Men's Basketball welcomes Kent State for Saturday showdown

The Wright State men's basketball team returns home on Saturday night to welcome in-state foe Kent State to the Nutter Center. The Raiders enter the matchup 3-0 overall after a season-opening victory over Central State at home and a pair of road wins at Miami and Tennessee Tech. Kent State comes to town 2-0 on the young season after a home win over Hiram and a road victory at Towson.

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The Raiders are coming off of an 85-80 overtime road victory at Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night. Wright State had four players finish with double digit scoring nights, led by Bill Wampler's game-high 20 points, while Tanner Holden (18 points and 14 rebounds) and Loudon Love (17 points and 10 rebounds) both tallied double-doubles.

Of Wright State's four double-digit scorers – Wampler, Holden, Love and Cole Gentry – only Gentry had a scoring presence in the opening 20 minutes, tallying eight of his 11 points in the first half to lead all scorers at the break. The remaining three combined for eight points at the break (Wampler four points, Love & Holden two points each), but made their way into the second half scoring early, combining for 13 of the first 15 Raider points in the opening five minutes of the second half.

GOLDEN FLASHES
Saturday night's meeting will be just the seventh meeting all-time between Wright State and Kent State, with the series knotted at 3-3 overall. Separated by three hours, the two teams have met each of the last three seasons – with the Raiders winning Dec. 18, 2016 and Dec. 9, 2017 before Kent State won last year's meeting on Dec. 8, 2019. Prior to the 2016-17 season, the teams had not met since the 1990-91 campaign, when Wright State pulled out a 62-61 victory inside the brand new Nutter Center. The first meeting took place during the 1973-74 season, and the only other matchup came in the 1989-90 campaign.

BILL FOR 1,000?
Senior Bill Wampler is on the verge of the 1,000-career point plateau, entering Saturday's game against Kent State just 25 points shy of the mark. Wampler amassed 408 points in two seasons at Drake (2015-17) and has tallied 567 points to date as a Raider over the 2018-19 campaign and the first three games of this season.

Wampler is averaging 14.7 points per game through three games, scoring seven points in the season opener against Central State before back-to-back double-digit games against Miami (17) and Tennessee Tech (20).

MID-MAJOR POLL
Wright State moved up two spots to No. 10 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, released on Nov. 11. The Raiders are the lone Horizon team in the rankings, but the poll also features HL foes Northern Kentucky and Oakland receiving votes. The Raiders were one of seven teams to move up this week, with Furman (from #15 to #7) and Illinois State (from NR to #18) making the biggest jumps.

COACHES SHOWS SET FOR GIORDANO'S
Giordano's will host the Wright State Basketball Coaches Shows on various Monday nights from 5:30 p.m.-7 p.m. throughout the season. Twelve Mondays will feature women's coach Katrina Merriweather from 5:30-6 p.m. and men's coach Scott Nagy from 6-7 p.m.

Men's Basketball welcomes Kent State for Saturday showdown

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Players Mentioned

Cole Gentry

Tanner Holden

Loudon Love

Bill Wampler

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