Men's Basketball Weekend Preview: Rise of the Raiders

Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Jan. 11)

Men's Basketball Weekend Schedule
Friday, Jan. 11
Wright State at Loyola -- 9 p.m., ESPNU
Saturday, Jan. 12
Valparaiso at Milwaukee -- 2 p.m., ESPN3
UIC at Green Bay -- 3 p.m., HLN
Detroit at Cleveland State -- 3:30 p.m., HLN

INDIANAPOLIS -- A week ago, it would have been hard to argue against either Chicago team being the biggest surprise in Horizon League men's basketball.

Now, however, Loyola and UIC have both lost a home conference game. Wright State, meanwhile, is 3-0 and atop the Horizon League standings despite being picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll.

But don't tell head coach Billy Donlon that his team is a surprise.

“I say this respectfully, but I’m the coach. [The media] aren’t with my kids every day," Donlon told HorizonLeague.com on Thursday. "I think [the media] look at last year as a totality and [they] don’t look at it under the microscope like coaches do. Last year we lost six conference games in the last minute. Yes, they’re all losses, but when you look at it that way, you say, ‘We were very close last season in late-possession games; why are we ninth?’"

Donlon said that if he were the one laying out the preseason standings, he would have put Valparaiso first and Detroit second (or perhaps vice-versa) and then the rest of the Horizon League in a seven-way tie for third place.

Oh, and also don't tell Donlon that his team is off to a hot start.

“All we did was win three home games," Donlon said. "If you look at the conference games so far, you’ll see that there haven’t been many blowouts. Most games have come down to the last three or four minutes, and with a few exceptions the home teams have won. With the way the schedule worked out, we had to [win at home] to have any chance.”

A testament to the chemistry at Wright State, Donlon's players have the same feelings as their coach about both their preseason ranking and their success so far.

“First, I don’t think championships are won on paper. And two, I don’t think we’ve proven anything yet," sophomore point guard Reggie Arceneaux said. "We’re just three games into the conference schedule and we just handled what we needed to handle, which was win our home games.”

"To even give yourself a chance to win the Horizon League you’ve got to win the home games," junior Cole Darling added. "So far, we’ve done that. But the real test is going on the road and playing in someone else’s gym.”

Tonight, the Raiders get their first chance to make a real statement in Horizon League play, traveling to Loyola to face a Ramblers team that is coming off bacl-to-back losses despite having picked up a win on the road against preseason favorite Valparaiso on the opening night of conference play. Just two nights ago, the Ramblers were handed a surprising double-digit loss in Green Bay.

“Going on the road to Green Bay, they were humbled a little bit," Donlon said. "And that can happen to any of us. You can get humbled on the road if you’re not completely ready. The thing about us and Loyola is, I believe we are carbon copies of each other. We run a very similar-style offense [and] we both try to play physically defensively. [Loyola head coach] Porter [Moser] does a great job.”

Again, Donlon's players echoed his sentiments.

“They’re a very tough team this year," Darling said of the Ramblers. "They’ve been playing very well. We’re pretty much carbon copies of each other; we run a lot of the same plays.”

It's obvious that this team is like-minded in every way, from top the bottom. But without any seniors, how did the Raiders develop such a strong team bond?

“It was hard at first. We had a lot of arguments in practice," Darling said. "But I feel like those arguments made us better because then we started listening to each other. By having a lot of tough practices early in the year, it really threw us into that fire and that brought us closer together, having to fight through that adversity. And off the court, we try to spend a lot of time together, getting to know everybody and really trying to make this a family. I feel like we’ve done that.”

Donlon noted that the absence of a senior class this year forced his team to grow together quickly. After all, Wright State was in line for senior leadership before a couple of players left the program during the offseason -- most notably, Julius Mays, who is now at Kentucky.

"I think that built the bond of togetherness for our players," Donlon said of Mays' departure. "We do have a good chemistry. And winning helps, you know, the fact that we won some games early – it builds confidence.”

Donlon also pointed out that despite not having any seniors, his starters have plenty of experience. Arceneaux started every game of his freshman year, Darling is a three-year starter and Matt Vest would have been if not for injuries his freshman and sophomore years.

Drawing from that chemistry and experience, the Raiders are looking to prove they belong atop the Horizon League with a win at Loyola -- but they also know it won't be easy.

“We have to play our A-game defensively to have any chance to win on the road. And you’ve got to make some shots on the road," Donlon said. "Against Cleveland State, we missed four or five layups in the second half. At home, you can do that and still have a chance to win. On the road, if you have easy opportunities to finish plays then you’ve got to finish them.”

Tonight's Wright State-Loyola matchup tips off at 9 p.m. EST and can been seen on ESPNU.

On Saturday, three Horizon League matchups create a busy mid-afternoon.

First, at 2 p.m., Valparaiso visits Milwaukee in the Horizon League Network Game of the Week, which also airs on ESPN Full Court/ESPN3. After a commanding win at UIC, the Crusaders are in search of another Horizon League road win during a three-game swing away from the ARC. As Donlon had pointed out, Valpo head coach Bryce Drew noted that a lot of conference games will come down to the final minutes or even the final possession.

“A lot’s going to matter in those last few minutes, who gets a loose ball or who gets a ball to roll in. The games are going to come down to such a small margin," Drew told the Post-Tribune. "Sometimes it’s hard to determine who’s going to get those breaks at the end. A team could be 5-0 or 1-4 and play very well. It’s just a matter of a couple plays or baskets making you 5-0 or 1-4. You could still play very well in both scenarios.”

An hour after Valpo tips off against the Panthers, UIC faces a tough road test at Green Bay -- the game was originally scheduled for primetime but has been moved up so as to not conflict with the Green Bay Packers playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers. As mentioned earlier, the Phoenix picked up a big win against visiting Loyola on Thursday night and will look to improve to 8-1 at the Kress Center this season. The Flames, meanwhile, are coming off a tough loss at home against Valpo.

In Saturday's final matchup, Detroit completes a quick road trip to Ohio with a 3:30 p.m. tip at Cleveland State. The Titans shocked Youngstown State on Thursday night, pouring in 101 points in a rout. From horizonleague.com's Bill Potter:

Picked to finish second in the Horizon League preseason poll, Detroit displayed the form that carried th program to the 2012 League championship on Thursday night, coming in a 101-60 defeat of Youngstown State.

In what head coach Ray McCallum labeled as the most complete game his team has played since he arrived five years ago, Detroit's +0.52 effeciency margin (scoring 1.27 point per possession and holding Youngstown State to 0.75 ppp) was the second-largest in the Horizon League this season.

The 101 points marked the first time since UIC outscored Milwaukee 102-92 at the Pavilion on Jan. 9, 2003, that a Horizon League team scored 100-plus on a conference member.

All three games can be seen for free on HLN.

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