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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > February
February 2009
Flyers able to withstand Temple’s best shot
Third-year Temple coach Fran Dunphy is highly respected in his field, having taken Penn to 10 NCAA tournaments in 17 years before joining the Owls, but he couldn’t get much of anything to work against Dayton.
“I thought their offensive game plan was good,” Dunphy said after the Flyers’ 70-65 victory. “When we switched to a zone, they knew exactly what they wanted to get accomplished, and they got easy baskets.”
UD set up a back-door ally-oop dunk to Marcus Johnson on one possession, and London Warren found Chris Wright on the baseline for a slam another time.
The Flyers had to stop their two-game slide to keep their NCAA tourney hopes humming, and they did it with relative ease, although a late 3-point barrage by Dionte Christmas certainly made things interesting.
Told that two straight losses may have turned their clash with Temple into a must-win game, point guard London Warren replied: “We weren’t looking at it as a must-win game. It was a must-come-out-and-play-hard game. We couldn’t play weak. We had to play hard and strong.”
The Flyers are in the midst of a punishing seven-game stretch to end the season, and they’re 3-2 so far with a trip to Xavier on Thursday and then the season-finale at home against Duquesne.
“I’m proud of our guys,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “The last five games, they poured their guts into every single game. We won three and lost two, but if you’re just worried about wins and losses, you’re missing a pretty good group of guys and what they’re all about.
“I said we wanted to be playing well and cohesive and with great intensity at this time of year … and we are.”
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TweetFlyers hold on to knock off Temple
Dayton built a 16-point second-half lead and held on for a 70-65 victory over Temple on Saturday.
Chris Wright had 20 points, Marcus Johnson 14 and Mickey Perry 10 for the Flyers (24-5, 10-4 Atlantic 10), while Dionte Christmas scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half to spark a rally by the Owls (17-11, 9-5).
Temple made five 3-pointers in the final 5:31 to make a sell-out crowd of 13,435 antsy, including one by Christmas with 8.2 seconds left to cut the difference to three. But UD’s Charles Little sank a pair of free throws with 5.9 seconds left to put the decision out of reach.
The Flyers bolstered their NCAA tournament hopes with the victory. They finish the regular-season with a road game at Xavier and a home game with Duquesne before playing in the A-10 tournament.
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TweetPerry’s defense catching Gregory’s eye
Dayton junior guard Mickey Perry matched his career high with 11 points against Rhode Island, including a 3-pointer with 1:14 to go to help the Flyers rally from a five-point deficit at the end of regulation.
“He’s been playing well at the defensive end. He’s been good on offense. And he’s showing poise, which is good,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “He’s earning minutes at the defensive end, and you hope his offense keeps coming around.”
• Illinois guard Trent Meachem, who played one season at UD before transferring, led the Illini to a 70-68 win at Ohio State on Sunday with 17 points, six assists, one steal and no turnovers in 39 minutes.
Asked if returning to Ohio brought back memories of his Flyer days, Meachem said: “I still think about it a little bit. They’re having a great year. But this is my fifth year in college, and it seems like a long time ago.
“But I have a lot of respect for the program, and I’m glad they’re doing well.”
• UD needs three more victories to tie the school record for consecutive home wins at 21 in a row. The record was set over two seasons from 1959-61. The Flyers have two more regular-season home games this season, facing Temple and Duquesne.
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TweetFlyers deep rotation starting to get thin
Dayton coach Brian Gregory has been saying all year the strength of his team is in its numbers, but that hasn’t been a strongsuit for the Flyers of late — not with savvy point guard Rob Lowery blowing out his knee and super sub Chris Johnson being slowed by a calf injury.
Gregory essentially pared his rotation down to 10 players during consecutive home games against Saint Louis and Saint Joseph’s about a month ago. Point guard Stephen Thomas didn’t play in either game, and freshman Luke Fabrizius only left the bench for seven minutes against the Billikens. But with Lowery out and Johnson still ailing, only eight of those 10 are still in the mix.
Gregory thought his thinning bench was a factor in giving up 52 first-half points to Rhode Island in a 93-91 overtime defeat.
“That was a very high-octane, very efficient ball club. But because of foul trouble, guys had to play a little longer stretches than they’re accustomed to, and where that shows up is defensively and, at times, being a little loose with the ball,” he said.
“We gave up shots probably on the road you can’t give up. But I thought our guys regrouped to cut their point total in half (from 52 to 26) in the second half.”
Almost every team goes through injuries, and the Flyers shouldn’t expect sympathy from anyone. You’ve got to have the team-wide talent to weather those setbacks, and the Flyers weren’t good enough against Saint Louis and Rhode Island on the road to do that.
Now at 23-5 overall and 9-4 in the Atlantic 10, there’s no getting around it: The Flyers simply gotta have a win against Temple on Saturday if they want to make The Dance.
