With a depleted roster, Wright State has seen the emergence of freshman Grant Benzinger and junior college transfer center Michael Karena in recent weeks. Despite their performances, the Raiders are in the midst of a five-game losing streak.
Benzinger scored 45 points in the last two games, and he is among league leaders in 3-point shooting. Benzinger scored 22 last Sunday in the Raiders’ 74-69 loss to Youngstown State.
Karena scored double figures in four straight games.
The Raiders’ five game losing streak began when guard Kendall Griffin had has career ended by another concussion. At the time, forwards Steven Davis and JT Yoho were out with injuries. Since then, guards Joe Thomasson and Chrishawn Hopkins were added to the unofficial disabled list with possible concussions.
“We have been right there the first 35 minutes depending on the game,” Wright State coach Billy Donlon said. “Dealing with what we’re dealing with, if we can shore a few things up, we’ll start winning.”
Both of Wright State’s home losses last week came in contests that WSU had leads late in the second half after rallying from double digit deficits.
“Any loss is frustrating, but these close ones where we had a chance to pull out and we didn’t, it makes it extremely tough to bounce back,” Benzinger said. “We’re just ready for Milwaukee.”
Collie starts
After playing extended minutes for the first time at the collegiate level last Thursday, WSU junior walk-on Daniel Collie made his first ever start last Sunday. Donlon made the decision to start Collie versus Youngstown State after he shut down UIC’s Paris Burns in the second half in WSU’s previous game.
Collie played 23 minutes versus the Penguins, hitting his first collegiate 3-pointer.
“He has been here for three years and I have always trusted him on defense,” Donlon said. “He has complete knowledge of the system and complete faith in the defensive system and he is athletic… I felt like he earned the right to start and I thought he did some positive things. It did not surprise.”
Returning soon?
Donlon said out of the injured Raiders, Hopkins is the only expected to return this week. Hopkins is a possibility for Wednesday’s game versus Oakland. If he doesn’t play versus Oakland, he is almost certain to return by Saturday’s game at Valparaiso, said Donlon.
“I would say there is a good chance he’ll play Wednesday,” Donlon said. “I think Chrishawn will definitely play Saturday, but I don’t think anybody else will be back for the rest of this week.”
Lett go
Taking a redshirt this year, forward Zach Lett left the program last week. Donlon declined to comment on what Lett’s future status is with basketball. Lett was brought in as a walk-on over the summer, as Donlon planned to redshirt Lett to let his body mature.
“Zach has decided that he is in a really hard major right now, and he is just focusing on his academics,” Donlon said.
Without Lett, the Raiders will have five forwards on its roster.
