The Wright State Raiders men’s basketball team will hit the road for a big time weekend showdown against their conference rivals, the Northern Kentucky Norse, on Saturday, January 18 at 2ET/1CT at the Truist Arena in Highland Heights, KY. The game can also be seen live on ESPN Plus.
Last time out: The Raiders (9-10, 3-5 Horizon) went to toe-to-toe against Purdue-Fort Wayne and took them to double overtime, but the Mastodons came away with the 120-113 decision on a night that had the fans feeling like they were watching a video game in real life. WSU shot 50 percent overall from the field (42-of-84) and 81 percent at the charity stripe (17-of-21), but they were 37.5 percent on three-pointers (12-of-32) and turned the ball over 16 times. They outrebounded Purdue-Fort Wayne 49-35 and outscored their bench 40-27.
Alex Huibregtse, who missed Sunday’s game at Robert Morris due to a back injury, returned to the Raider lineup by scoring 31 points (one point shy of tying his career-high) while going 7-of-14 from beyond the arc and became the 39th Raider with 1,000 career points.
Jack Doumbia recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 23 points (all in the second half) and 13 rebounds off the bench. Brandon Noel (noll) had with 23 points (11-of-17 FG) and nine rebounds, Logan Woods scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half (6-of-10 FG), and Andrew Welage finished with 11 points off the bench and shot 3-of-5 from downtown. Norris finished with three points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Huibregtse and Noel both played 47 of the 50 minutes, but Doumbia and Norris each turned the ball over five times.
Jalen Jackson, who came in as the Horizon League’s leading scorer in front of Noel (19.1 ppg), led Jon Coffman’s Mastodons with 30 points on 10-of-20 shots from the field along with seven rebounds and three steals. Rasheed Bello played 49 of 50 minutes and dropped 27 points while hitting 5-of-6 shots from beyond the arc to go along with eight assists and two steals. Chandler Cuthrell started his first game of the season and had the best outing of his entire college career, finishing with 20 points and 16 rebounds while going 7-of-10 from the field and nailing all six of his free throw tries. Quinton Morton-Robertson scored eight of his 16 points in the second overtime period and shot 4-of-10 on three-pointers. Corey Hadnot II had 17 points in 38 minutes off the bench, while Trey Lewis had eight points off the bench in 17 minutes of action.
Purdue-Fort Wayne made a solid 53.2 percent of their shots (42-of-79), 48.5 percent of their three balls (16-of-33) and 80 percent of their free throws (20-of-25). Also, they only committed seven turnovers as a unit.
Wright State outrebounded Purdue-Fort Wayne 49-35 and outscored their bench 40-27.
About the opponent: Northern Kentucky (9-10, 4-4 Horizon) finished 5th last season in the Horizon League standings and were picked to finish 3rd this season. Currently, the Norse are tied for 5th with Oakland and hold the tiebreaker over the Golden Grizzlies because of their overall records. All five of their starters from last season have returned and they are led by Trey Robinson (15.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.5 spg), who was voted as last season’s Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year.
The other four starters are Sam Vinson (11.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.4 apg) – the 2021-22 Horizon League Rookie of the Year, Randall Pettus II (8.8 ppg, 1.6 spg) – who made last season’s Horizon League All-Freshman Team, LJ Wells (7.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg), and the very athletic Keeyan Itejere (kee-YAHN uh-TEE-tray) (6.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.6 bpg).
NKU also has a reliable sixth man in grad student Josh Dilling, who was previously at three NCAA Division II schools in his first four collegiate seasons: Minnesota-Crookston (2020-21), Queens University (2021-22), and Northern State University (2022-24).
Northern Kentucky head coach profile: Darrin Horn is in his sixth season with the Norse. He has also been a head coach for South Carolina (2008-12) – who made the 2009 National Invitational Tournament (NIT), and his alma mater of Western Kentucky (2003-08) – whom he led to the Sweet 16 in the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Horn was also an assistant coach for WKU (1995-97), Marquette (1999-03), and Texas (2015-19).
