Wright State Basketball: 2017-2018 season preview

The Wright State Raiders have been one of the better teams in the Horizon League for a few seasons in a row now.

The Wright State Raiders always seem to play everyone tough and grind out wins. They are well coached, well prepared, and know how to win. Every team that takes the floor year in and year out, no matter how experienced they seem to be, must learn how to win. Wright State is going to playing with a few fewer cards going into the season this year.

The Raiders leading scorer Mark Alstork has decided to transfer. Wright State has had some extra roster turnover due to graduation, so they are going to have to replace a few starters from last year’s team. The currently assembled Raiders may take a little longer to gel together and learn how to win. One thing is for certain, head coach Scott Nagy and his coaching staff will have the Raiders prepared to play each night, and the Raiders will probably be playing their best basketball at the end of the season.

Projected Starters

Justin Mitchell- Senior

Mitchell is a deceptive player for his size. He is a returning starter for the Raiders, as he averaged 11 points per game last year. The Raiders are going to need Mitchell to have a better year on offense this year if they hope to repeat their success of the past years. Mitchell is a good at getting to the rim and scoring. He is not a good shooter from three and not a good free throw shooter. Mitchell is also a very good rebounder, as he was second in the league last year in overall rebounding at eight per contest. Mitchell is the point guard and the leader of the offense and will need to be able to do a little bit more on offense this year if he hopes to really take Wright State where they can go.

Grant Benzinger- Senior

Benzinger is the best shooter on the team. He started every game last year and contributed 12 points per game last year. Benzinger is the leading scorer on this team and will need to be the leading scorer for this team again. Benzinger shot 42% from the three-point line a year ago. When Benzinger is on offense he is going to be the player who has the green light on almost every possession to let it fly. Benzinger and Mitchell are the Senior starters and are going to have to guide this team to wins. Benzinger is a guy who Wright State looks to get the ball to when trying to close out a game. Benzinger is almost a 90% free throw shooter, but he didn’t get fouled much.  Coach Nagy would like to see Benzinger become more aggressive and get to the line with a greater frequency.

Parker Ernsthausen- Junior

Raider fans will be happy when Ernsthausen gets his expected uptick in minutes this year. Ernsthausen is an old-school big man who does all of his work in the low post. Ernsthausen played 18 minutes a game last year and when getting into the game was productive. With the expected uptick in minutes, Wright State should better be able to utilize Ernsthausen’s size and run more pick and roll, making sure to give Ernsthausen the ball for the easy baskets.  Ernsthausen is also a pretty good free throw shooter for his size. If he will get a few more minutes per game he will hopefully be able to draw fouls more often and help his team at the line. Ernsthausen could be in for a breakout year.

Mark Hughes- Junior

Hughes, much like Ernsthausen, should see an uptick in minutes this year. Hughes was a starter for the Raiders his freshman year and last year came off the bench. Hughes is not much of a threat on the offensive side of the ball, but he is a good defender and will provide value to the Raiders on the defensive side of the ball. If Hughes wants to be successful and get more minutes he will drastically need to improve his free throw shooting. He shoots free throws at a career 62% clip after shooting them at a dreadful 53% clip a year ago — albeit he only shot 19 of them. Any offense Hughes brings to the Raiders is to Wright State’s advantage. The Raiders don’t expect him to score, but they do expect him to play defense and not make critical mistakes. If he can do that and improve from the free-throw line, Hughes will be a huge help to this team.

Ryan Custer- Sophomore

Custer played in 31 games for the Raiders a year ago, but only averaged about 10 minutes of playing time. It remains to be seen what type of an impact Custer will have for the Raiders. When he did play last year he did not do a whole lot and was not known to stuff a stat sheet. Last year, he was a true Freshman and was still adjusting to the speed of the college game. Custer is long and athletic and showed some flashes of being a good player in this league. It will be a nice story to watch and see in what ways the Raiders coaches utilize Custer.