After Wright State’s 73-68 win at home against Purdue Fort Wayne, forward Michael Imariagbe called his Raider team “marked men,” indicating that the top squad in the Horizon League standings would get everyone’s best shot to keep them from winning the regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament that comes along with it.
In the two games that followed, at least one opponent, Detroit Mercy, certainly gave Wright State its best shot. That was enough to squeeze past the Raiders, courtesy of a last-second drive to the basketball by Tyler Spratt that proved to be the game-winner. On the other hand, Wright State’s other opponent, Cleveland State, couldn’t contain the Raiders’ hot shooting, allowing WSU to get a critical road win, along with some revenge for the Vikings pulling the upset at the Nutter Center.
At 12-4 in conference play, the Raiders are on the cusp of a feat not achieved since the 2019-20 season, when they won the regular season title outright. As it stands, Wright State could clinch at least a share of the crown this upcoming week with a sweep of IU Indy and Robert Morris, with an outright clinch possible should Oakland lose one of its two games this week as well.
Pickett Fences
Freshman Kellen Pickett continued to establish his case to win Horizon League Freshman of the Year — not only on the offensive end, but defensively — as evidenced by his four blocks in the win over Cleveland State. While Spratt proved to be the spoiler for the Raiders in the end, Pitckett’s numbers (nine points and four boards) nearly matched up with his closest competition for the rookie crown (nine points and six rebounds).
And though Spratt’s 13.4 points per game outpaces Pickett’s 9.5, Pickett ranks eighth in the league in overall rebounds with 6.8 per contest and, thanks to his performance against the Vikings, has catapulted to second in blocked shots with 1.9 per game.
It also looks as if Pickett will start doing something down the stretch that he wasn’t doing before, which is shoot beyond the arc. Prior to the game against the Mastodons, Pickett barely shot three-pointers at all, average just over one attempt per contest, at a success rate of less than 20 percent. Against PFW, though, he drained 4-of-6 from distance and hit both shots he attempted against the Vikings.
With plenty of other shooters in head coach Clint Sargent’s lineup, the emergence of Pickett as another option from deep may give Wright State’s remaining opponents pause when he steps out on the perimeter.
Burch Bombs
Speaking of prolific shooting, TJ Burch, who’s made himself more well-known for his defensive prowess this season, practically couldn’t miss against Cleveland State, hitting 9-for-11, including a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. His 23 points came close to his season high, which was the 24 points he scored against Youngtown State on January 15th.
Burch continues to be the Raiders’ primary distributor, as he leads the team with 3.5 assists per game, with an in-conference average of 3.8 that puts him eighth in the Horizon League. Plus, his 11.5 points per contest, undoubtedly boosted by his most recent performance, puts him only slightly behind Imariagbe, whose 11.8 points a game puts him second on the team.
Unlike Pickett, Burch has essentially taken the green light for threes that Sargent has given him all season. If things go the way they went at CSU for the remainder of the season and beyond, he’ll likely make a claim for all-league honors, not just on the defensive front.
Wright State’s Scoring Option Is… Yes
When the season started, the biggest question for the Raiders was who would step up and fill the scoring holes left by their outgoing seniors, particularly Brandon Noel and Alex Huibregtse, who took advantage of the transfer portal and went elsewhere. With four games left in the regular season, the conclusion is pretty clear:
The Wright State player that’s stepped up on offense is… everyone.
Multiple Raiders including Imariagbe, Burch, Michael Cooper and Andrea Holden have led the team in scoring. While the other two starters in Pickett and Dominic Pangonis have not been atop the scoring chart, they have consistently hit double figures across multiple contests.
Against Cleveland State, Wright State added yet another name to the list of different leading scorers in redshirt freshman Alex Bruskotter.
Even though he’s played sparingly during the conference slate, that didn’t stop Sargent from calling Bruskotter’s number at CSU, and the Shelby, Ohio native did not disappoint. Like Burch, Bruskotter was virtually perfect from the field, finishing the game with 25 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range.
While it’s not certain that Sargent will call on Bruskotter more extensively to close out the regular season, he can at least take comfort in knowing there’s at least one more option in the offensive arsenal.
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