Basketball fans, today marks the 10th week of the HoriZone PC series, which is a tribute to every current Horizon League coach in the style of video games. This week, we are featuring Wright State first-year head coach Clint Sargent.
Beginnings: Sargent graduated from Bishop Heelan Catholic High School in Sioux City, IA in 2007 as an honor roll student and also played football in addition to basketball.
With basketball, he scored 1,079 career points. As a junior, he averaged 20.1 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game as a junior. As a senior, he averaged 19.7 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game.
In football, he was a team captain as a senior and was named all-metro quarterback in his junior and senior years.
NCAA Division I basketball: Sargent played from 2007 through 2011 at South Dakota State and was a 4-year starter under head coach Scott Nagy, whom Sargent would be an assistant for later on in the coaching ranks. Sargent finished 5th all-time in school history in total points (1,505).
As a freshman, we find a young Sargent in College Hoops 2K8. For the 2007-08 season, Sargent played all 29 games (28 starts) and reached double-figure scoring 12 times while shooting 32 percent from downtown (33-of-103), and 61.8 percent at the foul line (47-of-76). He averaged 8.4 points per game along with career-highs of 3.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 32.3 minutes per game.
Sargent’s best all-around performance as freshman came on December 28, 2007 in a close road loss at Cal State Bakersfield in which he recorded 8 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals. He also had season-highs of 19 points and 9 rebounds on February 16, 2008 in a road loss at UMKC.
As a school, it was the 4th year for South Dakota State on the NCAA Division I level and their first season in the Summit League. With basketball, the Jackrabbits finished the 2007-08 season in last place in the conference with an overall record of 8-21 and 3-15 against other Summit League foes.
Sargent’s ratings in College Hoops 2K8 (real word abbreviations, attribute grades except for confidence, and game consoles in parentheses)
• OVR (overall) (D): 58 (PS2) / 60 (PS3)
• OAWR (offensive awareness): 56 (D)
• DAWR (defensive awareness): 56 (D)
• CLOSE (close shot): 74 (C-)
• MED (midrange shot): 75 (C)
• 3-PT (3-point shot): 77 (C+)
• FT (free throws): 74 (C+)
• LAY (layups) (D): 64 (PS2) / 63 (PS3)
• SHOR (shoot off dribble): 74 (C) (PS3)
• SHTR (shoot in traffic): 70 (C) (PS3)
• DUNK (dunking): 39 (D)
• DUNKST (dunk standing): 55 (D) (PS3)
• HAND (ballhandling): 74 (C-)
• PASS (passing): 58 (C)
• LOWO (low post offense): 50 (C-)
• LOWD (low post defense): 50 (C-)
• DEF (on ball defense): 73 (C-)
• BLK (block): 36 (F)
• STL (steal): 56 (C-)
• OREB (offensive rebounds): 56 (C)
• DREB (defensive rebounds): 60 (C)
• SPD (speed): 77 (D)
• QCK (quickness): 77 (D) (PS3)
• VERT (vertical): 62 (C-) (PS3)
• STR (strength): 57 (C) (PS3)
• HUS (hustle): 65 (C) (PS3)
• STAM (stamina): 79 (D)
• DUR (durability): 79 (C)
• CLT (clutch): 58 (C-)
• CONS (consistency): 55 (D)
• CONF (confidence): 35% (PS2) / 60% (PS3)
• FOUL (foul tendency): 50 (C)
• shot close tendency (PS2): 20
• shot medium tendency (PS2): 38
• shot 3PT tendency (PS2): 41
• POT (potential): 70 (C-) (PS2) / B- (PS3)
College Hoops 2K8, PlayStation 2
College Hoops 2K8, PlayStation 3
That brings us to Sargent’s second collegiate year in NCAA Basketball 09 on PlayStation 3, and let’s just say that it was definitely no sophomore slump. He played in 29 of the team’s 33 games (25 starts), averaging 14.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 29.8 minutes per game. He had 23 double-figure scoring games (6 of them of 20 points or more) while hitting 38 percent of his three-pointers (68-of-179) and 73.4 percent of his attempts at the foul line (80-of-109).
Sargent also recorded a pair of double-doubles in his sophomore campaign, both of which came on points and rebounds. His first one was a 20-10 game on November 19, 2008 in a road loss at VCU in which he also shot 5-of-9 on threes. His second was a 19-10 outing on December 23, 2008 in a road win at Iowa State. He was also two assists shy of his third double-double on New Year’s Eve of 2008 at Oakland in which he had 12 points and 8 dimes. His career-high in points – at that point – was 25, which came on December 10, 2008 in a loss at undefeated Minnesota, where he shot 8-of-13 from the field and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc.
As a team, the Jackrabbits improved by finishing the 2009-10 season in 7th place in the Summit League standings with a 7-11 conference record and an overall record of 13-20. In the Summit League Tournament, South Dakota State upset 2nd-seeded Oral Roberts in the quarterfinals before bowing out to Oakland in the semifinals.