As a player, Horn played for the Hilltoppers from 1991 through 1995 under head coaches Ralph Willard (1991-94) and Matt Kilcullen (1994-95), averaging 8.9 points per game while making 80.8 percent of his free throws in 125 career games (93 starts). As a sophomore in 1993, his WKU made the NCAA Tournament and lost to Florida State in the Sweet 16.
Wright State men’s starting lineup (from last game)
• Brandon Noel (noll), F (6-8/240, 5th-year R-Jr.) – 18.7 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 1.1 spg, 1.1 bpg, 35.4% 3-PT, 80.3% FT; leads the Horizon League in effective field goal percentage (60.5%)
• Alex Huibregtse (HUE-bricks), G (6-3/205, R-Sr.) – 15.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.2 apg, 40.5% 3-PT, 84.6% FT; leads the Horizon League in minutes per game (34.7) and made three-pointers (53)
• Logan Woods (6-5/185, R-Soph.) – 8 ppg, 46.6% 3-PT
• Solomon Callaghan, G (6-2/195, R-Fr.) – 5.3 ppg, 34.1% 3-PT in 18 games (two starts)
• Keaton Norris, G (6-0/175, R-Jr.) – 6.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.4 spg, played and started 16 games; 37th in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.81)
Wright State men’s rotation players
• Jack Doumbia, F (6-6/195, R-Sr., transfer from Norfolk State) – 12.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.4 spg, 0.9 bpg; started nine games
• Andrew Welage, G (6-6/205, Gr.) – 3.5 ppg, 32% 3-PT, 12.7 mpg
• Andrea Holden, W (6-6/215, Fr.) – 8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.3 spg, 16.8 mpg in four games
• Michael Imariagbe (eh-mar-ee-bay), F (6-7/220, Sr., Houston Christian transfer) – 5.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg in 18 games (11 starts); did not play in Wednesday’s double overtime loss to Purdue-Fort Wayne (coach’s decision)
• Drey Carter, F (6-8/210, R-Soph.) – 2.9 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 10 mpg in 17 games (one start); has not played the last two games (coach’s decision)
Rest of Wright State’s roster: https://wsuraiders.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Northern Kentucky starting lineup
• Keeyan Itejere, F (6-9/220, R-Jr.) – 6.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.6 bpg, started all but one game; started his NCAA career at Marquette where they made the 2nd Round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament
• LJ Wells, F (6-8/205, Jr.) – 7.2 ppg, 5.3 rpg, spg in 18 games (14 starts); did not travel with the team in Wednesday’s loss at Cleveland State
• Trey Robinson, G/F (6-7/220 Jr.) – 15.6 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.5 spg, 35.2% 3-PT; started all but one game
• Sam Vinson, G (6-5/205, Sr.) – 11.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.4 apg, 1.9 spg; played and started 18 games
• Randall Pettus II, G (6-3/185, Soph.) – 8.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.6 spg, started 11 games
Northern Kentucky rotation players
• Josh Dilling, G (6-4/205, Gr.) – 11.3 ppg, 40% 3-PT, 77.8% FT, started nine games including Wednesday’s loss at Cleveland State
• Hubertas Pivorius 🇱🇹, G (6-2/170, Sr.) – 4.1 ppg, 16.2 mpg; started four games
• Dan Gherezgher Jr., G (6-4/180, Jr., NCAA Division II Michigan Tech transfer) – 2.4 ppg, 71.4% FT, 11.2 mpg in 18 games (three starts)
• Jeramiah Israel, G (6-3/190, Soph.) – 1.5 ppg, 0.6 rpg, 6.9 mpg in 12 games
• Paulis Rapolis 🇱🇹, C (7-0/240, Fr.) – 1.1 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.5 bpg, 6 mpg in 17 games
• Cesar Tchilombo 🇨🇩, F (6-9/220, R-Soph.) – 0.1 ppg, 0.9 rpg, 4.6 mpg in 14 games
Rest of Northern Kentucky’s roster: https://nkunorse.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Series history: Last season, WSU swept the regular season series before NKU got their revenge with a 99-97 overtime win at the Nutter Center in the Horizon League Tournament Quarterfinals. Wright State leads the all-time series 31-17.
Game notes: Wright State currently ranks 25th in the country in team field goal percentage (49%) and 35th in team three-point percentage (37.8%).