They have a 7-2 record against the top-100 in the RPI and could add another victory by knocking off Temple, which was No. 37 before losing to La Salle on Thursday. They finish the regular-season with two other top-100 foes in No. 14 Xavier and No. 88 Duquesne next week. With a victory over Temple, a split of the final two games would give UD a 9-3 mark against the top-100, which is certainly NCAA territory.
What’s more, it would help the Flyers secure a top-four finish in the league and land a first-round bye in the A-10 tournament.
Don’t under-estimate the importance of finishing in the top-four in the conference. You can’t expect the NCAA Selection Committee to leap over four or five teams to offer the Flyers an at-large bid, no matter how attractive the rest of their credentials may be.
I said before league play started that I thought the Flyers needed to go 11-5 or 12-4 in the A-10 to stay off that dreaded NCAA bubble, and I still feel that way. But they probably also will need to win their first game in the league tourney to assure themselves a berth.
No matter where they’re seeded, though, their quarterfinal foe won’t be a soft touch. Perhaps more than in any other supersized conference, the gap between No. 1 and No. 12 in the A-10 isn’t all that wide.
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TweetRhode Island game-winner No. 1 on ESPN
The game-winning shot by Rhode Island’s Marquis Jones was chosen as ESPN’s No. 1 play in its top-10 countdown. Jones made a difficult driving lay-up for a 93-91 overtime victory against Dayton. For a replay of the shot, click on this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/clip?id=3935437&categoryid=2459792
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TweetFlyers, Rams put on show in OT thriller
KINGSTON, R.I. — Dayton coach Brian Gregory objected when a reporter asked whether the Atlantic 10 deserved three NCAA tournament bids.
Just three? Gregory believes the league deserves four, and UD and Rhode Island certainly looked like a pair of NCAA teams as they clawed away at each other for 45 minutes Wednesday night.
The Flyers dropped a 93-91 overtime decision in a classic when Rams guard Marquis Jones made a driving lay-up as the clock dropped to zeroes. Jones came off a screen, forcing UD center Kurt Huelsman to make a switch with London Warren. Jones picked up a step on Huelsman and made a shot in traffic that would have earned high marks in the degree-of-difficulty category in another sport.
“Sean Miller at Xavier said the other day, ‘You lose on the road in this league, and you don’t have to apologize to anybody,’ ” Gregory said. “And I’m not going to apologize for our guys’ effort tonight.
“The problem is, right now, some people will say that’s a bad loss. Our league is not at the point yet where losing to a team on the road that has 21 wins, that has beaten practically everyone it’s played … it’s hard. It’s a sore subject. Right now in this league we’re doing what real good leagues do — beat the crap out of each other for two months.”
The Flyers needed a defensive stop at the end of regulation to force overtime and got it. Warren made a steal and then had the ball poked away from him. He may have been fouled. But then again, he might have been guilty of a foul while trying to retrieve the ball before the horn went off.
“I’d like to see that play on tape after London got the steal. I’d like to see what happened after London got the steal — wink, wink,” Gregory said, clearly hinting that the Rams got away with a hack. “There were about seven seconds or six seconds left, and all of sudden, he’s …”
Gregory stopped himself.
“I’d like to see that on tape,” he said.
The Flyers can only blame themselves for the defeat because of a 21-for-35 effort from the foul line, but they competed to the end in an inhospitable environment, and they had sparkling performances by an assortment of players.
Marcus Johnson struggled at the foul line (4-for-8), but he tallied a season-high 21 points and made a game-tying 3-pointer with Jimmy Baron in his face with 13.5 seconds to go in OT. Chris Wright had 17 points and a slew of athletic plays, but he spent just 26 of the 45 minutes on the floor because of foul trouble.
“One of Chris’ greatest challenges is this: He plays extremely hard, but because he missed so many games as a freshman, he’s going to make mistakes that freshman make,” Gregory said.
“When you have three fouls, you can’t go for a steal. Or, when you have four fouls and a guy is in the post, you have to make him make a shot. You can’t go for the reach.
“Freshmen get a pass on those because they’re dumb freshmen.”
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TweetFlyers fall in overtime at Rhode Island
KINGSTON, R.I. — Dayton overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to force overtime, but Rhode Island’s Marquis Jones scored on a driving lay-up as the clock was expiring in the extra session to give the Rams a 93-91 victory Wednesday.
Marcus Johnson led five players in double figures with 21 to lead UD (23-5, 9-4 Atlantic 10). The Rams (21-8, 10-4) made 10-of-17 three-pointers
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TweetSaturday’s UD-Temple game sold out
Saturday’s UD-Temple men’s basketball game is a sellout, the school announced this afternoon. Game time is 4 p.m. If you don’t have tickets, you can catch this key Atlantic 10 matchup on WHIO-TV, which is picking up the CBS College Sports feed.
There are some tickets remaining for Dayton’s final regular-season game, a matchup against Duquesne on Saturday, March 7, at 8 p.m. at UD Arena.
In other news, Dayton’s A-10 battle against Xavier on Thursday, March 5, at 9 p.m. in Cincinnati will be televised on ESPN2.
