Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
When coach Scott Nagy pulled his players together at their pre-game practice Wednesday, he had a message for how he wanted them to play against undersized and undermanned Southern.
“I told the team, ‘Our two ‘bigs,’ Grant and James, need to score 45 points for us, which means we need to throw the ball in … throw the ball in … throw the ball in,’” Nagy said, referring to Grant Basile and James Manns.
“I forgot all about that until Sharif (assistant Sharif Chambliss) reminded me after the game. It’s a credit to the players, knowing where we wanted to go with the ball, knowing we had an advantage. We did a really nice job of throwing it to the post all night.”
Manns, a 6-foot-7 third-year sophomore, had 26 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes, while Basile, a 6-9 redshirt freshman, had 23 points and seven boards in 22 minutes in an 85-62 win before 3,012 fans Thursday.
Manns has become the Vinnie “Microwave” Johnson of the Raiders with his instant offense. He had 13 points in 12 minutes in the team’s previous game against Indiana State.
“He can score and he can score fast. Some guys just have a knack for that, and he does,” Nagy said.
Manns, who became the back-up center to Basile with star Loudon Love out with an elbow injury, made 10 of 16 shots and 6 of 6 free throws.
