The 2023–24 Wright State Raiders men's basketball team represented Wright State University in the 2023–24 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Raiders, led by eighth-year head coach Scott Nagy, played their home games at the Nutter Center in Fairborn, Ohio (with a Dayton mailing address) as members of the Horizon League.
Season summary 2023-24 began with high expectations. The return of star shooting guard Tanner Holden to the team alongside point guard Trey Calvin put two eventual 2,000 point scorers in the starting lineup. Brandon Noel returned at power forward following his Horizon League Freshman of the Year season, and junior AJ Braun returned for his third year as starting center. Veterans Andrew Welage and Alex Huibregtse rounded out the main rotation. The only unexpected loss was the physical reserve forward Blake Sisley, who left basketball to concentrate on school.
Funny things happen with expectations, and reality came crashing down as the season began with a 28-point thrashing by fellow mid-major Colorado State, followed by losses to Toledo and Indiana. The remainder of the non-conference schedule was a middling win-one/ lose-one slog.
The Raiders began the Horizon League season in a hole with road losses both to surprising Green Bay and to Milwaukee. When the season might have been salvaged, a tired team fell apart down the stretch at Youngstown. The home court became anything but an advantage with shocking home losses to Green Bay, Youngstown State, Oakland and Purdue Fort Wayne. The season ended with an overtime home loss to rival Northern Kentucky, a rematch just five days after an emotional win on the same court.
For the season, the Raiders led the nation (363 teams) in shooting percentage (53%) and were top 5 in points per game (86.5). Center AJ Braun led the nation in individual shooting percentage (68.9%), but finished 341st in defensive efficiency.
The individual stats followed the team stats as all five starters averaged double-digits, including guard Alex Huibregtse who had a breakout year. Redshirt Freshmen Logan Woods, Kaden Brown and Drey Carter all logged productive minutes off the bench. Andrew Welage’s season was hampered by injuries and illness, but he gave all he had and had a standout game against Indiana.
Aftermath After the season of high expectations concluded with an opening game home tournament loss, Wright State said good-bye to star guards Trey Calvin and Tanner Holden, as expected. Andrew Welage also hung up his sneakers and graduated. Center AJ Braun decided to test the transfer portal with his impressive stats, and head coach Scott Nagy disappeared to Southern Illinois in a cloud of private-jet smoke.
Previous season The Raiders finished the 2022–23 season 18–15, 10–10 in Horizon League play to finish tied for sixth place. As the No. 7 seed, they defeated Green Bay, before losing in the quarter finals to No. 2 seed Milwaukee.
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=| Regular season
!colspan=9 style=| Horizon League tournament
Sources
Awards and honors Trey Calvin First Team All Horizon League Brandon Noel Second Team All Horizon League Tanner Holden Third Team All Horizon League
Statistics Number Name Games Average Points Assists Rebounds 1 Trey Calvin 31 19.6 607 131 74 1 Tanner Holden 32 16.3 522 115 205 14 Brandon Noel 31 14.5 451 50 248 3 Alex Huibregtse 32 12.3 392 107 122 12 AJ Braun 32 12.0 383 29 199 22 Andrew Welage 26 5.1 132 33 44 2 Drey Carter 32 4.2 133 18 51 30 Kaden Brown 29 2.3 66 26 23 21 Logan Woods 27 2.3 61 19 32 5 Bo Myers 10 2.0 61 19 32 15 Braden Grant 3 0.0 61 19 32 Source
References