Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Loudon Love’s biggest critic may be coach Scott Nagy.
Love also probably has no bigger fan.
The sophomore center showed why he’s a first-team All-Horizon League pick this season with a 13-point, nine-rebound effort in Wright State’s 71-56 win over IUPUI in the conference quarterfinals before 4,936 fans Tuesday.
He reached double figures for the 18th straight game as the top-seeded Raiders (20-12) built leads of 19 points in the first half and 31 after halftime. They’ll play Green Bay (17-15) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Monday at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena.
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“He knows I’m always after him, never think he’s doing enough,” Nagy said. “It’s hard because — and I’ve talked to him about this a lot — I don’t want to make him feel like a disappointment. But there’s always more I feel like he could be doing. I’m always pushing him toward that.”
Love, who averages 15.5 points and 8.1 rebounds, may never be a prolific scorer because he attracts so much attention from defenses. And those double-teams are sometimes troublesome for the 6-foot-9, 280-pound bruiser, who had five turnovers against the Jaguars (16-16) and has a team-high 75 this season.
But his presence inside also means his teammates usually are able to thrive. Junior wing Bill Wampler had a game-high 18 points, going 4 of 6 on 3-pointers.
“A guy like Bill gets a lot of shots because teams have to worry so much about Loudon. He’s a good guy to play with if you’re a guard who can shoot,” Nagy said.
IUPUI coach Jason Gardner knew he was facing a quandary with Love after having lost twice to the Raiders this season.
