DAYTON – The Wright State men’s basketball team returns home for its next four contests to close the month of January beginning Thursday night as the Raiders host Purdue Fort Wayne inside the Nutter Center for a 7 p.m. tipoff. Wright State has won four or its last five games while Purdue Fort Wayne is coming off a Monday home loss to Cleveland State but had won three of their last four entering the week.

Fans can follow the action several ways – via live stats, by watching on ESPN+ or by tuning in on WONE 980 AM. Chris Collins and Jim Brown will have all the play-by-play on the radio and ESPN feeds.

THURSDAY: WATCH ON ESPN+ | FOLLOW LIVE STATS | LISTEN ON WONE 980 AM | GAME NOTES | TICKETS

LAST TIME OUT
Trey Calvin scored eight of the Raiders’ nine overtime points Saturday night as Wright State defeated Milwaukee 78-74 in overtime behind 23 points from Calvin and Brandon Noel. Milwaukee scored the first basket of overtime before Calvin scored eight of the next nine points, broken only by a lone Panther free throw, to give the Raiders the cushion. After missed shots by both sides, Tim Finke hit one of two free throws with 16 seconds remaining to push to a two-possession lead, with Milwaukee’s final three-point attempt off the mark as Calvin pulled down the night’s final rebound.

HOW SWEEP IT IS
Wright State’s road wins at Green Bay (Jan. 12) and Milwaukee (Jan. 14) marked the first time the Raiders had swept the Wisconsin road trip since Februray 2013, when the Raiders beat Green Bay in double OT on Feb. 7, 2013 and following that with a victory at Milwaukee on Feb. 9, 2013.

FORT WAYNE FACTS
Purdue Fort Wayne enters Thursday at 12-7 overall with a 4-4 HL record. The Mastodons are coming off a Monday home loss to Cleveland State but had won three of their last four entering the week. Wright State won both regular season matchups last year and leads the short series 11-3, with nine of the 13 matchups coming back during the 1980’s. The Raiders have won all eight previous contests played in Dayton and 10 of the last 11 in the series overall.

DETAILS ON THE ‘DONS
-Purdue Fort Wayne is 12-7 overall with a 4-4 Horizon League record. The Mastodons are 7-3 at home to date but 5-4 combined in true road and neutral matchups. 
-Jarred Godfrey leads Purdue Fort Wayne with his 16.6 points per game average and has seven games of 20 or more points this season and 32 career games of 20 or more points. Bobby Planutis is also averaging double-digits scoring at 11.8 points/game.
-Jarred Godfrey is the only active player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball with 1,900 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists and 200 three-pointers. Since 1992-93, only 24 student-athletes have finished with such a career stat line.

COMING OF AGE
Since the calendar flipped to January, Brandon Noel is averaging a double-double in five contests while shooting 71 percent on his way to 20.2 points/game and 13.6 rebounds/game marks against Horizon League foes. For the season, Noel is averaging 13.9 points per contest, a mark that jumps to 17.0 points per game against HL competition as he’s averaging a double-double in HL play with his 10.6 rebounds per contest as well.

HOT SHOTS
Wright State has shot well from the field all season, connecting at 50 percent entering the weekend. The Raiders have a pair of games shooting over 70 percent – including a 71.9 percent shooting night at Green bay on Jan. 12. Wright State flirted with the program-best shooting percentage in the Nov. 17 win over Defiance, ending the night shooting 74.1 percent from the floor, just shy of the program record of 76.6 percent set December 16, 1978 against Otterbein. 

Since the 2006-07 season, those two games this year are the only time the Raiders have shot 70 percent or better in the last 17 seasons and are two of only eight total games where Wright State has shot 60 percent or better in that same time span.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING
Wright State’s 50.4 overall season shooting percentage to date is ranked No. 4 in the country behind Gonzaga (1, 51.7 percent), Colgate (2, 51.0) and Xavier (3, 50.6 percent). Brandon Noel’s 63.5 percent field goal percentage is tops in the Horizon League and is No. 14 nationally in shooting percentage.

COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS