Men's Basketball closes non-conference slate with short trip to Miami

Thursday, December 22

Oxford, OH / Millett Hall

7 PM

Wright State University

Miami (OH)

Photo by: Jerold Wilkins

Men's Basketball closes non-conference slate with short trip to Miami

12/21/2022 1:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Watch on ESPN+Follow Live Stats

DAYTON - The Wright State men's basketball team wraps up non-conference action on Thursday night as the Raiders make the short trip to take on regional foe Miami (OH) for the 38th time in program history. Both sides are coming off wins in their last matchups, while Wright State has won three in a row in the series. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Millett Hall.

Fans can follow the action several ways - via live stats, by watching on ESPN+ or by tuning in on WONE 980 AM. Chris Collins and Jim Brown will have all the play-by-play on the radio feed.

THURSDAY: WATCH ON ESPN+ | FOLLOW LIVE STATS | LISTEN ON WONE 980 AM | GAME NOTES

LAST TIME OUT
Wright State saw five players finish in double figures as the Raiders eased passed Northwestern Ohio 111-59 on Saturday night behind 21 points from Brandon Noel and a career-high 15 points from Alex Huibregtse. AJ Braun finished in double figures for the fourth straight game with his 13-point effort, pulling down six rebounds and adding a pair of assists and a steal, while Andrew Welage also had 13 points, connecting on three three-pointers. Amari Davis was the final Raider in double digits, finishing with six points in each half on the way to his 12-point night. Andy Neff recorded a career-high nine points off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting over a season-best 12 minutes, adding a pair of blocks on the defensive end, which was also a new career high.

WE MEET AGAIN
Wright State is set to square off with Miami for the 38th time in program history on Thursday, but the first time since December 5, 2020, a 71-47 Raider win as the Green & Gold have now won three straight in the series. The 2020 meeting marked the 21st consecutive season the regional foes squared off, a streak snapped with no game last season. The Raiders have three active players who were in the Dec. 2020 contest - Trey Calvin scored a game-high 16 points, Tim Finke tallied 13 points and then-freshman Alex Huibregtse had two points in limited action. Wright State shot 47 percent in the 2020 win while holding Miami to just 27 percent shooting.

MIAMI MINUTE
-Miami is 5-6 on the season with a 4-3 record at home to date, tallying home victories over Little Rock and Jackson State, along with wins over NAIA foes Calumet College of St. Joseph and Goshen College.
-The RedHawks' lone road win came its last time out, tallying a 71-67 victory at Bellarmine last Saturday.
-Four players are averaging double digits scoring, paced by Mekhi Lairy's 17.4 points/game, while Morgan Safford is next at 15.0 points/game. On the glass, Julian Lewis' 5.2 rebounds/game leads the way, followed by Safford at 5.0 rebounds/game.
-Miami went 14-18 overall with an 8-12 MAC record last season, ending the year in the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. Travis Steele was named the 28th head coach in program history in March.

NOEL NOEL
Brandon Noel is averaging 12.4 points per game (second-most on the roster) through his first 12 collegiate games, recording double digits scoring in seven of those contests, while his 63.8 percent shooting mark is the best in the Horizon League to date. Averaging 26.4 minutes per contest, Noel has played 25 or more minutes in seven games and has logged over 20 minutes in all but the season-opener, when he recorded 19 minutes against Davidson, and Saturday's win over UNOH (18 minutes). Noel has a pair of double-doubles so far this season, finishing with 11 rebounds in both contests - Nov. 15 against Bowling Green (10pts, 11rebs) and Nov. 22 against UC Riverside in Las Vegas (14pts, 11rebs).

FINKE FACTS
Tim Finke has six games with 10 or more points this season on his way to a current 9.0 points/game average. His 18 points against Robert Morris on Dec. 1 are a season-best and was three points shy of his career mark of 21 set back at Detroit Mercy last February. Finke is also crashing the glass, leading Wright State with his 6.3 rebounds per game average, which is Top 10 in ths Horizon, with his 11 rebounds Saturday against Northwestern Ohio just one off his career high (12, Milwaukee, Feb. 2021). He has five or more rebounds in 10 of 12 games, with eight-plus rebounds in five contests.

BRAUN GETTING BUCKETS
AJ Braun has recorded four straight double-figure scoring games dating back to the Dec. 4 game against Youngstown State and has 9 games with 10-plus points to date this season, including opening the 2022-23 campaign with four straight double-figure efforts. This comes after Braun tallied just four total games with 10-plus points as a freshman on his way to averaging 5.4 points per game. Additionally, Braun has four games this season with eight or more rebounds, including a career-best 10 boards on Dec. 10 at Western Kentucky after only recording five-plus rebounds six times in 28 games played last season. Braun has upped his scoring average to 10.5 points per game, the fourth-highest on the Raider roster, and tied a career-high with 17 points in the YSU loss before tallying his first career double-double with a 13-point, 10-rebound effort against WKU.