The UD Ticket Office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on weekends three hours prior to the start of men’s home basketball games.
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TweetInjured calf giving Johnson trouble
Dayton’s Chris Johnson still appeared to be affected by his bruised right calf during a light practice this morning at Thomas Ryan Center as the Flyers prepared to face Rhode Island tonight.
The freshman standout participated in every part of Tuesday’s practice at UD and looked to be recovered from the injury that kept him out of the team’s last game at Saint Louis, but he was noticeably limping and looked to be in pain during shooting and full-court drills today.
UD coach Brian Gregory huddled with trainer Nate Seymour before the practice, and when asked whether Johnson would play, Gregory said, “It’ll be a game-time decision.”
Rhode Island is treating the visit from the Flyers as its biggest home game of the year. The school is staging its third-annual Pink Out, asking fans to wear pink attire to raise awareness for breast-cancer research.
Rams coach Jim Baron has been impressed with the Flyers this year, particularly sophomore forward Chris Wright, who leads the team in scoring and rebounding.
“Wright is so athletic and can score in so many different ways,” Baron said. “He creates so many problems because he can go inside and outside. And he defends and blocks shots and runs the floor. He’s a terrific player.”
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TweetJohnson expected to play against Rhode Island
Dayton freshman Chris Johnson, who was sidelined for the Saint Louis game Saturday with a bruised calf, participated in a full practice Tuesday and stuck around afterward for some extra shooting.
Johnson, who averages 7.0 points and 5.7 rebounds, didn’t appear to have his customary explosiveness, but he was active on the floor and is expected to be cleared to play when the Flyers visit Rhode Island on Wednesday.
Asked about his injury, Johnson replied: “It hurts, but it feels better than yesterday. I’ve just got to get some ice on it.”
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TweetRhode Island looks to get into NCAA picture
Rhode Island isn’t getting much love from those who put together those mock NCAA tournament brackets, but that could change with a victory over Dayton.
The Rams are 20-8 overall and 9-4 in the league, and a victory would keep them in the title chase. They’re 67th in the RPI, five spots ahead of Notre Dame.
Rhode Island has beaten Penn State and two highly regarded mid-majors, Virginia Commonwealth and Northeastern, among others. And when a reporter suggested that his team seems to be getting overlooked in the NCAA discussions, Rams coach Jim Baron said: “We’ve just got to keep working to improve and be as competitive as we possibly can in the league. You’re right, as I look across the board and look at some of these teams … we’ve played a tough schedule — at Duke and at Oklahoma State and Villanova and Penn State. We’ve played a lot of BCS schools.
“We just have to do the things we can control leading into the conference tournament. That’s the most important thing for us.”
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TweetFlyers fall from poll after defeat
Dayton fell out of the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday after dropping a 57-49 decision at Saint Louis. The Flyers have the 30th-most votes in the AP poll and the 28th-most in the ESPN-USA Today coaches ratings.
UD (23-4, 9-3) is a half-game behind Xavier for first place in the Atlantic 10 and travels to Rhode Island (20-8, 9-4) on Wednesday.
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TweetFlyers have tough test in Rhode Island next
UD basketball: The week ahead
Games: at Rhode Island (20-8, 9-4 Atlantic 10), 7 p.m. Wednesday (Channel 7); vs. Temple (17-9, 9-3), 4 p.m. Saturday (Channel 7).
Scouting Rhode Island: Senior guard Jimmy Baron is on pace to become the A-10’s all-time leader in 3-pointers. He had six treys in eight attempts in a 77-58 win over Fordham on Saturday. The Rams have two straight 20-win seasons and split with the Flyers last season.
Scouting Temple: The Owls have won five straight games and have an A-10 player of the year candidate in guard Dionte Christmas. The 6-foot-5 senior leads the league in scoring at nearly 20 points per game and averages about three 3-pointers per outing. Both Rhode Island and Temple have wins this year over Penn State, which is being touted by many as an NCAA tournament team.
About Dayton: The Flyers had three assists and 13 turnovers in a 57-49 loss at Saint Louis, and injured point guard Rob Lowery was sorely missed. Although he had just one turnover and played frenetic defense for 27 minutes, starter London Warren went 1-for-8 from the field for three points, and back-up Stephen Thomas had trouble matching up against Saint Louis’ speedy point guard, Kwamain Mitchell.
• Chris Wright had a hug and kiss for a cutie who stuck around after the game. A girl in every port?
Nah, Wright explained he met St. Louis resident Vasana Hill while in town for an AAU tournament during his high school days.
“We all just went out to the mall one time. It’s my first time seeing here since I was in high school,” he said.
Asked if he might risk the wrath of a girlfriend back home if the encounter were reported, Wright said with a chuckle: “I think my mom will be mad more than anything.”
The Flyers were leading 40-39 with 10:55 left in the second half but scored just two points in a nine-possession span after that, and Wright thought the Flyers missed freshman Chris Johnson, who was out with a bruised calf.
