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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > January > 29 > Entry
Flyers overcome offensive woes
Dayton had a 45-42 lead with seven minutes to go against Saint Louis, and the Flyers’ defense was playing so well that a spurt of any kind would have put the game away.
But they spent the next six minutes in a futile search for offense. It was like watching a team of archeologists going on a dig for precious artifacts equipped with nothing but metal detectors.
Marcus Johnson missed a three, London Warren committed a turnover, Rob Lowery clanked a 15-footer and Chris Wright couldn’t get a drive to fall.
Center Kurt Huelsman went scoreless on an 0-for-4 night. The Flyers’ point guards, Warren (1-for-5) and Lowery (0-for-7), had a combined three points. And UD was 0-for-11 from 3-point land.
But with the game slipping away, they notched the biggest basket of the night, executing a perfect ally-oop dunk from Johnson with 1:05 to go. But even that play was a mess at the start.
Johnson had to direct his teammates to their proper spots while Lowery dribbled outside. In the end, though, it worked.
“It was a play coach (Brian Gregory) designed to get an easy bucket,” Johnson said. “We messed it up a few times, but Rob threw it, he made a good pass, and I finished it.
“It was a big basket. We got a W. You can’t complain.”
As Gregory has often pointed out, the Flyers are a flawed team, and they were exposed again as a squad that lacks scoring punch in half-court sets. But they pulled out a 47-46 win by attacking the glass (15 offensive boards) and keeping the Billikens dribbling sideways because of some wicked defense. They’re 19-2, and if they beat St. Joe’s on Sunday, they’ll have 20 wins — on the first weekend in February. Preposterous.
“The most important thing is finding a way to win — especially in a game like that,” Wright said. “Every possession is important. We just want to grind it out. We knew going into the game that it would be a game of possessions, and we just found a way to win.”
UD looked to be taking control after grabbing a 27-22 lead (the biggest for any team all night) with an 8-0 run, but Saint Louis freshman Kwamain Mitchell buried a career-best four 3-pointers in the first half, including two in the final 65 seconds to give the Billikens a 28-27 lead at the break.
“We told our guys at halftime that we needed to do a better job on our defensive intensity, and they sure did that,” Gregory said. “We needed every defensive stop, every defensive rebound, every effort play on the offensive glass.”
UD fans may need to stock up on the nitroglycerin — these close shaves can’t be good for the heart — but the Flyers have put themselves in a great position for an NCAA tourney berth in year that wasn’t supposed to be nearly this promising, and it’ll be fun watching these final six weeks to see if they can pull it off.
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By Cole
January 30, 2009 1:27 AM | Link to this
Who cares? UD is over-rated.
By Rick
January 30, 2009 1:34 AM | Link to this
Are not, they just play to their competition. We’ll see how good they are when X comes to town. And if you don’t care, why are you reading the article.
By ChrisFlyer
January 30, 2009 7:14 AM | Link to this
Great win! Congrats for pulling this one out. Mejarus knows how to coach against Dayton. It’s a Win!
By Chris
January 30, 2009 7:34 AM | Link to this
The Flyers continue to play like this the boys from Cincy will clean there clocks both times they play!!!
By FaithfuulFlyer65
January 30, 2009 7:48 AM | Link to this
The cupcake part of the schedule is now behind them and while a 19-2 record is excellent, the Flyers were barely able to beat the 3 worst teams in the A-10 (GW, Fordham, St. Louis). From here on out we’ll see if this team really deserves to be in the big dance. With 10 regular season games left, my guess is that they’ll go 4-6.I believe they’ll need to go 6-4, unless they win the A-10 tourney, if they want to be part of March Madness.
By Flyer Fan
January 30, 2009 7:56 AM | Link to this
Great win? You are kidding right? The team that has not won a game in the Horizon League even beat STL.
