71-49

[Raiderfan]

"In the second half our defense wasn't very good"

"When you turn the ball over as much as we did you aren't going to win to many games"

"Once our guards struggled with their defense pressure things just snowballed then they lost their confidence in the second half, they looked like deer in headlights"

"I hate to say this but they (detroit) was the tougher team tonight"


All quotes from PB after the game.

He pretty much summed it up.

We are now 3-9 on the road and 1-5 on the road in the HL. Oh, did I forget to mention that we still have 2 road games left.

[Raiderfan]

After the game Jon Ramey said something that has me wondering about this team, he said "What concerns me is that this team has gotton worse the second half of the season". Think about it we were 5-3 at the half way point and we had 5 home games and only 3 road games the second half and now we look confused and scared.

How many offensive rebounds did UDM have? Whenever the shot the ball I just assumed they would get the offensive rebound, uncontested, and put it back up for 2 points.

Did Zach or Jordan even touch the ball more then 10 times tonight in the paint? Jon Ramey was exasperated at one point in the second half and simply said "Our guards seem content on just passing the ball around the perimeter, they're not even trying to work it into Zach".

I gotta tell ya, I love Jon Ramey's honesty. Chris Collins had the perfect voice for radio but he is such a fan of the program he rarely says anything bad about the Raiders. That is way I appreciate Jon telling it like it is.

[Raiderfan]

Wright State Raiders
M FG FT TR A PF PTS
Z. Williams, F 32 1-5 3-4 2 2 4 5
Z. Boyd, F 24 4-8 2-2 0 0 3 13
D. Wood, G 36 7-14 2-2 3 0 1 18
E. Spencer, G 11 0-2 0-0 0 0 3 0
D. Burleson, F 32 2-5 5-6 4 0 2 9
L. Shine, G 8 0-2 0-0 0 0 1 0
J. Taylor, C 34 0-3 0-0 1 4 1 0
P. Munroe, F 4 0-1 1-2 2 0 0 1
J. Pleiman, F 19 1-2 1-1 6 0 2 3
Totals 200 15-42 14-17 18 6 17 49
.357 .824 Team Reb: 4


Detroit Titans
M FG FT TR A PF PTS
T. Baker, F 28 5-8 4-5 7 1 2 14
R. Covile, C 27 4-6 1-3 11 2 3 9
M. Abdur-Rahim, G 17 0-2 0-0 3 1 2 0
B. Cotton, G 36 8-13 2-4 1 4 1 20
J. Thues, G 29 7-10 3-5 3 3 1 21
Z. Everingham, G 9 1-2 0-0 0 2 0 3
J. Kelly, G 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0
E. Shaw, F 13 0-1 0-0 1 2 4 0
B. Green, G 14 0-0 0-0 2 1 1 0
J. Goode, G 14 0-2 0-0 1 1 1 0
C. Bailey, F 11 2-4 0-0 1 0 1 4
Totals 200 27-49 10-17 30 17 16 71
.551 .588 Team Reb: 0

[Big D]

I don't understand why we didn't start Jordan in the second half. The first 2 times Spencer touched the ball in the first half, he threw it away. Coach B yanked him for a few minutes. When he came back in he immediately air balled a 3. Jordan scored 3 pts and pulled down 5 rebs in the first half. We were being outrebounded by Detroit something like 8-1 before Jordan entered the game.

We should have started Jordan in the second half to have more muscle under the basket and to reward Jordan for his first half play. Instead, we don't play him for the first 5 and 1/2 minutes of the second half.

[Big D]

Raiders get little mercy from Titans
No rally repeat in the cards as WSU stumbles on road

By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

DETROIT | Given the way each team played its previous game, it was not unreasonable to assume either Wright State or Detroit could have reversed tracks in an instant Thursday night and changed the outcome.

It was not unreasonable, but it did not happen. Detroit, which squandered a 24-point second-half lead at Cleveland State, was in no mood to do it again and rolled to a 71-49 Horizon League victory over Wright State in front of 2,136 at Calihan Hall.

The Raiders, who were behind by seven against Butler on Monday, roared down the stretch to beat the Bulldogs, but couldn't take a bite out of the Titans, who moved to 9-13 and 6-6 in league play. Wright State is 11-13 and 6-7 and reaching third place in the league — they trail Illinois-Chicago by two in the loss column — probably is not going to happen.

