One day before Thanksgiving, there’s a lot the Wright State men’s basketball team has to be thankful for: a 3-0 record, outstanding play by freshman J.T. Yoho and an exciting slate of basketball in the days ahead.

For the third time in this young season, the Raiders head west, and after tonight’s game, they’ll have played in four different time zones: Pacific, Central, Eastern and Mountain in that order. Wright State faces Central Michigan (1-1) at 6 p.m. today in the first game of the Utah Thanksgiving Tournament in Salt Lake City.

The Raiders play Idaho State (0-2) at 9:45 p.m. Friday and finish with the host school, Utah (1-1), at 9:30 p.m. Saturday. They get Thanksgiving off to eat like the rest of America.

“We’re going to have some families out here, and we’ll have a nice dinner on Thursday,” coach Billy Donlon said. “Certainly, we’ll have a better Thanksgiving if we win (today). We’ll make sure the guys enjoy themselves.”

So far this season, the Raiders have done just that by beating Idaho, Eastern Illinois and North Carolina A&T for their first 3-0 start since the 2002-03 season. They started 4-0 that season.

“We’ve done a lot of positive things,” Donlon said. “I like what we have. I like our guys. They’re competing and still trying to learn the system. We’ve got to correct some things offensively.”

Donlon can’t wait to see the team at full strength, but the wait continues. Junior forward Cole Darling will make the trip to Utah, but he won’t play in the three games as he recovers from an injury suffered at Eastern Illinois on Nov. 13. Donlon expects him back for the home game against Manhattan on Dec. 1.

That will hurt Wright State’s depth, and it needs all the help it can get with three games in four days.

“That’s impacted us,” Donlon said. “It’s bad in a lot of ways. He was playing really well, and now he’ll have missed four games. He’s being evaluated every day.”

The Raiders managed to win Friday without Darling. Others stepped up, including newcomer Miles Dixon, a 6-foot-1 junior guard from Blinn Community College in Texas. He had a total of nine points in the first game, but scored 14 points in 30 minutes in the 56-44 victory over North Carolina A&T.

“I was really happy with Miles,” Donlon said, “not just because he scored. He had 4 rebounds and 4 assists. That’s one thing I’ve been trying to preach. He’s got to be a guy who fills up the stat sheet. He’s blessed with intelligence. He was defining himself too much about scoring and not all the other things.”

Nobody has had a bigger impact than Yoho so far. The 6-6 forward from Solsberry, Ind., was named Horizon League Newcomer of the Week after scoring 29 points in the two games on 9-of-12 shooting with 13 rebounds.

Yoho is no longer a secret weapon, so it will be interesting to see how the teams in Utah defend him.

“People are going to guard him a little different at times,” Donlon said. “It’ll be our challenge to keep him involved and get him shots.”