By Bert Leeson
2 4 2024
DAYTON – The Wright State men’s basketball team hits the road for a quick visit to take on Northern Kentucky on Sunday afternoon, with tipoff set for 2 p.m. in Highland Heights, Kentucky. The Raiders are coming off a Thursday night home loss to Youngstown State, while Northern Kentucky hasn’t played in a week since falling at Youngstown State. Fans can follow the action several ways – via live stats, by watching on ESPN+ and Bally Sports Ohio 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.
SUNDAY: WATCH ON ESPN+ | FOLLOW LIVE STATS | LISTEN ON 101.5 HANK FM | GAME NOTES
LAST TIME OUT
Wright State was a in a back-and-forth battle all night, but the Raiders came up on the losing end of an 88-77 contest against Youngstown State on Thursday night inside the Nutter Center. Four Raiders finished in double figures, led by Trey Calvin’s game-high 22 points, while AJ Braun and Brandon Noel each had 16 points and Tanner Holden finished with 13 points.
RARE ROAD CONTEST
Sunday’s road contest at Northern Kentucky is one of just three Raider remaining road games down the stretch, with Wright State set to play five of its final eight regular season contests at home. The Raiders are 4-6 in true road games, with a pair of neutral site MTE wins, but won four of their last five road games during the month of January that featured just three home contests (2-1 at home in January).
NORSE NOTES
The Raiders and Norse split both meetings last season, with each winning on their own home court. Wright State leads the overall series 29-16 and has won seven of the last 10 meetings entering 2023-24, including the 2022 Horizon League Championship game and three of the last four contests inside the Nutter Center. The first-ever meeting came Dec. 6, 1972, a 91-87 Raider win at Northern Kentucky. Wright State has lost its last two road contests at Northern Kentucky with the last Raider win on Feb. 20, 2021. In that meeting, the Raiders closed the regular season by clinching the Horizon League regular season title for the third straight season as they won their 16th HL contest despite the shortened and COVID-altered schedule, which remains the second-most League victories in Horizon League history.
THE NORSE SIDE
-Northern Kentucky is 11-11 overall with a 6-5 mark in the Horizon League. The Norse are 8-2 at home but just 3-9 on the road. NKU has lost two straight games, including its last home contest, a 63-58 defeat to Purdue Fort Wayne back on January 25.
NATIONALLY SPEAKING. . .
Wright State currently leads the nation with its 53.4 percent overall season shooting percentage. The Raiders’ Effective FG Percentage (58.8 percent) is No. 2 and the Scoring Offense (85.7) is No. 9. Individually, Trey Calvin is No. 8 nationally with 160 Field Goals made, while No. 30 nationally with 20.0 points per game scoring average and is No. 25 with his 89.2 percent Free Throw Percentage. Calvin’s 441 total points are No. 17, while Tanner Holden (379 total points) is No. 82. Holden’s 140 Field Goals made is No. 49 nationally.
HOT SHOTS
Six regular rotation players are connecting at over 50.0 percent from the floor, led by AJ Braun’s 68.7percent, followed by Drey Carter (59.7), Tanner Holden (56.2), Brandon Noel (54.5), Andrew Welage (51.2) and Alex Huibregtse (51.1). Trey Calvin (48.3) is just off the shooting pace.
SCORING THE ROCK
Trey Calvin has scored in double digits in every game in 2023-24 and 25 straight contests going back to last season. Calvin has been held to less than 10 points only five times since scoring 18 points on Feb. 26, 2022 and has only 11 total single-digit scoring games since the start of 2021-22. Calvin has 36 performances of 20-plus points in the same time span.
RETURN TO FORM
Tanner Holden has double figures scoring in 19 of 23 games this season, notching eight 20-plus point games. Holden’s current 16.5 points/game average is the second-best of his career behind only his 20.1 points/game average in 2021-22. Holden currently has 39 career games with 20-plus points scored as a Raider, with only 21 single-digit scoring games in his Raider career (12 as a freshman).
COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
