WRIGHT STATE VS. GREEN BAY: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOWABOUT TODAY’S GAME
Who: Green Bay (0-6) atWright State (4-1)
When: 4 p.m.
TV/Radio: ESPN3/106.5
Series: Wright State leads 33-32.
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 95-44 in his fifth year at Wright State and 505-284 in his 26th year overall. Will Ryan is in his first season at Green Bay. He’s the son for former Wisconsin coaching great Bo Ryan.
Hewent 14-13 in his lone season at Division II Wheeling University in 2019-20. Before that, hewas an assistant at Wisconsin, North Dakota State and Ohio U.
■ AboutWright State: Love is fifth in the nation in rebounding with a 12.2 average. He just passed Todd Brown (2006-10) to move into 10th on the Raiders’ alltime scoring list with 1,471 points. Seth Doliboa (200104) at 1,486 and MarkVest (1984-86) at 1,559 are ninth and eighth, respectively. … The Raiders have a rebound margin of plus-6.8 per game. Since being out-rebounded by Marshall, 45-38, in the opener, they’ve out-boarded foes by 10.3 per game. …The Raiders’defensive efficiency rate of .881 points allowed per possession has been excellent. Of the 330 Division-I teams that have played this season (27 have not), they rank 44th in that category. They’re averaging 79.6 points per game, just short of last year’s 80.6mark. The last time they averaged more than 77 before thatwas 1992-93.
■ AboutGreen Bay: The Phoenix, whichwent 17-16 last season, have had to replace leading scorer JayQuan McCloud (17.1 average) and another stalwart in Kameron Hankerson (11.1), and they’ve had a hard time finding help for Amari Davis, the former Trotwood-Madison star whowas named preseason first-teamall-league. He had 21 points in the team’s last outing, but he averaged 15.9 points in 2019-20, slightly above his current mark. Shootingwas considered his least-developed skill, but he’s 9 of 18 on 3’s this year. … The team is amess, though. Along with a brutal slate of road games (Marquette, Wisconsin and Minnesota), the Phoenix started league playwith two close home losses to Milwaukee last weekend. GBwas picked to finish eighth in the league, though it actually has been one of the teams giving the Raiders fits of late, going 2-3 the last two years. But the school fired Linc Darner after four years and a 92-80 record last spring.
■ No Scrooge: Nagy didn’twant to practice on Christmas, but since his teamwas playing the next day, he didn’t have much choice. They had an early afternoon workout Friday.“Youwant to make that a special day, but it’s difficult,” he said. With COVID-19, though, it’s unclear howmany players could have left town anyway. “We’ve always had aday or twowhenthe guys could get home, butwe’ve neverhad anything like this year,”Nagy said.“It’s just a nutty time.”
■ Next game: The Raiders host the Phoenix at 2 p.m. Sunday and then play at Oakland nextweekend.