State is not one of the most prolific offenses in the league, the Vikings are efficient with a league-best 48.1 percent field goal percentage. That could spell trouble for WSU, as the Raiders are last in the league in rebounding margin with at minus 8.3 per game.
“Our margin for error is really small, but we have good enough players to go up there and get a win if we play well,” Donlon said. “But they’re good. Trey Lewis and Anton Grady, those two are playing as well as anybody in the league.”
As forward JT Yoho sits out for most of Horizon League play with a severe knee bruise, Donlon’s scoring options have been limited. The Raiders do not have a single player in the top 20 in the league’s scoring in conference games.
Center Michael Karena is the only Raider averaging double figures in league games at 10.7 points per Horizon League contest. Guard Joe Thomasson is the only healthy Raider who is averaging 10 points a game for the entire season. Thomasson’s scoring production has been limited in recent games, meaning scoring has been tough to come by from players other than Karena.
“Joe, Reggie (Arceneaux) and (Chrishawn Hopkins) have got to score for us to win,” Donlon said. “The three guards and Mike, if three of those four guys can be productive and get in double figures, we’re going to be right there.”
One bright spot for the Raiders offensively is the 3-point production of guard Grant Benzinger. Benzinger is the only player during conference play to shoot over 50 percent from beyond the arc.