“I think we played hard, but I think we could have played a lot harder,” he said. “CJ not playing, that was big. But even with CJ not playing, we were still right in the game. That stretch of five or six minutes (actually seven minutes and 45 seconds) really killed us.”
UD coach Brian Gregory would have liked to have had Johnson, too. The freshman’s absence reduced the Flyers’ rotation to 10 players.
“During that (dry spell), I thought maybe we got a little tired for the first time all year long,” Gregory said.
• The Flyers shot just 30.9 percent from the field, their second-worst showing of the season. Only their 27.8-percent effort in a win over Auburn was worse. During that game, UD set an NCAA record for most 3-point attempts without making one, going 0-for-24.
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TweetFlyers pull together after defeat
Dayton junior point guard London Warren called for a players-only meeting on the bus, asking the coaches and other occupants to step outside for a minute so he could share his heart, doing exactly what a team leader is supposed to do.
After Warren was finished and folks piled in, UD coach Brian Gregory joined his players in the back of the bus for a quick pep talk before pulling away from St. Louis. His message was upbeat and succinct: The Atlantic 10 is a grind, and the team that wins the crown will be the one that can be the most resilient and consistent over 16 games.
The Flyers, who are tied for first with Xavier, have exhibited those traits for 12 games so far, and he wanted to know whether he could count on the players to commit to doing it for another four. Their answer was an unwavering yes.
UD dropped a 57-49 decision to the Billikens in a game where both teams clawed for 40 minutes. But the Flyers (23-4, 9-3 Atlantic 10) had one of their offensive dry spells in the second half — amassing just two points on a pair of free throws in a seven-minute, 45-second span — and frittered away an otherwise credible showing.
Their intensity was there — they had 22 offensive rebounds and won the board battle, 44-31 — but they couldn’t come up with a single bucket during that nine-possession span.
“We talk about effort and energy and playing hard, and we’ve won 23 games because that’s what we do,” Gregory said. “And you know what, we did it again tonight. You can’t get 22 offensive rebounds unless you’re playing really hard and with great energy. It’s impossible … because those guys knock the crap out of you when the ball goes up, which is the way it should be.
“Did we make a lot of mistakes? Yeah. But we made a lot of mistakes in our wins, too.”
UD’s usual deficiencies were glaring while falling behind by 10 points in the first half. Saint Louis (17-10, 7-5) was coasting and a sell-out crowd was rocking.
The Flyers, though, fought their way back and took their first lead early in the second half. They still led by one after Marcus Johnson drilled a 3-pointer with 10:55 to go. But with a chance to grab the game by the throat, their offense became about as effective as a cell phone in a bomb shelter.
“(It was) a one-point game either way, and kind of lost ourselves,” Gregory said. “We had bad offensive possessions, did not rebound defensively, gave them some options. That cost us the game. But we lost to a good team today on the road in a tough environment against a Hall of Fame coach (Rick Majerus). We need to learn from it, get better and move on. But there’s nothing to be ashamed of losing to that team because they’re playing extremely well right now.”
Charles Little, the team’s lone senior, saw some positives in the defeat, too.
“I thought we played hard. … Our effort was there. We’ve just got to execute better,” he said. “We weren’t very patient on offense, and if you’re not making a team work on defense, it’s pretty easy for them to play offense.”
The Flyers will fall from the Top 25 with the defeat, but what matters is staying on pace for an NCAA tourney bid. The road doesn’t get any easier from here — 20-8 Rhode Island is next — but the Flyers are still in good shape. They know what’s at stake. And if they don’t reach The Dance, it won’t be because the players weren’t committed enough to the task.
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TweetFlyers’ Johnson, Williams not expected to play
SAINT LOUIS —Â Dayton freshman Chris Johnson, one of the team’s top players, sat out a pre-game shoot-around today because of a bruised calf and likely will be sidelined when the Flyers face Saint Louis tonight.
Freshman guard Paul Williams, who suffered a strained groin during Friday’s practice, participated in the shoot-around but is considered doubtful.
“It doesn’t look good for either one,” UD coach Brian Gregory said.
Johnson, a 6-foot-5 Columbus native, is fifth on the team in scoring (7.0) and second in rebounding (5.7). He was injured during Thursday’s practice during a scramble for a loose ball and was still limping when the Flyers went through light drills at the Billikens’ new home, Chaifetz Arena.
Williams is averaging just 1.9 points, but his playing time has been increasing as the season has progressed after getting a late start because of a broken bone in his left foot.
The 25th-ranked Flyers (23-3), who are in first place in the Atlantic 10 at 9-2, were already short-handed because of the loss of point-guard Rob Lowery to a season-ending knee injury Feb. 11.
A sell-out crowd of about 10,600 is expected tonight. The school put about 30 obstructed-view tickets on sale this morning, and had sold all but a few as of 1 p.m. local time.
It’s the first sell-out this season for the Billikens (16-10, 7-5), who have won five of their last six games.
