The Wright State Raiders men’s basketball team will look for revenge as they visit the Youngstown State Penguins on Thursday, January 30 at 6:30ET at Zidian Family Arena. The game can also be seen live on ESPN Plus.
Last time out: This past Saturday, Clint Sargent’s crew pretty much handled the Detroit Mercy Titans with ease and never trailed a single time that afternoon in their 67-50 win at the Nutter Center on Military Appreciation Day.
Brandon Noel earned fifth double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists. He went into the day as the second-leading scorer in the Horizon League at 18.3 points per game.
Keaton Norris’ hot shooting continued with 12 points on 4-of-7 made three-pointers, plus three rebounds and four assists. Alex Huibregtse, who leads the Horizon League in offensive rating (125.3), had 11 points of his own. Also, eight points from Logan Woods, along with six points and nine rebounds off the bench from Michael Imariagbe.
Wright State shot only 37.1 percent from the field (23-of-62), 32.1 percent from three-point land (9-of-21), and 60 percent on free throws (12-of-20). Despite their horrible shooting performance as a unit, they did outrebound Detroit Mercy 52-41 and turned the ball over eight times.
It was the sixth straight defeat for Mark Montgomery’s Titans (6-15, 2-9 Horizon), who was held to just 30.8 percent shooting from the field (20-of-68) and an very inexcusable 10 percent from downtown (1-of-10). Orlando Lovejoy led UDM with 15 points on 6-of-12 shots from the field, while Nate Johnson and TJ Nadeau had eight points apiece. As a team, however, the Titans shot a very respectable 81.8 percent at the free throw line (9-of-11) and only turned the ball over twice.
Last matchup: On December 18, these two teams squared off at the Nutter Center with Youngstown State earning the 80-70 win. Ty Harper led YSU with 16 points, with 15 from Jason Nelson, followed by 10 points each from Cris Carroll and Gabe Dynes. Nico Galette also flirted with a triple-double: nine points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Huibregtse scored 15 in the game, while Noel (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Doumbia (17 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks) both finished with double-doubles.
About the opponent: Youngstown State (13-9, 7-4 Horizon) is currently tied with Robert Morris for fourth place in the Horizon League standings, while Wright State (11-11, 5-6 Horizon) is standing at seventh. Penguins head coach Ethan Faulkner was suspended from Friday’s game against Penn State-Shenango for his actions near the end of last Wednesday’s 72-70 home loss to Robert Morris. Dynes, the team’s tallest player standing 7-3, leads the country with 71 blocked shots.
Wright State starting lineup (from their last three games)
• Brandon Noel (noll), F (6-8/240, 5th-year R-Jr.) – 18.7 ppg, 7.2 rpg, spg, bpg, 35.6% 3-PT, 79.6% FT
• Andrea Holden, W (6-6/215, Fr.) – 5.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 15.7 mpg in seven games (three starts)
• Alex Huibregtse (HUE-bricks), G (6-3/205, R-Sr.) — 15.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3 apg, 40.1% 3-PT, 77.5% FT, played and started 21 games; leads the Horizon League in effective field goal percentage (59.9%)
• Logan Woods (6-5/185, R-Soph.) – 7.5 ppg, 43.8% 3-PT
• Keaton Norris, G (6-0/175, R-Jr.) – 7.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.3 spg, played and started 19 games; 2.84 assist-to-turnover ratio (tied for 29th in NCAA)
Wright State rotation players
• Jack Doumbia, F (6-6/195, R-Sr., transfer from Norfolk State) – 12.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.2 spg, 0.8 bpg; started nine games
• Solomon Callaghan, G (6-2/195, R-Fr.) – 5 ppg, 32% 3-PT, 20.1 mpg in 21 games (two starts)
• Michael Imariagbe (eh-mar-ee-bay) 🇺🇸 🇳🇬, F (6-7/220, Sr., Houston Christian transfer) – 5.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg in 21 games (11 starts);
• Andrew Welage, G (6-6/205, Gr.) – 3.5 ppg, 32.2% 3-PT, 12.5 mpg
• Drey Carter, F (6-8/210, R-Soph.) – 2.9 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 9.5 mpg in 18 games (one start); scored six points on a perfect 3-for-3 in Saturday’s win
Rest of Wright State’s roster: https://wsuraiders.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Youngstown State starting lineup
• Cris Carroll, F (6-6/230, Jr., JUCO transfer) – 9.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 36.9% 3-PT, 19.5 mpg; started the last 15 games
• Nico Galette, F (6-6/210, Gr.) – 11.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.3 spg; a grad transfer from Sacred Heart where he was a 2-time All-NEC performer (1st Team in 2022-23 and 2nd Team in 2023-24)
• E.J. Farmer, G (6-5/185, Sr.) – 14.2 ppg, 81.6% FT; played his first two NCAA seasons at Toledo; has come off the bench the last pair of contests after missing the previous four games with a lower leg injury
• Ty Harper, G (6-3/175, 5th-year, NAIA The Master’s transfer) – 10.1 ppg, 38.7% 3-PT; This is Harper’s 4th school in 5 seasons. He played his first two years at Louisiana-Lafayette and his junior year at Eastern Washington.
• Juwan Maxey, G (6-1/165, Jr., JUCO transfer) – 9.3 ppg, 35.3% 3-PT; started the last 17 games
Youngstown State rotation players
• Gabe Dynes, C (7-3/225, Soph.) – 7.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3.2 bpg (leads NCAA); started the first seven games
• Jason Nelson, G (5-10/175, Jr., VCU transfer) – 8.4 ppg in 20 games (11 starts); started his NCAA career at Richmond; started the last six games when Farmer was out and recovering from his leg injury
• Christian Kirkland, F (6-9/215, R-Fr.) – 2.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 9.3 mpg
• Siem Uijtendaal 🇳🇱, G (6-6/185, 5th-year, Canisius transfer) – 3.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 15.8 mpg in 21 games
Rest of Youngstown State’s roster: https://ysusports.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Series history: Wright State leads the all-time series 50-20, but Youngstown State has won the last five matchups.
