Tom Archdeacon: Benzinger’s ‘selfish’ play lifts Wright State

Toward the end of the second half, he said one thought just kept popping up in his mind:

“Gimme that ball!”

“I actually think I was being a little selfish,” Grant Benzinger admitted. “I stole a couple of rebounds from Justin Mitchell. I feel bad now, stealing rebounds from my teammate, but I was just so locked in.

“I just kept thinking, ‘Gimme that! Gimme that ball!’ ”

Thursday night against Wisconsin-Milwaukee at the Nutter Center, Wright State’s 6-foot-3 junior guard rebounded like never before in his life.

He stole boards from his teammates.

He ripped a rebound right out of the hands of Milwaukee’s 6-foot-9, 225-pound Brett Prahl in the first half. In the second half, when a ball caromed long off the rim, just grazing his fingertips, Benzinger dived Pete Rose-style after it as it skittered toward the sidelines and out of bounds.

He came up holding his elbow, which is nothing new. He wears protective sleeves on both elbows because he bangs them up so much with his kamikaze style.

His “Gimme the ball!” attitude against the Panthers paid off as he scored 21 points and pulled down a whopping 19 rebounds in Wright State’s 76-65 victory.

He said he had never had more than 10 rebounds before in a college or high school game.

And when he first saw the box score, he whispered profane surprise to a teammate: “What the —!”

He was still a bit giddy in the postgame press conference when he tried to explain what had just happened: “I don’t know how (it happened). Sometimes the ball just finds you. If you go every time and do your job, the basketball gods will reward you and they did tonight.”

The Raider who may have been most impressed by Benzinger’s selfishness on the boards was coach Scott Nagy:

“Grant…19 rebounds…that’s unbelievable, (especially) for really a guy that’s 6-3 and can’t touch the rim.

“He’s not a super athlete, he’d be the first to tell you that. But he’s a tough kid and rebounding is more about being tough than being an athlete.”

Nagy, who has been a college head coach 22 seasons, said this was a rarity for him:

“I can’t remember the last time I had a player get 19 rebounds and I never would have guessed it would be Grant Benzinger.

“He really chased the ball tonight even on offense. When it looked like a guy had a layup – and we missed a lot of layups tonight – he was hanging around just assuming everybody was gonna miss. That‘s what a good rebounder does.

“But still, 19 rebounds, that’s incredible.”

Benzinger said he may have had 10 rebounds a few times in high school, but in his two previous Wright State seasons he said he never had more than five or so.

This season he had 10 on two other occasions. He had 11 by the half Thursday night.

Part of this coaching staff’s emphasis is rebounding and you want to make them proud,” Benzinger said. “But it’s a way you can keep yourself on the floor, too. If I can rebound, I can stay on the floor.

“And to be truthful, rebounding feels good. Every time the ball is in your hands it feels good. Just having the ball in your hands a lot more gives you confidence.

“And I really think I wouldn’t have made the shots that I did if I hadn’t rebounded. Every part of the game gives you confidence and shooting is definitely all confidence. And tonight my shots went in.”

He made five of six 3-point attempts, including three in a two-minute span in the second half.

And yet afterward he was most proud of his rebounds. After all, he has made five of six 3-pointers before in a game.

“Absolutely, I’m most proud of the rebounds,” he said. “I brought something to the table that wasn’t just offense tonight.”

He said it was a more complete game for him.

“I think I was failing myself before because I never went to the glass,” he admitted. “It was kinda like, ‘I’ll let the big guys get it. I’ll let somebody else do it.’ When it came to rebounding, I kinda took a break.”

Not Thursday night.

This time when there was a rebound to be had, he had just one thought:

“Gimme that ball!”

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