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TweetFlyers make ESPN’s power ratiings
Dayton is ranked 22nd in the ESPN.com power ratings after being ranked 22nd last week.
The poll is compiled by a tally of votes from 10 TV broadcasters and writers, including Jay Bilas, Andy Katz, Dick Vitale and Doug Gottlieb.
Vitale and ESPN.com writer Dana O’Neil have the Flyers rated highest on their ballots at 17th.
The Flyers, 23-3, who play at Saint Louis on Saturday, are No. 25 in this week’s Associated Press poll.
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TweetUD faces challenge in Saint Louis defense
A couple of weeks ago, Dayton coach Brian Gregory was talking about his team’s sporadic offense in a 47-46 win over Saint Louis.
“They’re a top-10 defensive team in the country,” he said, “and we’re not a great offensive team. That’s a bad match-up.”
Well, the Flyers are careening into that very same match-up again Saturday — this time on the road. In some ways, UD has improved offensively since that Jan. 29 game. Chris Wright has become more accurate from the perimeter, making him a beast to guard. And the freshmen, Paul Williams and Chris Johnson, keep getting better.
And Saint Joseph’s found some holes at least in that Saint Louis defense on the road Wednesday. The Hawks shot 57.1 percent from the field while dropping a 73-71 decision.
But a Rick Majerus-coached team is always going to be nightmare to face on defense. Here’s what Saint Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli had to say before their game:
“We were fortunate to play Bob Knight when he was at Texas Tech. We’ve played a lot of good defensive teams. Dayton is spectacular. It seems to me what Rick Majerus and his staff have been able to do is teach these guys so they’re perfectly placed with their rotations and ball pressure. They don’t chase you all over half court. They’ve drawn a line in the sand, both feet above the 3-point line, and it’s like a drill. Every guy is help side, every guy is strong side.
“They’re third in the country in 3-point defense, percentage-wise. It’s an extraordinary defense, and the other thing is they’re doing it with, by my count, four freshmen.”
Yes, the Billikens have plenty of freshmen in their rotation, but in seniors Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell III, they have a pair of players who have topped the 1,500-point mark in their careers, so they’re not exactly short on experience. They’ve won five of their last six games and are playing as well or better than any team in the league right now.
The Flyers have at least six games left, counting the first-round of the Atlantic 10 tournament, and only two of those are at home. A split of those six probably puts them into the NCAA tournament.
But there are no gimmes in the A-10. As Charlotte’s win over Xavier on Thursday showed, there’s not much separation between No. 1 and No. 12 in the league.
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TweetFreshman duo playing like veterans
Dayton freshman Chris Johnson has been logging crunch-time minutes all season, and classmate Paul Williams has started to gain the confidence of coach Brian Gregory, too.
Williams was sidelined throughout the preseason with a broken bone beneath the big toe of his left foot, and he’s just now regaining his form. The 6-foot-3 Detroit native buried a 3-pointer against Xavier and hit another trey that sealed the decision in a 69-63 win over Richmond on Saturday.
Although he’s averaging a mere 1.8 points, Williams played a season-high 21 minutes against the Spiders.
The 6-5 Johnson is fifth on the team in scoring (7.0) and second in rebounding (5.7), and he’s become the Flyers’ best free-throw shooter at 80 percent.
“You think about where Paul would be if he didn’t miss all that time,” Gregory said. “He’s going out there just kind of competing on his competitiveness alone. Sometimes he doesn’t even know what he’s doing out there. It’s not his fault. He just missed so much time.
“But those two guys are going to be very, very special players in this program. You’re talking about our future perimeter players. And they’ve got toughness. They can score. They’re both lefties, so they screw people up — lefties are screwed up in general.”
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TweetWarren making foul shots, could 3-pointer be next?
After shooting a combined 52.5 percent from the foul line in his first two years, Dayton’s London Warren has been connecting at a 64.4-percent clip this season.
“I put a lot of time and work into it,” he said. “I try to get up 100 (extra) a day and make sure all the technical parts are locked in.”
Warren is gaining confidence in his mid-range jumper, but he’s a reluctant 3-point shooter, having not attempted any treys this season apart from a desperation heave before halftime at Duquesne and a fling at the end of the shot clock while killing time in the Xavier win.
Asked if he’s looking to launch a 3-pointer in UD’s offense, he nodded and said: “It’s coming soon to a court near you. … And I’m going to make it.”
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TweetGregory likes Thomas’ team-oriented mentality
Dayton’s Stephen Thomas performed well in his first game as London Warren’s primary back-up at point guard, getting four points and two assists with no turnovers in 16 minutes in a 69-63 win over Richmond on Saturday. And UD coach Brian Gregory believes the sophomore is prepared to handle a meaningful role down the stretch.
“The amount of play he’s had in the past has definitely helped him, and there’s also a mindset there,” Gregory said earlier this week.
