By Cord Rankin
DAYTON – The Wright State men’s basketball team opens Horizon League play this weekend with a pair of contests in Michigan, beginning Thursday night as the Raiders travel to take on Oakland. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m., and fans can follow the action several ways – via live stats, by watching on ESPN+ or by tuning in to the home for Raider Basketball 101.5 HANK FM and WING 1410 AM. Chris Collins and Jim Brown will have all the play-by-play 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.
THURSDAY: WATCH ON ESPN+ | FOLLOW LIVE STATS | LISTEN ON 101.5 HANK FM | GAME NOTES
LAST TIME OUT
Three players finished with double-digit scoring nights as the Wright State men’s basketball team defeated Air Force 70-54 on Saturday night inside the Nutter Center in the Stars, Stripes, Flight Classic in front of 9,672 fans. Brandon Noel tallied 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half after Alex Huibregtse recorded 17 of his 20 points in the opening 20 minutes. The pair combined to go 17-of-25 from the floor overall, with Huibregtse connecting on five of his six three-pointers in the first half, while Michael Imariagbe was the third Raider in double figures, notching 14 points in 19 minutes of action on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting night.
OAKLAND ORIGINALS
Wright State and Oakland have met 31 times, with the Raiders leading the series 20-11. The teams first met back on Nov. 29, 1977 – a Raider victory – and the teams also met in Jan. 1979 and Dec. 1979 but then didn’t face each other again until Dec. 2000. Wright State also handed Oakland a loss in the Golden Grizzlies’ first-ever Horizon League contest, played Jan. 2, 2014 inside the Nutter Center. The Raiders won the last meeting on Feb. 25 in Oakland, tallying a 96-75 win behind a game-high 21 points from Alex Huibregtse aided by five three-pointers and a 19-point, 16-rebound effort for Brandon Noel, which was his seventh double-double of the year.
DEFENSIVE CHANGES
Wright State has allowed 75 points or less in seven of nine contests to date after holding opponents to 75 points or less eight total times last season, with the first instance not coming until Nov. 22 against Illinois State in MTE action. The Raider defense held Air Force to 57 points on Nov. 30, the fewest points Wright State has allowed since holding Illinois State to 49 points last November.
GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
– Oakland is 2-4 overall with three of its four losses coming away from home, however, Oakland is coming off an 85-52 victory at Toledo last Saturday.
– Oakland also has a home loss (68-64) to Eastern Michigan, a team the Raiders will see later in December. Oakland is 1-1 at home to date, with its win coming in the season opener on Nov. 4 over Defiance.
ON THE HORIZON
Wright State is 7-3 in its last 10 Horizon League openers, however, one of the three losses came on Dec. 29, 2016 when the Raiders opened their HL slate at Oakland (81-62 Oakland win). Wright State and Oakland also met to kick off the 2013-14 HL schedule, with the Raiders winning inside the Nutter Center in Oakland’s first Horizon League conference game.
CHANGE OF PACE
Wright State’s 70 points in its Nov. 30 win over Air Force was the first time the Raiders have scored 70 or less points in a victory in nearly four years. The Raiders defeated Green Bay 67-53 back on Dec. 26, 2020, however the Dec. 2020 win saw Wright State take 66 shots, while the Raiders had just 52 attempts in the Air Force win. Wright State is 7-22 when scoring less than 80 points over the last three-plus seasons, dating back to the start of the 2021-22 campaign.
COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
