Win vs. UIC caps special weekend for Nagy family

The timing couldn’t have been better for Dick Nagy to return to the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Nagy would have been on campus this weekend even if his son and Wright State coach Scott Nagy wouldn’t have been leading the Raiders against the Flames.

Dick spent five years as a UIC assistant coach from 1996-2001, and the 1997-98 team was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s WSU-UIC game.

“It brings back a lot of memories being here, it’s just weird being in the stands,” Dick said prior to the Raiders’ 88-86 win.

The 1997-98 Flames team was the school’s first to make the NCAA tournament while also setting program records for conference wins, going 12-2 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference under Jimmy Collins, whom Dick had coached with at Illinois before moving on to UIC.

“That team was terrific,” Dick said. “We were a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament. It was just a great team that played together, totally unselfish. On paper we looked pretty good, but when we played we were very good.”

Scott Nagy grew up two hours south in Champaign, Ill., while Dick was coaching the Illini for 17 seasons.

“I had about 15 family members here,” Scott said after the game. “This is kind of our area.”

Titanic thanks: The Detroit Titans got their fifth win of the year with a 93-92 upset of Wisconsin-Green Bay on Sunday that moved Wright State within a half game of the second-place Phoenix.

“That was big for us,” Nagy said. “Green Bay lost, so we’re just (a half game) out of second place. We have eight games left with five of them at home. To be 6-4 right now, we’re sitting in a good spot. This was a big one for us.”

Cancer cause: The Wright State and UIC coaching staffs wore tennis shoes Sunday as part of Suits and Sneakers week, which is a collaboration between the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society.

For most coaches, the program has special meaning as they honor the memory of someone close they lost to the disease. But WSU’s’ Scott Nagy said he has been fortunate in that regard.

“Nobody I’ve ever been close to has died from cancer,” Nagy said. “I’ve known people, but no one I’ve been really close to has passed away from it. Now I have people who are close to me who have had cancer and have beaten it, so it doesn’t quite hit as close to home for me as it does for some coaches.”

Since 1993, coaches have raised more than $100 million the American Cancer Society.

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