Wright State, which is able to face top-seeded Arizona on Friday night in San Diego, misplaced seven of its first 9 video games this season. That, by far, was simpler than the opposite losses the group has confronted.
Coach Scott Nagy’s father, Dick, died final fall. Then, simply after the season began, one of many brothers in a household Scott Nagy lived with in highschool additionally died.
“I misplaced my dad and, actually, considered one of my brothers in a couple of month’s interval,” Nagy mentioned. “And we obtained off to a horrible begin. And I wasn’t in an excellent spot emotionally, mentally, spiritually. And so I wasn’t a lot assist once we obtained off to that dangerous begin.”
Dick Nagy coached for 33 years, together with 17 as an assistant to the Illinois coach Lou Henson. His grandson T.J. Nagy, Scott Nagy’s son, is a junior guard at Wright State, which is close to Dayton, Ohio.
There was extra unhappy information. In late January, middle A.J. Braun’s father died unexpectedly. Beginning guard Tanner Holden misplaced a grandfather through the season, and redshirt senior James Manns misplaced a grandmother. The daddy of one of many Raiders’ recruits from Ohio died round Thanksgiving, Nagy mentioned.
The Raiders adopted the motto “Brotherhood Over Basketball,” and the still-raw feelings spilled out once they clinched an computerized N.C.A.A. event berth by edging Northern Kentucky, 72-71, within the Horizon League event championship sport.
“You go round to a number of the dad and mom and simply see the crying,” Scott Nagy mentioned.
The Raiders beat Bryant, 93-82, in a play-in sport on Wednesday in Dayton to earn the fitting to face Arizona as a No. 16 seed.