By Ed
January 30, 2009 8:13 AM | Link to this
Once again the Flyers eke one out despite the Coach’s poor game strategy. PLEASE!!!! Coach Gregory, stop being so stubborn and tell KH to do nothing with the ball if he gets it except to get it to someone else as quickly as possible. He’s either a missed shot, walk, charge, or missed foul shot every time he tries something. With St. Louis in a zone defense practically the whole game, why didn’t your best outside shooters get more minutes. Chris Johnson, the best outside shot on the team played all of 17 minutes. Unless he is hurt, I didn’t see Thomas enter the game. He can shoot from the outside, and at least they’d have to guard him which would open things up for others.Didn’t you notice that they clogged the inside because they didn’t even guard LW? Why isn’t Coach Gregory able to make adjustments to counteract the other Coach’s strategy? He was out-coached against GW, Fordham and now St. Louis. With the better A-10 teams left to play, I can’t see his team having a winning record from this point on in the season, unless someone pounds some sense into BG’s head.
By RudyFlyer
January 30, 2009 8:15 AM | Link to this
Fair weather fans get off the bus now. We’re heading to the NCAA tourney and we’re not going to have room for all the haters when we’re dancing.
By Joe
January 30, 2009 8:32 AM | Link to this
Ed, I believe BG was playing the best defenders for the situation. Your approach of going with the best offense threats is dangerous against a good defensive team. BG has used this approach successfully several times this year against the best defensive teams we’ve faced. If the other team plays lock down defense then he makes sure he keeps the clamps on them. They say defense wins games and against the best two defenses we’ve faced this year we out defended them for a 45-40 and a 47-46 victory. Certainly not the prettiest basketball but BG clearly had a plan and it worked for a W.
By Jim
January 30, 2009 8:35 AM | Link to this
Does UD have a play, with a designated shooter, to end the half(or game)with seconds to go? Why did BG “over-coach” and unnecesarily interfere with Marcus’ attempt to run a play to end the half? The result was the team’s poorest shooter, London, getting the ball with 4 seconds, and driving into the SLU post defense with the predictable result of being stuffed.
By sec 312
January 30, 2009 9:07 AM | Link to this
flyer fan, flyer faithful, you are not fans, you are complainers and whiners, full of negative thoughts, and feelings. You must be miserable to be around. A 19-2 season and half these clowns on here are unhappy or whiners..pathic. if you were fans you would support with positve comments like this is the schedule, we win, the kids are giving great effort, look at BG record last two years…clowns!
By FaithFlyer65
January 30, 2009 9:36 AM | Link to this
I’m not negative. I just call it as I see it. I’ve been a Flyer fan for over 45 years and no one pulls for them harder than I do. Did anyone notice that Charles Little made 6 of 6 free throws. That’s why UD won the game! Way to go Charles and THANK YOU!
By sec 312
January 30, 2009 9:57 AM | Link to this
from a NBA scout: As for Gregory, the scout — who begged anonymity — said the UD coach “has done a great job with this team. I mean, I’m thinking, ‘He beat Marquette with these guys?’ “But he’s gone for athleticism and he’s got players who have bought into what he wants them to do, especially defensively. He’s done a hell of a coaching job this year.” yet some so called fans on here don’t think BG can coach…do you know more than a NBA scout?? I don’t think so!
By Kyle
January 30, 2009 10:08 AM | Link to this
Well, I guess we’ll see if this trainwreck will safely get to the station or derail over the last month. I’m not sure whether I should be excited, concerned or upset over another ho-hum performance last night. BG needs to stop with this rapid substitution crap and keep your players out on the floor longer to get an offensive flow going. I don’t think that the defense will suffer at all. I think I would feel more comfortable winning close games if I knew that we had a decent offensive gameplan.
By RR
January 30, 2009 10:10 AM | Link to this
I would like the inside scoop on what KH is working on. He should use a hook shot if he can’t face the basket. He’s tough on D though and the big test will be Nevins on Sunday. If they can beat St. Joe they will be ready for X on the 11th.
By Jim
January 30, 2009 10:45 AM | Link to this
The purpose of a blog, Sec 312, is to discuss areas of game performance that are good or which need improvement (ideally, constructive comments without a rant). One can be a loyal fan and also ask tough questions. Your “happy talk” only post is a bit like nirvana. Get a real life.
