The Wright State men's basketball team opens Horizon League play with two straight home games, beginning Saturday afternoon as the Raiders welcome Green Bay to the Nutter Center. Wright State has won three games in a row, and five of the last six, while Green Bay comes to town on a two-game winning streak. The Raiders open HL action with a 10-3 overall record and the Phoenix are 5-8 overall. Saturday's game will be Youth Basketball Day, with $5 tickets using the promo code YOUTH19.

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Wright State earned a 79-72 victory last Saturday on the road as Tanner Holden turned in a career afternoon, tallying 27 points and 17 rebounds as the Raiders closed out the non-conference schedule at Toledo, handing the Rockets their first home loss of the season. Holden scored 20 of his 27 in the second half, including a personal 8-0 run from the 11:05 mark to 9:31 in the second half as part of a larger 16-5 run by the Raiders to gain some separation. Holden finished the afternoon 9-of-10 from the floor and 9-of-12 from the free throw stripe. Cole Gentry was the other Raider in double-digits, finishing with a season-high 18 points – 13 of which came in the second half – including going a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw stripe with all eight attempts coming inside the final minute.

FACING THE PHOENIX 
Saturday will be the 64th meeting all-time between Wright State and Green Bay, with the Raiders trailing in the series 31-32 but entering this season's series having won six of the last seven games. Both sides held down home court last year in the regular season before the Raiders defeated the Phoenix 66-54 in the Horizon League Championship semifinals to advance to the title game. The first meeting came back on December 7, 1987, a Green Bay victory in the Raiders' first year as a Division I program. The Raiders have won 22 of the 32 meetings at home in Dayton all-time. 

PHOENIX RISING
Green Bay is coming off of a one-point road win at Northern Illinois last Saturday to close conference play, entering Horizon League action at 5-8 overall. Green Bay played eight of its 13 non-conference games on the road, including five matchups against Power 5 teams. Under head coach Linc Darner, Green Bay is a perfect 4-0 in Horizon League openers. Each win came against a different opponent (Milwaukee, Detroit Mercy, Cleveland State, Northern Kentucky), and this will be the first time they have opened up at Wright State under Darner. This is the second-straight season Green Bay has opened on the road to start league play, and the third time in five seasons.

ROAD WORK
Entering the weekend, Wright State is one of just six teams out of the 353 NCAA Division I basketball programs with at least three road wins and zero road losses: 
DePaul (12-1 overall, 4-0 road); San Diego State (12-0 overall, 3-0 road); Gonzaga (13-1 overall, 3-0 road); South Carolina (8-4 overall, 3-0 road); Northern Iowa (11-1 overall, 3-0 road); Wright State (10-3 overall, 3-0 road)

NOTHING BUT NET
Wright State enters Horizon League action with the league's highest rated NET. The NCAA Evaluation Tool (the NET) relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. In the latest NET rankings released Dec. 23, Wright State is ranked 111, five spots ahead of Northern Kentucky (116). The Raiders and Norse are the Horizon League's lone teams inside the top 150, while the HL has seven teams between 200 and 280.

MID-MAJOR POLL
Wright State sits at No. 13 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25, released on Dec. 23. The Raiders have been in the rankings all season long, climbing as high as No. 10 (Nov. 11 poll date) after opening at No. 13 in the preseason listing. The Raiders have wins over Toledo (ranked 19th) and Indiana State (receiving votes) while they fell (72-71, Nov. 16) to Kent State, who is currently ranked 10th in this week's poll but was unranked at the time of the game.