Ilija Milijasevic Hits Five 3s as Wright State Pulls Away From Samford 90-66

HOMEWOOD, Ala. Eleven minutes into Friday night, Samford had Wright State exactly where it wanted the Raiders: down nine, chasing, and looking every bit like a team playing its second road game in four days. Then Ilija Milijasevic started letting it fly, the Raiders turned the paint into a toll road, and a game that was tied with three and a half minutes left in the first half finished as a 90-66 rout at the Pete Hanna Center.

Milijasevic scored 17 points off the bench on 6 of 12 shooting, made 5 of 9 from 3 and added eight rebounds, three assists and three steals in 28 minutes. Kellen Pickett had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Andrea Holden scored 14 on 7 of 11 shooting. Samford got 15 points from Will Shaver on 7 of 8 shooting, but nobody else reached double figures except Cooper Noard, who needed 13 shots to get 10.

Wright State is 4-0. Samford falls to 1-2.

Samford Lands the First Punch

Samford attacked the rim early and often, and Shaver was the problem. The Bulldogs' center scored on three layups in the first five minutes, and Noard's driving layup at 15:49 gave Samford a 9-7 lead it would hold for most of the half.

The Bulldogs stretched it with a 9-2 burst midway through. Najimi George buried a 3 at 13:23, Brandon Fussell finished a layup, George added a free throw and Noard converted a three-point play at 9:19 that made it 22-13. That was Samford's largest lead of the night, and the home team was winning the scramble plays.

Wright State's answer came from the second unit. Milijasevic hit a 3 off a Chadlyn Traylor feed at 8:55, Holden scored inside and Pickett hit a jumper at 7:17, a 7-0 run that cut it to 22-20 in about two minutes.

The Tie, the Lead and the Run That Bridged Halftime

The next five minutes were a trade. Isaiah Campbell-Finch twice scored on drives, Noard added another layup, and Ty Davis' driving layup at 3:57 put Samford up 30-27. It was the last time the Bulldogs led.

Terrence Hayes Jr. tied it with a 3 off a Pickett assist at 3:31. Isaiah Williams made two free throws to put Wright State in front at 2:47, and CJ O'Hara's 3 at 2:17 made it 35-30. Shaver answered with a dunk and Davis with a layup to keep Samford within a point, but the Raiders closed the half the way good teams do. Hayes scored on a drive at 1:04, and Milijasevic pulled up from deep with 28 seconds left for a 40-34 halftime lead.

Then the second half started and Samford never caught its breath. Holden opened with a jumper 16 seconds in, and Milijasevic hit another 3 at 18:59. Counting the end of the first half, that was a 10-0 run. Pickett went to the line twice, Traylor finished a layup, and Pickett's 3 at 16:25 made it 54-37. Wright State outscored Samford 14-3 in the first 3:35 after the break, and the game had flipped from a one-possession fight to a 17-point lead.

Milijasevic and Pickett Close the Door

George hit a 3 at 16:02 and Shaver scored at the line and inside to keep the margin around 15. But every time the Bulldogs found a bucket, Wright State answered with one that hurt more.

The sequence that ended it ran through Pickett's hands. At 11:55, Pickett found Milijasevic for a 3 and a 67-49 lead. At 11:21, Pickett set up O'Hara for a layup that pushed the margin to 20. After Cade Norris hit a 3, Pickett found Milijasevic again at 10:10, and the fifth 3 of the night made it 72-52. Pickett's hook at 9:23 and another assist to O'Hara at 8:40 made it 76-53. All four of Pickett's second-half assists came in that stretch.

Samford's best push of the half came late and far too small. Davis and Shaver scored on back-to-back possessions and Campbell-Finch made two free throws, a 6-0 run that cut it to 78-61 with 5:39 left. Traylor responded with two free throws and a jumper, and Holden, Hayes and PJ Douglas finished it off. Douglas' jumper with 27 seconds left made it 90-66, the largest lead of the game.

