Men’s Basketball v.s. Cleveland State | Photo by Christian Peters | The Wright State Guardian
With over 5,000 Raider fans in attendance, Wright State University (WSU) Men’s Basketball took on Cleveland State University (CSU) at home in the Nutter Center.
While the first few minutes of the game looked like the best WSU had played all year, with a 16-3 start, the game would go to the Vikings 67-71 after a hard-fought battle from both sides.
While the Raiders fought hard, it was turnovers and rebounds that killed them in the end, with the Vikings scoring 31 points off of WSU turnovers.
“Honestly, if you just look at 26 turnovers and 16 offensive rebounds, how are we even in the game?” said Head Men’s Basketball Coach Scott Nagy. “I can’t remember the last time I had a team that had 26 turnovers.”
Taking care of the ball
In WSU’s recent games against Northern Kentucky University (NKU) and CSU, their opponents scored 54 total points off turnovers, giving WSU a loss against NKU by 10 and against CSU by four.
“We really shot ourselves in the foot. We had thirteen turnovers in the first half.” Tanner Holden, who led the game in points against CSU, said. “We started off hot, but we just turned the ball over doing silly things.”
While the Raiders kept both games relatively close, when their opponents switched to a zone defense, WSU wasn’t able to break through either time.
“They went to the zone defense, and we’ve struggled through it now the past two games,” Nagy said after the loss to CSU, “I don’t know what else to say.”
The Raiders are used to facing a man-to-man defense, which is where their early lead came from, but CSU Head Coach Dennis Gates called a switch to a zone defense, completely walling their attack.
“Mainly just their zone defense [was the problem].” Trey Calvin, a junior guard for the team, said. “We don’t practice against zone too much.”
Moving forward
With the game against CSU having the most fans in attendance all year cheering them on, the loss has taken a toll on WSU’s morale.
“Emotions were high, and the crowd really showed up. They gave us a lot of energy. We’re mad at ourselves that we couldn’t pull this one out for them.” Holden said.
But, the Raiders have three more home games coming up, all of which are against other top-five opponents in the Horizon League.
These next few games will show if the raiders can get out of their recent slump, or if they will fall to the pressure.
“Next game, we’ve got to put this behind us,” Calvin said. “We’re playing a good team again on Sunday. After a tough loss like this, it’s hard to get mentally ready, but we have no choice.”
Their next games are against Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday, Jan. 30 at noon, against Detroit Mercy on Thursday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m., and on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m.
