Familiar face Sargent charts a new path for the Raiders
The 2023-24 season for the Wright State Raiders definitely did not meet all of their expectations and a lot of people would say that they easily underachieved. It was a game of cat and mouse throughout the campaign, and at times, it did cost the team some big games.
Offensively, all 5 starters – Trey Calvin (19.6), Tanner Holden (16.3), Brandon Noel (14.5), Alex Huibregtse (HUE-bricks) (12.3) and A.J. Braun (12.0) – averaged double-figure scoring. Individually, Holden returned to WSU after a year at Ohio State, reuniting with Trey Calvin to reform their iconic duo at the Nutter Center, and both players graduated with over 2,000 career Raider points each. As for Braun, he had the nation’s best field goal percentage at 68.9 percent. As an offensive unit, the Raiders finished with the nation’s best overall team field goal percentage (53 percent), 4th in total points per game (86.5), and tied for 9th with McNeese State in team 3-point percentage (38.3 percent).
Defensively, it was the exact opposite, and Wright State starting forward Brandon Noel says that the team plans on changing that with Clint Sargent now at the helm.
“We’re really just trying to address some of the deficiencies we had last year,” Noel stated on Horizon League Media Day. “One of our biggest ones was defense. Honestly, we were a really, really bad defensive team last year, and that’s just something we’ve been trying to improve every single day since he (Sargent) got the job in the spring.”
The Raiders were also one of the worst defensive squads in the country. They were tied with San Jose State for the nation’s 22nd-worse defensive efficiency (1.108) and finished in a 4-way tie for 15th in opponent’s field goal percentage (47.4 percent).
The green and gold lost their first 3 games of last season and struggled at first against division foes, but they still managed to win 9 of their last 12 regular season games and finish in a 3rd place tie with Green Bay in the Horizon League standings.
However, an overtime loss at home to Northern Kentucky in the Horizon League Tournament Quarterfinals cost them a postseason bid. The Raiders finished with an 18-13 overall record and 13-7 in conference play.
After eight years at the helm, Scott Nagy left Wright State as the second-winningest head coach in school history (149-78 record) to take over at Southern Illinois. Also, Braun and backup point guard Kaden Brown both transferred out of the program during the off-season.
The new man leading the green and gold is Sargent, who played for Nagy at South Dakota State (2007-11) and spent his first eight seasons at WSU under him as both an assistant coach (2016-21) and an associate head coach (2021-24). While Sargent is now the Wright State head coach, he understands that there are a lot of similarities and differences between him and Nagy.
“Coach and I, we’re different personalities,” Sargent said, “That takes over everything. Coach has his ways, I’m a different person, different man, and the leadership of the program is me. It’s my personality, my moral compass, all of it, my vision. But it’s equal to our players.”
Projected starting lineup
Brandon Noel (6-8/235, R-Jr.) – started 31 of 32 games, 14.5 ppg, 8 rpg, 40% 3-pt FG
With Calvin and Holden graduated, expect Noel’s numbers to go up significantly. Noel, a 5th-year redshirt junior, is also set to take on bigger roles in the lineup such as the team’s main guy and vocal leader.
“One of the things I feel like I can bring is my experience. Like I said, I’ve been playing for four years now, going into my fifth,” Noel said. “So that’s something that I’ve seen a lot more than all the other guys on the team. We have some older guys obviously, but I’ve seen a lot of things in the younger guys, so I feel like I can bring my voice, just lead those guys and point those guys in the right direction as far as my voice and my experience and just trying to be an all-around anchor as much as I can.”
Michael Imariagbe (eh-mar-ee-bay) (6-7/215, Sr.) – started 26 of 29 games, 11.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 55.7% FT last season at Houston Christian
A big pickup in the transfer portal, Imariagbe is an undersized post player, but he is strong and brings a certain physicality that will help out a lot. Although his shooting form needs work, the talent is there.
Andrew Welage (6-6/180, Gr.) – 26 games (one start), 5.1 ppg
Welage enters his 5th year in the program and originally entered his name in the transfer portal, but returned to Wright State after Clint Sargent was named head coach. Welage is a sniper from long distance as he shot 45.2 percent from downtown with his best game of his career coming last season at Indiana, where he dropped 25 off the bench, but he later missed 7 games due to an illness. With Welage now healthy, expect him to put up career numbers and go out with a bang.
Alex Huibregtse (6-3/185, R-Sr.) – started 31 of 32 games, 12.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.3 apg, 41.7% 3-pt FG, 82.9% FT (34/41)
Huibregtse is coming off the best season of his career with numbers up all across the board, but look for him to do even better as a 5th-year senior.
Keaton Norris (6-0/165, R-Jr.) – played all 33 games (13 starts), 3 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 1.7 APG in 2022-23
To everyone’s surprise, Norris made the decision to redshirt last season. Now that Calvin has graduated and Brown has transferred, Norris has a chance to win a starting role at the point guard spot. Coach Sargent referred to Norris as “being a leader, stirring the drink, organizing it, talking us through what we need to be doing.”
In Norris’ words: “When the game is taken away from you because of a decision I made for myself, it’s always tough watching the guys out there competing when you wanna be out there with them. But at the same time, I thought it was the best decision for me just to get back where I was mentally especially. So it was hard, but I wouldn’t take it back for anything.”
Key Reserves
Logan Woods (6-5/180, R-Soph.) – played 27 of 32 games; 2.3 ppg, 11.1 mpg
Woods will be one of Sargent’s key guys in the rotation and will likely get a shot at more playing time since his shooting has improved day by day. Woods’ breakout game came on January 22 at Detroit Mercy, dropping 11 points off the bench.
Drey Carter (6-8/190, R-Soph.) – played all 32 games (4 starts), 4.2 ppg, 1.6 rpg
Carter has a slender body with an athletic build. His versatility allows him the ability to guard the 2, 3, and 4 positions. He scored a career-high 12 points on two different occasions.
Ben Southerland (6-7/215, R-Soph) – played 26 of 32 games, 1.6 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 33.3% 3-PT FG at Liberty University
Since things pretty much “Flamed out” while in Lynchburg with Liberty University, expect Southerland to get more comfortable here in Raider Country now that he’s playing only an hour away from his hometown of Cincinnati.
Solomon Callaghan (6-2/195, R-Fr.)
Although he redshirted last season, what we know about Callaghan is that he’s a gym rat, is strong, and very athletic. Expect him to contribute when given the chance.
Jack Doumbia (6-6/210, R-Sr.) – played in 24 of 35 games (2 starts), 5.1 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 0.6 spg last season at Norfolk State
This kid is very athletic and can not only jump out the gym, but is also very coachable and will do whatever you need him to do.
Outlook
While the Raiders aren’t the favorites win the Horizon League Championship this season, Sargent already has high expectations and believes that his team can beat the odds in his first season.
“It’s to win a league title specifically,” he said. “The conference tournament here in Indy and playing in a state tournament is first class, and there’s not an experience like it. I would like to get back to, as well as competing for a conference tournament championship, a regular-season title.
“You know, I think that speaks to the character of your program, habits of your program,” Sargent added. “I think this year’s team, how they’ve handled just the mundane, the slow days of summer, how I’m watching them compete here in the slow, what can be a grind of the fall…. it encourages me because I think you have that just mental toughness to be on always, and they’re having those types of days. So I would like to get back to winning a conference regular season title, and this group can absolutely do it.”
