LISTEN LIVE
DAYTON – The Wright State men’s basketball team returns home to the Nutter Center Friday night in front of a national television audience as the Raiders welcome Detroit Mercy for a 7 p.m. tipoff that will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2. The contest kicks off a stretch that will see the Raiders play six of their next eight games at home in January, while Detroit Mercy comes into the matchup having lost four of its last five games overall.
Fans can follow the action several ways – via live stats, by watching on ESPN2 or by tuning in on WONE 980 AM. Chris Collins and Jim Brown will have all the play-by-play on the radio feeds.
FRIDAY: WATCH ON ESPN2 | FOLLOW LIVE STATS | LISTEN ON WONE 980 AM | GAME NOTES | TICKETS
LAST TIME OUT
Five different players finished in double figures on Monday afternoon as the Raiders opened the 2023 calendar year with an 82-68 victory at IUPUI. Trey Calvin finished with a game-high 21 points, tallying 16 in the second half, while adding three assists and three steals. Amari Davis and Brandon Noel each scored 14 points, with Noel pulling down a career-best 15 rebounds. Alex Huibregtse reached double figures for the fourth time in the last five games, scoring 10 points in the opening 20 minutes on his way to 13 points, and Andrew Welage added 12 points of his own off the bench.
TITAN TUSSLE
Detroit Mercy is 6-9 overall with a 2-2 Horizon League mark and coming off a loss at home to Milwaukee. The Titans have lost four of the last five dating back to mid-December. Friday will be the 66th meeting all-time between Wright State and Detroit Mercy. The Raiders lead the all-time series 37-28 overall and have won 14 of the last 17 overall over the last seven seasons. The first meeting came back on Jan. 5, 1994, a 78-71 Wright State road victory inside Calihan Hall.
A WIN WOULD. . .
A Friday victory would extend Wright State’s home winning streak in the series to nine straight victories inside the Nutter Center over Detroit Mercy dating back to the 2013-14 season. **(During the COVID-altered 2020-21 season, the teams played their back-to-back contests in Detroit, with no home game(s) for the Raiders.)
MADE IN DETROIT
-Detroit Mercy is 6-9 overall but 4-1 at home to date. The Titans are only 2-7 on the road, having dropped their last three road contests.
-Antoine Davis is second in the nation in scoring at 24.6 points per game. He has 3,103 career points, tops in HL history, seventh in NCAA history and 564 away from Pete Maravich’s NCAA record 3,667. He is the second player in NCAA history to amass 3,000 points and 500 assists.
-Gerald Liddell has seven double-doubles in eight games and is averaging 16.8 points and 12.8 rebounds.
NATIONAL TV TIDBITS. . .
-Friday night’s game will be the 30th nationally televised contest for Wright State under head coach Scott Nagy. From the 2017-18 season through the 2021-22 campaign, the Raiders had at least three national broadcasts each year, with 10 such broadcasts in the 2018-19 season and seven broadcasts last year.
-Friday will be Wright State’s 14th appearance on ESPN2 over the last 17 seasons and the 74th national broadcast overall in that span. The Raiders’ 37 appearances on ESPNU are the most of any channel in these 17 seasons.
MILITARY APPRECIATION
Friday night is Wright State’s annual Military Appreciation game, with the Raiders donning their white-camo jerseys. In partnership with Nike and with the relationship and proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Wright State is the only school in the country wearing this exact military pattern.
TREY GETTING IT DONE
Entering Friday, Calvin has recorded 20 or more points six times this year – including each of the last three games – and he now has 13 performances of 20-plus points in his career. Trey Calvin notched his second 30-plus point performance of the season with a 31-point effort Dec. 29 in the loss at Northern Kentucky. Against NKU, Calvin tallied 21 points in the second half and finished the night 10-of-17 from the floor with four three-pointers while going 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
FINKE FACTS
Tim Finke has six games with 10 or more points this season on his way to a current 8.6 points/game average. His 18 points against Robert Morris on Dec. 1 were a season-best and was three points shy of his career mark of 21 set back at Detroit Mercy last February. Finke is also crashing the glass, with his 6.4 rebounds per game average the best on the Raider roster and inside the Top 10 in the Horizon. His 11 rebounds Dec. 17 against Northwestern Ohio was just one off his career high (12, Milwaukee, Feb. 2021) while he pulled down 10 boards on Dec. 29 at Northern Kentucky. He has five or more rebounds in 11 of 14 games, with eight-plus rebounds in six contests.
COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
