At one point in Wednesday’s game versus Oakland, Wright State had four freshmen and a junior walk-on on the floor at the same time trying to battle one of the Horizon League’s top teams.
Relying on freshmen this year, especially during conference play, has been a regular occurrence for the Raiders. The four freshmen regularly in WSU’s rotation had to grow up fast.
In Wednesday’s loss, Grant Benzinger became the first WSU freshman to score over 30 points in a game since 1989. Freshman Justin Mitchell scored a career high 18 points Wednesday.
“Coach (Billy Donlon) tell us all the time we aren’t freshmen anymore,” Mitchell said. “If we don’t go hard in practice, if we make a freshman mistake, he yells at us and tells us we aren’t freshmen anymore.”
Freshmen accounted for 63 percent of Wright State’s minutes in the second half Wednesday. When coupled with the 19 minutes junior walk-on Daniel Collie, who played a total of 52 minutes before this season, the Raiders had 82 percent of their playing time coming from freshmen and Collie in the second half Wednesday.
While Donlon is not using the youth movement as an excuse, it has been a factor in the Raiders’ recent doldrums. WSU enters tomorrow’s game against Valpo on a six-game losing streak. Meanwhile Valpo is looking make a step towards winning the regular season league title.
“You have to learn how to win,” Donlon said. “We can win with who we have, it is just our margin of error. There isn’t any. There is no margin of error.”
The freshmen have needed to step up as the Raiders have played the last three games without Joe Thomasson, Steven Davis, JT Yoho and Kendall Griffin. Guard Chrishawn Hopkins briefly returned from a two-game hiatus, but left Wednesday’s game with another head injury.
Everyone but Griffin could potentially return for the Raiders’ run in the Horizon League Tournament, but that does not make the current stretch WSU is facing any easier. The Raiders will have to challenge a team vying for a spot in the NCAA Tournament shorthanded.
“It is Murphy’s Law, when I own my next dog, I am naming them Murphy just in honor of this season,” Donlon said.
WSU will need at least one, possibly two more wins this year to host a first round game in the Horizon League Championships on March 3. Meanwhile, Valpo has a first-round bye clinched and is looking to seal a double-bye and home court advantage through the entire tournament.
The Crusaders are 14-1 at home this year. In Valpo’s 66-56 win over Wright State on Jan. 17, the Raiders employed a full-court press for almost the entire game.
