“My mom told me (Monday) night there were 33 people coming,” Custer said. “And I know a bunch of my friends that go to UC are coming, too, so it should be around 50.”
The timing couldn’t be better for Custer.
Not only is he coming off his best game of the season in which he set or tied career highs in points (seven), steals (three) and blocks (one) in Saturday's 74-68 double-overtime win at Cleveland State, but his 6-foot-7, 235-pound frame means he's likely to see more action than usual against a Norse squad that features a pair of strong post players.
“We have to play bigger against them because they’re much more physical and they throw the ball inside more,” WSU coach Scott Nagy said. “(Custer) is one of the three guys we have that you can consider a true 4 or 5.”
In the teams' first meeting, an 83-79 NKU winat the Nutter Center on Feb. 4, Custer played 12 minutes.
Saturday at CSU, Custer logged 17 minutes, the most he’s had in a Horizon League game and one shy of the career-high 18 he played in a 77-62 win at Murray State on Dec. 22.
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The Raiders rallied from a double-digit hole against the Vikings, and it was a Custer 3-pointer with 3:02 left in the first half that sliced the deficit from 12 to nine and started the comeback.
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“It was good to see some shots drop because I haven’t been shooting the ball well lately,” he said. “But I’ve been getting in the gym a little more and getting my confidence back.”
The Elder High School product is averaging 1.8 points, 1.2 rebounds in 8.5 minutes per game.
“If you just look at his statistics, you wouldn’t get a good feel for how good of a player he is,” Nagy said. “That can be normal for a freshman. His 3-point shooting has not been good, but we know he’s a good shooter, so we continue to ask him to shoot the ball.
“He made a big shot in that Cleveland State game when we were kind of flailing there in the first half, and that got us going again and got us back in the game,” Nagy added.
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Custer also came up with three of the team’s nine steals, the last of which led to a Grant Benzinger 3-pointer that got the Raiders within 42-41 and started a 6-0 run.
“I was a little shocked about that when I looked at the boxscore,” Custer said of his steals total. “When you’re running around, being aggressive, I guess that’s what will happen.”
After starting the season 5 of 27 from 3-point range, Custer has made his last two. And he’s shooting 50 percent overall in his last six games.
“I’m not going into this game expecting anything,” he said. “If I’m in there, I’m in there. Whatever is best for the team.”
WSU will be going after its fifth consecutive win and fourth straight on the road as it tries to keep pace with the teams atop the HL standings. The Raiders enter the night tied with Wisconsin-Green Bay for third place, one game behind Oakland two behind Valparaiso.
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