By Kurt
January 30, 2009 10:59 AM | Link to this
Some of the comments are so predictable…we’re 21 games in, the Flyers pimples are no surprise anymore. But who cares, they are 19-2 and when Selection Sunday comes along there is no mention of “bad wins.” It isn’t pretty, but would you rather be 15-6 averaging 80 pts. a game, shooting 50% from the field as a lower tier “bubble team” or where we are right now. Nobody will argue that they can’t expect to beat X or St. Joe’s playing like this, but I think you can count on the team to play hard and rise to the occasion. Hopefully that translates to a W, but that remains to be seen. Go Flyers!
By hank
January 30, 2009 11:02 AM | Link to this
19 Wins 2 Losses nuff said.
By Cleveland Steamer
January 30, 2009 11:43 AM | Link to this
Lucky for UD, this year’s version of the A-10 is pathetic. Coupled with an early season schedule of patsies (excluding Marquette), UD is sporting a 19-2 record. But if you really think that you can hang in there with teams from the ACC,Big 10,Big East, Big 12, etc you are delusional. Keep spouting off about being your record, you sound ridiculous….Legends in your own minds.
By Kurt
January 30, 2009 11:49 AM | Link to this
This coming from a guy who chooses that as his screen name.. credibility is off the charts.
By TERRIBLE
January 30, 2009 12:01 PM | Link to this
19-2 never looked so ugly. I wonder how many teams have gone 19-2 and not been in the talk of the top 25…. One of you dayton cryer faithful look that up and try and convince me you are as good as you think you are…
By sec 312 fan
January 30, 2009 12:14 PM | Link to this
sec 312… don’t you belong over on the WSU blog? You sure seem to to a lot of time over there. As for everyone else, respect has to be earned… earn a bid to the NCAA tourney and advance a couple of rounds. That’ll shut up the haters.
By Bhoops
January 30, 2009 12:32 PM | Link to this
Stop drinking BG haterade! What people don’t seem to realize is that BG has limited personnel when it comes to perimeter shooting. Marcus shoots the highest potential and has developed a nice mid-range game to parrallel his ability to get to the basket. However, make no mistake about it, he is not a 3 point shooter. However, he leads the team in percentage behind the arc. Hello, the FLYERS have no pure shooters. Luke is the closest. However, he rushes his shots and doesn’t get his feet set. For what he has, BG has adapted his offense to take advantage of his personnel. He has a conglomeration of incredible athletes that are extremely effective in the open floor. I understand London can’t throw a rock in the ocean from the perimeter. However, he might be the quickest offensive transition PG in the nation. He also is 4 in the confrence in assist to turnover ratio. While announcing the game on CBS last night, Greg Anthony confirmed this, stating that the Flyers may be the quickest in the nation from defense to offensive transition. BG knows he has guys who can’t shoot and that is why he has transitioned his team into looking for opportunites in the secondary fast break. I don’t care what offense you are running in a half court set, if you don’t have a shooter to get the D honest, any team will sit back in the lane and take away dribble drive and allow you to shoot yourselves out of the game. Remember the game against AUBURN, that we shot 0 from 3. Guess what, we still won! What about the alley oop play to Marcus that gave us the go ahead bucket with 1 min to go. I can assure that was a designed play that BG developed. Finally, if you understand basketball, have played basketball, or have coached basketball, you would also understand to get 12 guys to buy into a high intensity, pressure man to man defense is an incredible task. BG deserves credit for getting his entire team to buy into his system. I will be the first to agree that Chris and CJ need more minutes. However, can’t argue his system has worked thus far. In a recent poll, BG was named the 6th best up and coming coach in America. He has great basketball IQ and has learned from the some of the best. You arm chair coaches lack knowledge in your overall assessment of BG.
By Cleveland Steamer
January 30, 2009 12:44 PM | Link to this
Kurt, what’s wrong with my screen name? I got the nickname when I worked rolling hot asphalt during summer break when I was working my way through Case Institute in Cleveland in the 60’s. Is that the best you can do? Pick on someone to avoid the real issue!!
By Flyer MBA
January 30, 2009 12:55 PM | Link to this
To all of you St. Louis fans reading this: Rick Majerus is one fantastic coach and he will soon be in the top of the A10. He is good for the strength of the A10 and he is good for Dayton. I look forward to next game! Go Flyers!