Inside the Numbers

The shooting gap tells most of the story. Wright State made 36 of 63 shots (57.1 percent), including 20 of 32 in the second half, and 9 of 18 from 3. Samford made 23 of 59 (39.0 percent) and only 5 of 26 from 3. The Bulldogs went 2 of 14 from deep in the first half and 8 of 26 from the field after the break. Noard was 1 of 7 from 3, Davis 0 of 4, Campbell-Finch 0 of 3 and Miller 0 of 3.

The paint was just as lopsided. Wright State scored 52 points inside to Samford's 36, won the rebounding battle 39-28 and grabbed 30 defensive rebounds, which mattered because Samford missed so many 3s. The Raiders also had 13 second-chance points to Samford's six. On 69 possessions apiece, Wright State scored about 1.30 points per trip, and Samford managed under one.

Samford did win a few categories. The Bulldogs scored nine points off 12 Wright State turnovers while the Raiders scored five off Samford's 10, Samford had a 9-8 edge in fast-break points, and the Bulldogs made 15 of 21 free throws to Wright State's 9 of 10.

Wright State's reserves outscored Samford's 39-16. Milijasevic had 17, Hayes went 4 of 5 for nine, Noah Lewis had five points, three assists and two steals, and Williams and Douglas added four apiece. The Raiders had 17 assists on 36 field goals.

Who Showed Up for Each Side

Milijasevic was the swing piece. The 3s came at the right times: one to start the comeback from 22-13, one to close the half, one early in the second-half run, and two more during the decisive stretch.

Pickett was only 5 of 11 from the floor, but the 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals in 33 minutes were the work of a player running the offense. Pickett was 4 of 4 at the line and made the plays that turned a 15-point lead into a 20-point lead. Holden added 14 points and seven rebounds, O'Hara went 4 of 6 for nine, and Traylor finished with eight points and four assists.

For Samford, Shaver was terrific inside, 7 of 8 from the floor with four rebounds, two assists and three blocks in 25 minutes. Norris grabbed eight rebounds and scored seven, Davis and Campbell-Finch had nine apiece, and George went 2 for 2 from 3 off the bench. Noard played a team-high 32 minutes and finished 4 of 13.

What It Means

For Wright State, this was another box checked. The Raiders have now won by 31, by 26, by eight at Toledo and by 24 in the Birmingham area, and two of those came away from the Nutter Center. On a night when Holden, coming off Horizon League Player of the Week honors, was steady rather than spectacular, Milijasevic and the reserves carried the scoring load.

The first 20 minutes are the part worth watching. Samford pushed the Raiders around for most of the first half, and Wright State gave up 34 first-half points on 45 percent shooting. Better teams on the schedule will not miss 21 of 26 3s. For now, though, the response is what stands out. Down nine on the road, the Raiders went 7-0, closed the half 13-4 from a 30-27 deficit and outscored Samford 50-32 after the break. If you want to read the Toledo win alongside this one, the outline is familiar: an early deficit, then a second-half avalanche.

Samford has now dropped two straight after its opening win over Berry and a loss at UNLV. Shaver gives the Bulldogs a real interior weapon, but 5 of 26 from deep will not survive many nights.

Wright State returns home to the Nutter Center to face Malone on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7:30 p.m. Samford visits USC Upstate the same night. The full numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab) and Wright State's game center (opens in a new tab).

Sources: Wright State Athletics box score, live stats and game center, Samford Athletics, CBS Sports. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

This one was settled by the margins that do not show up on a highlight reel: defensive rebounds, extra passes, a bench that kept coming. Samford had its moments, but Wright State had answers, and right now the Raiders look like a team that can win more than one way.

Photo: Dylan Aguilar/Undrafted (file photo from March 19, 2026, NCAA Tournament vs. Virginia; Wright State wore the same black uniforms at Samford).