Where: JQH Arena
TV/Radio: ESPN3/106.5-FM
Series: First meeting
Coaches: Scott Nagy is 26-16 in his second season at Wright State and 436-256 in 23 years overall. Paul Lusk is 97-109 in his seventh season at Missouri State after working as an assistant at Purdue.
»RELATED: Midseason lineup addition a winner for Wright St.
»PHOTOS: Wright State tops Toledo
Probable Wright State starters
Parker Ernsthausen;6-11;Jr.;C;4.7
Justin Mitchell;6-4;Sr.;G;10.5
Mark Hughes;6-4;Jr.;G;10.0
Louden Love;6-9;Fr.;C;9.6
Grant Benzinger;6-3;Sr.;G;14.3
Probable Missouri State starters
Obediah Church;6-7;Jr.;F;6.4
Jarrid Rhodes;6-6;Sr.;F;8.9
Alize Johnson;6-9;Sr.;F;14.2
Jarred Dixon;6-4;Jr.;G;7.8
J.T. Miller;6-2;Sr.;G;9.8
About Wright State: The Raiders are coming off a 77-69 win at Toledo for their first road win of the season in four tries. Their defense was strong again, forcing 18 turnovers and holding the Rockets to 40.6-percent shooting. … Benzinger is 10th in the Horizon League in scoring, but they've been balanced offensively, which means opponents can't focus on just one player. Everett Winchester is averaging 9.7 points and Jaylon Hall 9.2 off the bench. … They're going straight from Missouri State to their game Friday at Georgia Tech. Nagy said he prefers to play road games near the holidays because crowds are more docile with students on Christmas break. They were fairly tough in opposing arenas last season, going 8-7 to match their best road record since joining Division I in 1987-88. … This is their second game against a Missouri Valley Conference team. They dropped an 84-80 decision in their season-opener at Loyola, which has an upset win over No. 5 Florida on the road. … The Raiders have a good rebound margin at plus-3.0 per game, but Missouri State is 19th nationally at plus-9.3 per game.
About Missouri State: The Bears were picked as the preseason favorite in the Missouri Valley Conference, garnering 30 of a possible 40 first-place votes in a poll of coaches, media and sports information directors. It's the first time since joining the league in 1990-91 that they were picked first. Northern Iowa and Loyola (Ill.) finished second and third in the poll. … Johnson, the only returning All-MVC selection, was named preseason player of the year. He was a national junior college All-American and was the league newcomer of the year last season. … The Bears haven't played since Sunday, Dec. 10. They had a seven-game winning streak snapped in a 73-66 loss at Oral Roberts in their last outing. … Their only other losses were at Kansas State (78-62) and at North Dakota State (57-54). … They have one common foe with Wright State, winning at Western Kentucky, 85-80, while the Raiders lost at WKU, 78-60. … They won NAIA national titles in 1952 and '53 and were NCAA Division-II national runner-ups four times before joining Division I in 1982-83. They've been to the NCAA tourney six times, including a Sweet 16 appearances under coach Steve Alford in 1999 when they were known as Southwest Missouri State. They won the 2010 CIT tourney. … The Bears have drawn an average of 4,574 fans to the 11,000-seat JQH Arena.
Coming up: The Raiders have one more non-conference game before getting into league play, visiting Georgia Tech at 9 p.m. Friday. After a break for Christmas, they host UIC at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 28, and IUPUI at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 30.
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