“I just watched the (Richmond) film again. On the second play of the game, we pick up a charge, and the first guy off the bench — completely jacked up for his teammates — was Stephen Thomas. I said to myself. ‘He was ready to go. He was into the game.’ In this day and age, to get guys to believe in that is hard, and I think it speaks volumes for Stephen.
“The other thing it does is speaks volumes for his teammates (after losing Rob Lowery). Our guys didn’t worry, panic, or go, ‘Oh, no, what are we going to do?’ It was, ‘Stephen, let’s go. You’ve got to help us.’ They have a great amount of faith in each other, and I think it showed on Wednesday (against Xavier) and in both those games.
“It showed some of the stuff our guys have inside as opposed to just outside.”
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TweetMiller reflects on Dayton game
Xavier coach Sean Miller, whose team dropped a 71-58 decision at Dayton last Wednesday, had some gracious remarks about the Flyers and injured point guard Rob Lowery on the Atlantic 10 coaches teleconference Monday.
“We played in the highest-level type of environment at UD Arena last week and ran into what I think is a terrific basketball team in Dayton,” he said. “I can’t say enough good things about what Brian Gregory and his staff have done with that team. They play a defensive-oriented style and get the most out of that team.
“I felt bad Rob Lowery went down in our game. Watching the season they’ve had, you never want (to lose) a key component, and he certainly was playing very well for them. I feel bad that happen. I guess we all can then say that’s part of a long college basketball season, but those are the ‘uncontrollables’ that can drive everyone crazy.”
Miller is dealing with that to a lesser degree with freshman center Kenny Frease, who sat out a lopsided win over Fordham on Saturday with a lingering ankle injury.
“An ankle sprain at 6-11, 270 pounds, I think you just want to keep one eye on it,” Miller said.
“He wanted to play against Dayton. He helped us a little bit (four points in 13 minutes). But clearly, you could tell he was bothered. … I think every day he gets better. We just were trying to protect him this weekend without beating him up for no reason.”
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TweetFlyers make AP poll at No. 25
Dayton is ranked 25th nationally in the Associated Press Top 25 after completing a 2-0 week that included a 71-58 win over Xavier, it was announced today.
The Flyers have the 26th-most votes in the ESPN-USA Today coaches Top 25.
UD is ranked for the first time since climbing as high as 14th in the polls last year.
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TweetFlyers have week to prepare for Saint Louis
UD basketball: The Week Ahead
Game: at Saint Louis (15-10, 6-5) at 8 p.m. Saturday (Channel 7)
UD has just one game this week. Each A-10 team is supposed to have two weeks without a weekday game, but playing four times in the Chicago Invitational Challenge wiped out the Flyers’ break in the non-league season.
Scouting Saint Louis: The Billikens are coming off a 69-61 loss at Rhode Island on Saturday, snapping a four-game winning streak. Freshman Kwamain Mitchell led the Billikens with 17 points. They dropped a 47-46 decision at Dayton on Jan. 29 but had the ball in the waning seconds with a chance to win. Mitchell missed a driving lay-up with three ticks left to allow UD to escape.
Going into the Rhode Island game, Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus said: “Of all the games we won, the best game we played was Dayton and we lost…. We played very, very well and if you keep playing well, eventually you’re going to win.”
Saint Louis was ranked 16th nationally in scoring defense going into the Rhode Island game, allowing 59.1 points.
UD-Richmond notes: The Flyers had four three-point plays (the old-fashioned kind): one each by Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, Kurt Huelsman and Charles Little. They could have had three more, but Devin Searcy, London Warren and Wright couldn’t convert their free throws.
• UD needs three more victories to tie the school record for consecutive home wins at 21 in a row. The record was set over two seasons from 1959-61.
• In their first game without back-up point guard Rob Lowery, the Flyers upped starter London Warren’s playing time, and he responded with one of his best games of the season: 10 points, six assists, one turnover in 24 minutes.
Stephen Thomas played 16 minutes and had a decent stat line: four points, two assists and no turnovers.
Xavier recap: Brian Gregory finally got what he’s been wanting against Xavier last Wednesday: a fair fight.
The UD coach pointed out that injuries have impacted the rivalry during his tenure — for both sides.
The Flyers had dropped six straight to the Musketeers the last two years before pulling out a 71-58 win in the first meeting this season. But forward Chris Wright missed all three games last year because of a fractured ankle, and forward Charles Little also missed one of the three with a broken bone in his foot.
In 2006-07, forward Monty Scott missed a regular-season game with the Musketeers because of a knee injury, and guard Marcus Johnson joined Scott on the sidelines when the teams met in the Atlantic 10 tourney because of an ankle sprain.
Xavier also has had its share of ailments. Forward Brian Thornton missed UD’s 66-62 win in 2005-06 with an ankle injury, and forward Josh Duncan sat out one of the games two years ago because of a sprained ankle.
“The thing I was excited about was that it was the first time in a long time both teams were completely healthy, and we’d see how the teams stacked up when they had all their players,” Gregory said.