Sargent’s ratings in NCAA Basketball 09
• OVRL (overall): 70
• FG (field goals): 71
• 3PT (3-point): 63
• FT (free throw): 68
• DUNK (dunking): 45
• STL (steals): 67
• BLK (block): 48
• OREB (offensive rebounds): 76
• DREB (defensive rebounds): 76
• PASS (passing): 89
• OFF (offense ability): 74
• DEF (defense ability): 61
• SPD (speed): 81
• QUICK (quickness): 86
• VERT (vertical): 57
• DRB (dribble): 66
• STRGTH (strength): 77
• DUR (durability): 80
• RNG (shooting range): 22
• STAMINA: 78
• INS. SCR (inside scoring): 65
NCAA Basketball 09
Moving onto NCAA Basketball 10 on PlayStation 3, which features Sargent as a junior. He played in all 30 games (26 starts) and led his team in scoring and minutes, averaging 12.1 points and 29.1 minutes per game. Sargent not only ranked 3rd in the Summit League in three-point percentage (41.5%) and 5th in free throw percentage (84%), but he ended up making the All-Summit League 2nd Team. His best game in his junior year was on February 13, 2010 in a double overtime loss at home against rival North Dakota State, where he dropped 25 points on 4-of-11 shots from downtown and even played a career-high 47 minutes.
As a team, the Jackrabbits finished the 2009-10 season in 4th place in the Summit League standings with a solid 10-8 conference record and a 14-16 overall record before losing to IPFW in the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament.
Sargent’s ratings in NCAA Basketball 10
• OVRL (overall): 75
• FG (field goals): 70
• 3PT (3-point): 77
• FT (free throw): 73
• DUNK: 31
• STL (steals): 67
• BLK (block): 42
• OREB (offensive rebounds): 77
• DREB (defensive rebounds): 77
• PASS (passing): 82
• OFF (offense ability): 99
• DEF (defense ability): 61
• SPD (speed): 83
• QUICK (quickness): 88
• VERT (vertical): 61
• DRB (dribble): 90
• STRGTH (strength): 81
• DUR (durability): 84
• RNG (shooting range): 24
• STAMINA: 79
• INS. SCR (inside scoring): 57
NCAA Basketball 10
In the 2010-11 season, Sargent – as a senior – started all 31 games and averaged a career-high of 15.2 points in 32.2 minutes per contest while also shooting 39 percent (83-of-213) from three-land and 79.8 percent from the foul line (71-of-89). He also made the All-Summit League 2nd Team for the second straight season and had 7 games of 20-plus points.
Sargent’s career-high in scoring came on December 30, 2010 in a 20-point road win at Kansas City in which he scored 29 points on 11-of-19 shots from the field. Another notable game for Sargent came on February 10, 2011 in an 11-point win at home over IUPUI in which he scored 23 points and made a career-high 7 threes in 11 attempts. He also recorded his third double-double of his career with a 17-point, 10-rebound effort on February 19, 2011 in another road loss at Oakland.
In 2010-11, South Dakota State went a solid 19-12 overall record and went 10-8 against conference opponents, which led them to a 5th place finish in the Summit League. In the conference tournament, they got their revenge from the season before by beating Purdue-Fort Wayne in the quarterfinals before their campaign ended in the semifinals with a 20-point loss at the hands of eventual Summit League Tournament Champion Oakland.
Love and Basketball: Following his college days, Sargent went onto play two seasons up in Germany for USC Heidelberg. He was over there for the 2012-13 season the same time as his wife, Jill Young, who also played for the Heidelberg women’s team. Young was also standout basketball player at South Dakota State herself and played in the NCAA Tournament every year she was in a Jackrabbits uniform. She and Sargent got married on July 6, 2012 right before heading overseas and are now raising 4 children together.
Hoppin’ Along with Nagy: Sargent returned to South Dakota State and spent 3 seasons as an operations coordinator under Nagy (2013-16). Together, they helped lead the program to an impressive 26-8 record and a spot in the 2016 NCAA Tournament where they lost to Maryland in the 1st Round.
Raider Country: Sargent then followed Nagy to Wright State University where they spent 8 successful seasons together (2016-24), going 167-92 in that timespan. With Nagy and Sargent working together, they helped lead the green and gold to the 2018 and 2022 NCAA Tournaments, as well as the 2019 National Invitation Tournament. In 2022, Wright State earned their first NCAA Tournament win on the Division I level by knocking off Bryant University 84-70 in the First Four at the University of Dayton Arena before bowing out to Arizona 87-70 in the 1st Round three days later in San Diego. Following the 2023-24 season, Nagy left WSU to be the head coach at Southern Illinois, and Sargent was later hired to take over the Raiders program. So far in Sargent’s first season, Wright State has an overall record of 13-15 and they are currently in 8th place in the Horizon League standings after going 7-10 against division opponents.
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