#HLMBB Preview: Wright State
Wright State
Last season: 25-10 overall, 14-4 Horizon League
* Horizon League tournament champions
Head coach: Scott Nagy (3rd year)
By Joey Yashinsky, Horizon League Contributor. Follow on Twitter @OneSeatOver
The growing trend in basketball today is to launch shots further and further from the basket. Highlight packages are led by the Splash Brothers in Golden State while proponents of analytics continue to pound the pavement about three points being better than two.
But maybe part of that renaissance stems from simply not having anybody to throw the ball to underneath. Would things look different if indeed there was a dominant center capable of controlling a game from the low block?
Wright State tested that theory a year ago with the powerful Loudon Love. All the Raiders did was win 14 of 18 Horizon League games and cruise to a championship at Motor City Madness.
The 6-foot-9, 280-pound Love had an outstanding debut season, taking home Freshman of the Year honors and earning a spot on the All-Horizon League second-team. He paced the conference in rebounding (9.7 RPG) and field goal percentage (53.3 percent). Early in the Horizon League schedule, Wright State went on the road to Oakland and scrapped for an overtime win: Love posted 25 points, 17 rebounds, and five blocks, a statement to the rest of the league that the big man era was still alive and well.
“I was a little unsure with Loudon just because he hadn’t played in two years. He missed his senior year in high school with a knee injury, then we redshirted him,” said Scott Nagy, the reigning Horizon League Coach of the Year. “We had our first scrimmage against Ohio and he took 19 shots and maybe made three. Didn’t take a free throw. But he just kept getting better and better. It’s a credit to Loudon and just how hard he works, and his desire.”
The Raiders will be skilled and experienced in the backcourt with the return of senior Mark Hughes and junior Cole Gentry.
Hughes is a true jack-of-all-trades - scoring nearly 10 points per game, shooting 83 percent at the foul line, leading Wright State in assists, and perhaps most importantly, often being tasked with locking down the opposing team’s most dangerous scorer. Hughes was an All-Defensive selection in the Horizon League last year. He was honored with Preseason All-League second-team status approaching 2018-19.
Gentry came with Nagy from South Dakota State and made a major impact in his first season as a Raider. His floor generalship and accurate outside shooting were key assets to the run through the bracket at Motor City Madness.
“Cole had some big games where he was really good offensively and then other games where he didn’t do as much,” said Nagy. “We’ll need him to be more consistent on that end. And we’ll need him to shoot the ball well. We were not a very good shooting team last year. To have a center like Loudon, it’s important that we put a lot of good shooters around him.”
Wright State will assuredly miss the services of Grant Benzinger, a top-flight shooter and one of the most dependable Raider athletes over the last four years. The hope is that Benzinger’s production can be filled with the addition of Drake transfer Bill Wampler, a 6-foot-6 swingman that could potentially be one of the top 3-point marksmen in the Horizon League.
“He’s a good replacement for Grant,” said Nagy. “Bill’s a tough kid, he can really shoot it, he’s a little bigger, and probably a little more athletic. Now there were a lot of intangibles that Grant had, but Bill has that stuff, too. We feel like if there is anyone that could come in and replace some of the things Grant did for us, Bill can do it.”
Nagy expects to have more depth this year, aided by redshirt freshman James Manns and sophomore Jaylon Hall. Manns used last season to get stronger, practice with the team, and sharpen his game. He will compete for a rotation spot this winter.
The 6-foot-5 Hall had a solid rookie campaign, averaging nine points per game and playing key minutes during the tournament run.
“Jaylon is vying for a starting spot,” said Nagy. “He’s put on weight. He’s become more athletic. He does need to get his shooting percentage up a little bit and work on his shot selection. But we like his aggressiveness. If we can get the shot selection where we want it to be, the shooting percentage will go up right along with it, too.”
The battle-tested Parker Ernsthausen returns for his senior season. As a 6-foot-11, 240-pounder that can also attack from beyond the arc, he is a key piece in spacing the floor and giving Love ample room to operate inside. The durable Ernsthausen started all 35 games last year.
Of course, when you discuss Wright State basketball, the first thing that comes to mind is defense. Last year was no different as Nagy’s squad allowed just 65.9 points per contest, stingiest in the Horizon League. The Raiders also bested the conference in turnover margin, an underrated statistic that often goes a long way in determining a victor in a tight game.
The Wright State Raiders are not going to beat themselves. Nagy constantly preaches the importance of quality shot selection, ball security, and suffocating defense on the other end.
Add all of those crucial components together, factor in one of the nation’s fastest-rising post players in Love, and an outstanding collection of perimeter threats in Hughes, Gentry, Wampler and Hall - there becomes a recipe for serious championship contention in 2018-19 and beyond.
To be the champs, you’ve got to beat the champs. And right now, the Motor City Madness hardware sleeps quietly at night in the Nutter Center.
That trophy better nestle in and get comfortable.
It could be there for a very long time.