“You saw a great game. You saw two realy good teams playing extremely hard, and our guys applied great pressure and kept their poise on offense.”
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TweetFree throws aside, UD’s play good enough
Sophomore forward Chris Wright didn’t think Dayton’s lack of sharpness against Richmond could be blamed on having an emotional letdown after the Xavier upset. Instead, he gave the Spiders credit for making the Flyers work for their 69-63 win.
“You’ve got to understand, Richmond is a very good team,” he said. “They’re very disciplined and very sound, and you can’t just go wild. You’ve got to run the things we’ve been working on all week.
“I know we had energy — the energy we were supposed to bring.”
Wright may have a point. Sometimes a team can give the impression that it lacks a little zest when, really, poor shooting is the culprit. The Flyers were horrendous at the foul line, going 21-of-39, and if they had made a few more and won by double digits, no one would have suspected them of having trouble getting motivated again after giving their all against Xavier.
The Flyers are 23-3 overall and have a share of first place with Xavier in the Atlantic 10 at 9-2. After their upset of the Musketeers, they landed in the ESPN.com power ratings at No. 23 (Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale, Hubert Davis and Doug Gottlieb are among a group of 10 writers and broadcasters who vote in that poll), and they could climb into the Associated Press or coaches Top 25 when those ratings are released Monday afternoon.
They have five regular-season games left, and all of them will be challenges. And while Wright won’t promise the Flyers will always play well, he’s confident they’ll always play hard.
“We’ve got nine wins in our conference, and we’re happy right now, but we’ve got to keep moving forward every game,” he said. “A lot of people are still in the state of mind of the Xavier game, and I’m not talking necessarily on our team. We’ve got to work every day and grind every day. If you’re worried about the game you played the last time, you’re not improving.”
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TweetFlyers beat Richmond for 23rd win
Chris Wright scored 17 points and 10 rebounds and London Warren 10 points and six assists to lead Dayton to a 69-63 win over stubborn Richmond on Saturday.
The Flyers (23-3, 9-2 Atlantic 10) led by as many as 13 in the second half, but the Spiders (12-13, 4-6) cut the deficit to four with 5:45 left. UD, though, held on to move into a tie with Xavier for first place in the league with five games to go.
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TweetFlyer tickets going fast
Beating arch-rival Xavier not only gave Dayton credibility on the national scene, but it also has given ticket sales a boost.
“Our phones have been ringing all day,” Gary McCans, UD’s director of premium seating, said Thursday.
As of Friday afternoon, only about 300 tickets were left for the Richmond game at 7 p.m. Saturday, and there are roughly 500 left for the Duquesne game Saturday, Mar. 7.
The Feb. 28 clash with Temple, the Flyers’ only other remaining home game, is already sold out.
For ticket info, call (937) 229-4433.
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TweetFlyers have tough path to A-10 title
Temple’s win over Saint Joseph’s on Thursday means Dayton has moved into a first-place tie in the Atlantic 10 with Xavier at 8-2 in the conference, a half-game ahead of St. Joe’s.
The league title chase appears to be coming down to a three-horse race, but the Flyers have by far the toughest finishing stretch of that trio.
Their six remaining opponents have a combined 93-50 record. Whew! The Musketeers’ foes are a collective 66-71, while the seven St. Joe’s opponents are 86-74.
Part of the reason for the imbalance is that UD played its easier games in the first half of the conference season — but that’s not the whole explanation.
The Flyers also have the most grueling “pod” — that is, the three foes they play twice — of the league contenders.
UD’s trio is Xavier (20-4), Duquesne (15-8) and Saint Louis (15-9). Xavier’s three are Dayton (22-3), Fordham (3-18) and Charlotte (8-15), while St. Joe’s plays home and away with St. Bonaventure (12-11), UMass (9-13) and Temple (14-9).
The Flyers seek out a tougher pod because it makes their home schedule more attractive, but that makes winning a league crown more of a challenge.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position, but we’re going to have to earn it, and our guys have understood nothing is going to be given to them,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “You have to play who’s on your schedule. Again, we have been less about the wins and losses as opposed to the process of continually getting better and continuing to build this program’s identity. If we keep concentrating on those two things, the rest will take care of itself.”
The remaining schedules:
Dayton: home against Richmond (12-12), at Saint Louis (15-9), at Rhode Island (17-8), home against Temple (14-9), at Xavier (20-4), home against Duquesne (15-8).
Xavier: home against Fordham (3-18), at Charlotte (8-15), home against George Washington (7-14), at Saint Joseph’s (14-9), home against Dayton (22-3), at Richmond (12-12).
Saint Joseph’s: at La Salle (13-10), at Saint Louis (15-9), home against UMass (9-13), Xavier (20-4) and St. Bonaventure (12-11), at Temple (14-9) and at Fordham (3-18).