"We were in that 6-to-8-point range, but could never get it down to one possession," WSU sophomore guard DaShaun Wood said. "We could never get over the hump. They did get over the hump."

Two Zakee Boyd free throws brought the Raiders to within 42-35 with 12:31 to play, but Wright State scored sparingly after that.

In the end, the Titans outrebounded the Raiders 30-22, committed fewer turnovers, 11-15, and held a massive edge in shooting, 55 percent to 36 percent.

"With our guys, the margin of error is zip," WSU coach Paul Biancardi said, clenching his fist. "If we slip in one category too much, it will cost us the game. You strive to play a complete game.

"Our guys didn't quit, but tonight, the other team played better in other phases of the game. I liked our foul shooting (14 of 17). I liked our defense in the first half. It was the other phases we didn't do so well. Our offense was a little sloppy."

Neither team looked sharp at the top of the game, with Wright State turning the ball over four times on its first six possessions and Detroit turning it over three times the first seven times it had the ball.

Detroit's defense held the Raiders to just 17 shots in the first half, a season-low, as the Raiders turned the ball over 10 times.

The Raiders also were not good handing out assists, being credited with just six, four of them by reserve guard Jaron Taylor.

Senior forward Zach Williams, who crashed Butler for a season-high 21 points on Monday, was limited to five points, making only one of five shots. Detroit's big man, Ryvon Covile, went for nine and 11 rebounds. Detroit guards James Thues and Brandon Cotton ruined the Raiders with 21 and 20 points, respectively.

While dreams of third place are fading — although not eliminated — finishing among the top six teams is imperative for the Raiders to at least host a first-round Horizon League tournament game. Pending other Thursday night results, at least two teams are below them in the standings, but the Raiders must play two of their remaining three league games on the road.

The first of those is Wednesday at Youngstown State.

"We're still playing for a lot," Biancardi said. "Our guys don't quit. They just have bad nights."

Contact Marc Katz at 225-2157
www.daytondailynews.com/sports/content/sports/wsu/daily/0211wsubb.html

[Raiderfan]

Big D, I was thinking the same thing. We are getting hammered on the boards an I'm asking myself "where is Jordan, come on put Jordan in the game". I thought for sure PB would start him the second half but instead he keeps the human turnover machine, Everrett Spencer, in the starting lineup to start the second half. Spencers minutes dwindled down to 11 minutes and if he keeps turning the ball over they should dwindle even more.

I can't believe how this team will just go into prolonged scoring droughts! I mean they took 4 stinking SHOTS in the first 6 MINUTES OF PLAY!

If I'm and opposing coach I would press this team from start to finish and apply in your face defense on the guards and then watch our offense come to a grinding halt.

Frustrating...........big time frustrating.

[ggwsu]

What concerns me is that two season's in a row now we have gotten progessively worst the second time through the League. With five home games in the second half we were primed to make a serouis run at one of the top three seeds in the Horizon League but now we will be fighting just to host a first round game. Like others have mentioned on this board we can't use youth as and all inclusive excuse because many of the teams we are losing too ( Loyola - one senoir, Detroit - one senoir, UWM - one senoir starter, CSU - one senoir......) are young as well. Next year when we have a total of five upper classmen (Jaron, Zakee, Dashaun, Drew, Walt) plus one player who started every game (Spencer) and another who averaged over 17 minutes per game (Plieman) can we use youth as a "crutch"? I say no.

Does this bother anyone else, whenever a team plays aggressive defense against us, I mean they are right up in our shorts we never "back door" them. Last night Ramey kept saying that Detroit was denying the passing lanes, well one way to stop them from over playing defensively is to have the guard cut to the basket (back door cut) for easy looks. Instead we seem content to struggle just to move the ball around the perimeter.

I don't blame our lack of offense last night on Zach or Jordan because if the guards are not feeding the post their is not much those two guys can do.

Is it just me or does Everett turn the ball over three too four times within the first couple of minutes GAME AFTER GAME? I personally would start Jordan instead of Spencer.

Did we have anything that resembled an interior defense last night? How many offensive rebounds did Detroit put back in for EASY baskets?

I too very much appreciate Jon Ramey's brutal honesty!

Honestly, I don't see us winning any more games this year. I surely don't see us winning a road game and both our home games will be difficult as well. We most definitely have regressed as a team which is a HUGE CONCERN for all involved in the WSU program.

Go Raiders!!