DAYTON – The Wright State men’s basketball team welcomes a national television audience on Thursday night as the Raiders welcome Cleveland State to the Nutter Center on ESPN2, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. Fans can follow the action several ways – via live stats, by watching on ESPN2 and ESPN+ or by tuning in to the new home for Raider Basketball 101.5 HANK FM and WING 1410 AM. Chris Collins and Justin Kinner will have all the play-by-play on the radio feed.
Fans can tune into 101.5 HANK FM live over the air in the Dayton metro area, as well stream the station live nationwide through a variety of free streaming apps. The iHeartRadio app, the TuneIn Radio app and the Audacy app are all FREE and each carry 101.5 HANK FM. Just search “101.5 HANK FM” on any of the three apps for Raider Basketball.
**Wright State has launched the Wright State Raiders app, allowing fans to stay up to date on Raider Basketball and all other sports. Fans are encouraged to use the Wright State Raiders app as the primary method for managing their digital tickets, which are required for entry to all WSU basketball events. Tickets for the 2023-24 basketball seasons are now uploaded and accessible on all purchaser accounts. Fans can easily view their tickets, download them to their mobile wallet, or transfer them to another individual account.**
THURSDAY: WATCH ON ESPN+ | FOLLOW LIVE STATS | LISTEN ON 101.5 HANK FM | GAME NOTES | TICKETS
LAST TIME OUT
Four players finished in double figures on Sunday afternoon but Wright State couldn’t hold off a late surge from Milwaukee and fell 91-83 in Horizon League action. Wright State was led by Tanner Holden’s 25 points, his third 20-plus point performance in the last four games, while Brandon Noel tallied 16 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, now having two in the last three games. Alex Huibregtse recorded 10 of his 15 points in the first half and Trey Calvin chipped in 11 points.
THE VIKING AGE
Cleveland State is 10-5 overall this season with an 3-1 HL mark. The Vikings have won four in a row and are 8-0 at home to date with just a 2-5 road record. Cleveland State dropped its first five road contests this year before consecutive road wins at Bradley (Dec. 15) and at IUPUI (Dec. 31). Cleveland State is averaging 80.9 points this season in eight home games, with a 69.7 points per game average on the road.
FAMILIAR FOES
Wright State has won 12 of the last 19 contests in the series overall, which is the longest series all-time in Raider history. The Raiders and Vikings have met 82 times previously, with Wright State coming away with 43 wins. The first-ever meeting came Feb. 12, 1972, a Cleveland State 72-62 win in Cleveland. The first matchup in Dayton came Jan. 21, 1974, a 69-45 Raider win (third meeting overall).
BELIEVE-LAND
– Tristan Enaruna leads the Cleveland State offense with a 17.9 points/game average, one of three players averaging double digits scoring. Enarunas 6.5 rebounds/game also leads the CSU roster.
– Thursday’s game against Wright State begins a stretch of three of the next four games on the road for Cleveland State, who also has a stretch in Febraury with five of seven games on the road.
RETURN TO FORM
Tanner Holden has tallied 15-plus points in his last five contests and has double figures scoring in 12 of 14 games in his Raider return, notching five 20-plus point games. Holden’s current 17.3 points/game average is the second-best of his career behind only his 20.1 points/game average in 2021-22.
Holden currently has 36 career games with 20-plus points scored as a Raider, with only 20 single-digit scoring games in his Wright State career (12 as a freshman) in over 100 games played.
NOEL NOEL
After a slow start to the year with scoring outputs of eight, 10 and four points, Brandon Noel has returned to form, notching double figures scoring in three straight contests and nine of the last 10 games overall. Noel has two double-doubles in his last three games, finishing with 25 points and 12 rebounds (both season-highs) in the Dec. 19 win over Miami (OH) and logging 16 points and 10 rebounds against Milwaukee on Dec. 31. He just missed a double-double against Green Bay on Dec. 29, finishing with nine rebounds. Noel finished with 11 double-doubles a season ago, including nine double-doubles after the calendar flipped to January.
CAREER (GAMES) CALVIN
Trey Calvin officially became the all-time leader in games played in Wright State program history when he and the Raiders tipped off on Dec. 29 at Green Bay in Calvin’s 134th career game. Calvin will start his 99th career game on Thursday night against Cleveland State.
COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
