One Team. One Mission: Accomplished

The confidence of some Raider fans may have been shaken just nine days into the 2017-18 season. The team was picked to finish fifth in the Horizon League pre-season poll, and started 0-3 with losses at Loyola, at Miami (OH) and at home to Murray State.

All three of those teams wound up having quality seasons – Loyola wore the Cinderella slipper and made the Final Four, Miami won more games than it had the previous seven seasons, and Murray won 26 games and qualified for the NCAA tournament after winning the regular season and Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship.

As it turned out, that initial three-game losing streak would be the only time the Raiders lost back-to-back games the entire year.

Head coach Scott Nagy and his staff knew better days were ahead. Returning leading scorer Grant Benzinger had missed the entire pre-season with hernia surgery, and depth issues wouldn't be addressed until the mid-December eligibility of transfer Cole Gentry. "We knew Loyola and Murray State were good - they both wound up being really good. Grant's inability to practice really hurt us. He was the heart of our team and our depth really suffered."

Some level of confidence was restored with wins over the Thanksgiving break and in early December, as Benzinger began to regain his health and stamina.

It was the Toledo game that saw the debut of point guard Gentry, who had sat out the past year after transferring from South Dakota State. The Raiders took control in the second half of that game, ultimately beating the Rockets 77-69. After a 6-4 start, Wright State would go 19-6 the rest of the season with Gentry manning the point, including an eight-game winning streak that lasted nearly a month.

That eight-game stretch included big road wins at Georgia Tech, Oakland and Northern Kentucky, and a home win against UIC. Those three league foes were all picked to finish above the Raiders in the pre-season coach's poll.

The Raiders sputtered offensively at times in the latter stages of league play, leading to a 7-4 finish over the last 11 games. While last year's team was more offensive-oriented, Nagy's second squad made a name for themselves on the defensive end. "We struggled at times throughout the season offensively, but this was one of the better defensive teams I've coached."

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Wright State would close the season with a gutsy, come-from-behind performance at UIC. The Flames were red-hot at that point, winning nine of their previous 11 games.

The Raiders headed to Detroit for the Horizon League tournament with a little bounce in their step. They opened play with a commanding 87-72 victory over Green Bay, then topped Milwaukee 59-53, a team that had beaten Wright State twice during the regular season. That victory set up a championship match-up against Cleveland State, who had beaten the Raiders earlier in the season and pulled off the upset of the tournament three nights before, beating top-seeded Northern Kentucky.

The Raiders would dispatch the Vikings, with Benzinger leading the way with 19 points for the Horizon League champions. The victory clinched an automatic berth to the NCAA basketball tournament – Wright State's third March Madness appearance as a D-I program.

An estimated 1,000 fans packed the student union on Selection Sunday to find out the team's first-round opponent and destination. Wright State, which set a school D-I record with 25 wins, would travel to Dallas to face the SEC co-champion Tennessee Volunteers.

The season not many thought was possible came to a close in the Lone Star State as the Raiders fell to Tennessee 73-47.

The appearance in Dallas was one of many memorable moments and accomplishments for the season. Here's a look back at some of the highlights.

Team

The team's 45 wins represents the best two-year stretch in the school's history as a D-I program, and the most in over 30 years, when the Raiders posted 48 wins in 1985-86 and 1986-87, the final two season as a D-II program.
The Raiders, picked to finish fifth in the pre-season poll, led or were tied for first place in the Horizon League for almost the entire conference season. The .778 conference winning percentage was the highest since .813 posted by the 2006-07 team.
Finished the season with an RPI of 99, 16 slots better than last year, and the best since Brad Brownell's final season as head coach in 2009-10.
Defensive Efficiency, a statistic that measures the number of points allowed per possession, is a key metric used by Nagy and his staff (and many coaching staffs). Last year the Raiders allowed 1.04 points per possession in conference play, slightly better than the D-I average of 1.05. This season that figure dropped to .94, well below the average of 1.05.
Ranked 22^nd in the final Men's Mid-Major Top 25 poll released by CollegeInsider.com.

Individual

Head coach Scott Nagy was named Horizon League Coach of the Year, just the fourth time a Raider head coach has earned that honor.
Grant Benzinger put an exclamation point on an outstanding career, being named All-League First Team and Motor City Madness men's basketball tournament Most Valuable Player. Benzinger left his mark – literally – on the basketball court with his fearless style of play, and also left his mark in the Raider record book. Among his statistical achievements and where they place all-time: games played, 132 (2^nd all time); 3-point field goals made, 291 (1^st); free throw percentage, .837 (4^th) and minutes played, 3884 (5^th). He's one of 19 players to score at least 1,000 points (1,451, 12^th) and grab 500 rebounds (527, T-16^th), and one of only three former players that were 6'3" or shorter in the 500 Rebound Club.
Center Loudon Love had one of the finest seasons ever by a freshman, averaging 12.9 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. He was named All-League Second Team and was the first Wright State player to be named Freshman of the Year after the honor was renamed from the previous Newcomer of the Year Award prior to the 2012-13 season (five former Raiders had received that honor, but none were freshman or redshirt freshman). His 341 rebounds eclipsed the previous record of 305 set by Thad Burton during the 1997-98 season, and his 9.7 rebounds/game ranks 5^th all-time.
Junior Mark Hughes was named to the Horizon League All-Defensive Team. Joe Thomasson was the last Raider to earn the honor, back in 2016.
Parker Ernsthausen was named to the Horizon League All-Academic Team. Ernsthausen, who completed his undergraduate degree in Accountancy in December, is currently pursuing his master's degree.
In addition to Love, two other freshmen made a significant impact in their first year of action. Jaylon Hall (9.1 ppg/2.5 rpg) and Everett Winchester (8.0 ppg/3.8 rpg) played in all 33 games for the Raiders. Collectively, the three freshmen averaged 30 ppg and 16 rpg, easily the most production from a freshman class since the 2003-04 season that featured DeShaun Wood and Drew Burleson.

Off the Court

Four players were named to the Fall Academic Honor Roll: Parker Ernsthausen, Adam Giles, Loudon Love and Alan Vest. Student-athletes must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.20.
Wright State led the Horizon League in attendance for the sixth consecutive year, at 4,304 per game.

Anyone that watched the recently-completed tournament knows there are no givens in college basketball (see UMBC's victory over #1 seed Virginia). However, with nearly 75% of the scoring returning next season, along with a highly-regarded recruiting class, the future is bright for the Raiders.

Players Mentioned

Grant Benzinger

Parker Ernsthausen

Cole Gentry

Adam Giles

Jaylon Hall

Mark Hughes

Loudon Love

Alan Vest

Everett Winchester

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