By poetwarrior
January 30, 2009 2:02 PM | Link to this
That’s 7-0 in games decided by 5 points or less… how is that being “outcoached?” FaithFlyer65 is driving around town with his “Dump Donoher” bumpersticker on his AMC Pacer!
By sec 312
January 30, 2009 2:22 PM | Link to this
sec 312 fan fair enough, I agree. yes I do read both boards and will comment. Jim I’m not into happy talk, but constant talk about how terrible we are and what a terible coach BG is is very grating..I promise I will try to get a life! promise! lol
By T-Ruckus
January 30, 2009 2:28 PM | Link to this
Let’s look at some facts…we’re 19-2, we’re 8-0 in close games, we’re near the top in team defense, we’re extremely athletic…the list goes on and on. How many of you at the end of last year, when B-Rob graduated would have predicted anywhere near a 19-2 record?! Maybe 15-6 at best. So we win ugly games - in the past we lost ALL those ugly games. Somehow we are finding a way to win, whether it be Gregory, the players or a combo. Regardless, I’ll take it. No one out there is arguing that we are the best team in the nation or that we should be in the top 15. We all know that we’re a good team that has a great record and until we prove it against better teams (St. Joe, X) we won’t, and don’t deserve, any respect. If we win Sunday, we’ll be in top 25 and definitely on our way to tourney.
By Tim65
January 30, 2009 2:30 PM | Link to this
Bhoops said rightly “BG has limited personnel when it comes to perimeter shooting.” Given his time in the job, the question has to by “why?” Let’s beat X then we can worry about the NCAA.
By tds70
January 30, 2009 3:33 PM | Link to this
I wish I could say it is interesting reading everyone’s shots at each other. Bottom line - Defense, rebounds, transition. Everyone knows it , including BG. He has stated it over and over. If the Flyers win its based on that formula. Good shooting (game and at the line) are like icing on a cake. Everyone commenting, that knows and follows the flyers, has stated the obvious. For those who don’t follow the games and or dislike UD - the facts are facts so say what you want. This team has maximized its strengths. I am sure that BG and the team want the icing more than us bloggers, but sometimes you do not get everything you want. I also think he did a good job of protecting the troops from sloopy fouls and fouling out. If you watch closely after a tuff defensive stretch certain players have a tendency to reach. I think the staff has a good eye on that. It hurts offense at times , and you can hear the “why is he doing that” groan but it keeps CW,CJ, CL, MJ in some games. They may not always be in as much as we’d like etc. but a couple of times they drug themselves off the court. For those of you who think they should be young enough to play defense and transition offense for 20 minutes straight- try to shuffle/jump/ shove /run for 5 minutes straight, + and every 30 seconds take a shot and make it from 15 feet. Enjoy the effort this team dumps on the court, there are many a coach that would love to have it. RM & St Louis did a great job last night taking punches and dishing them out. If you like to rumble( like the pregame songs promotes ) you saw one last night. Fights are not usually very pretty! I think there were some tired bods after last nights game. Lets enjoy the next 10 games, 5 & 5 would be nice in my book- Go Flyers
By FaithfulFlyer65
January 31, 2009 10:07 AM | Link to this
In response to “poetwarrior”. I’ve never met Don Donoher personally, but I love the man. Not only is he the best thing that ever happened to UD basketball, you couldn’t meet a more humble and classy person. Especially after the way the University treated him after all he accomplished for them. I attended UD during the Tom Blackburn era and I was a Flyer fan throughout Donaher’s entire coaching career at UD. I wish he were still the coach.
By tds70
January 31, 2009 11:19 AM | Link to this
OSU Joe needs to do a bit of homework on A10 players in the NBA. CW may or may not go NBA but if he does he probably will have a degree when he arrives.
By tds70
January 31, 2009 8:24 PM | Link to this
OK OSU Joe, It appears you really don’t mean BCS school , CW should just not attend UD. Afraid to say it outright I guess. I do not agree but you can think what you like. He’ll still have his degree. Good luck with rebuilding every yr.Your lucky you have Motta