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TweetLooking back at UD’s upset of Xavier
Some things jumped out at me while watching the replay of Dayton’s upset of Xavier on ESPN2:
• Marcus Johnson is becoming a clutch jump-shooter. With the Flyers leading by just one early in the second half, the junior guard nailed a 17-footer for a 37-34 lead and, after a Xavier free throw, knocked down a 15-footer in traffic to give the Flyers a comfortable cushion again.
That mid-range jumper wasn’t in Johnson’s arsenal two years ago.
• I love how the TV broadcaster jumped all over the refs for that bogus over-the-back foul on Chris Johnson’s tip-dunk in the second half. The Xavier player was directly under the basket, not in a rebound position. That should have been a no-call.
• Chris Wright’s mammoth block on freshman Terrell Holloway’s drive was ESPN’s No. 2 play of the day.
• The Musketeers have point-guard issues. Holloway, a one-time Indiana recruit, went 0-for-5 from the field and didn’t record an assist for the second straight game. And the 6-foot-5 Dante Jackson, a Greenfield, Ohio, native who was recruited heavily by the Flyers, is more of a 2 guard and appears out of his comfort zone at the point.
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TweetLowery has surgery for tendon tear
Dayton junior point guard Rob Lowery had surgery this afternoon for a torn patellar tendon in his right knee, ending his season with the Flyers.
“The good news for Rob is there was no other structural damage,” coach Brian Gregory said. “You worry about other things going wrong in there as well, and right now, it just looks like the patellar tendon.”
Lowery, who will need about five to six months of rehab before returning to the court, is third on the team in scoring with a 7.7 average and second in assists at 3.4 per game. He was named to the all-tournament team at the Chicago Invitational Challenge after leading the Flyers to a win over Marquette.
He made a 3-pointer against Xavier but was injured when he fell awkwardly on a drive to the basket with 9:46 left in the first half.
“He’s been such good part of this team,” Gregory said. “He’s been an absolute pleasure to have in this program since coming from a junior-college. He’s done a great job adjusting to this level of basketball also with the responsibilities as a young man and a player.”
“Any time you lose a player on your team who has worked extremely hard, it’s disappointing. But you’ve got to have a strong faith and strong believe that somehow, someway — you may not understand things — that it would work out best for the young man and for our program.”
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TweetFlyers get to revel in victory over rival
A dominant performance. A thorough thrashing. A cathartic victory.
All of those phrases describe Dayton’s 71-58 pounding of Xavier on Wednesday. The Flyers led from start to finish. They wobbled a bit early in the second half when their lead was cut to two, but they pulled away beginning at the 17:10 mark and coasted to the finish, ending a six-game losing skid against their arch-nemesis.
And there were heroes aplenty. UD coach Brian Gregory went with an 11-man rotation, and all 11 players scored.
Chris Wright had perhaps his best game of the year in tying his season-high with 19 points — 17 in the second half. He also had six rebounds and three blocks. And while fans tend to grimace when Wright pulls up for a 3-pointer — he was just 6-for-27 going into the game — he knocked down a pair during the Flyers’ second-half surge.
“It was an excellent game by both teams out there, and both teams played extremely hard,” a gracious Wright said afterward. “They’ve played in a lot of big games, and they have a lot of pride. But we came out with the win, and to win in our house feels extremely good.”
It was the Flyers’ third straight win at home against a ranked team and their eighth victory in nine attempts against Top-25 foes at UD Arena.
“I credit Dayton,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “I thought they played well. They had some timely baskets. Chris Wright was the difference in the game. They were very quick, and they were deep, and I thought they wore us out a little bit.”
A Cincinnati columnist created a stir earlier this season when he wrote the Musketeers had out-grown the Atlantic 10. But they’ve suffered back-to-back league losses and are tied for second with UD at 8-2, trailing one-loss Saint Joseph’s.
“The message that I had for our team, that I really think is important for our basketball team, is to keep this in mind: We’ve never felt we’re bigger than this conference,” Miller said. “We just feel like we’re one of the best teams that are trying to win the conference. And no matter what conference you’re in, it’s never going to be a smooth road from start to finish.”
The Flyers’ celebration was tempered by the loss of point guard Rob Lowery. The team’s third-leading scorer suffered a knee injury midway through the first half, and he was sitting in a wheelchair with his leg immobilized afterward.
“What we know right now is he’s torn a tendon in his knee,” UD trainer Nate Seymour said.
Lowery will be examined Thursday, and surgery is likely.
How long will he be out?
“It depends on what structure is damaged, but usually … you want to keep that immobilized for four to six weeks before you start any rehab,” Seymour said.
That means the Flyers point-guard spot will be manned by London Warren and Stephen Thomas the rest of the season. And while Lowery’s loss is a blow, that duo showed against Xavier that they’ll certainly be a handful for any opponent.
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TweetFlyers upset Xavier, 71-58
Chris Wright had 19 points and six rebounds and Marcus Johnson had 13 points to lead Dayton to a 71-58 upset of 14th-ranked Xavier on Wednesday
The Flyers (22-3, 8-2 Atlantic 10) never trailed in the game and turned a two-point lead early in the second half into a 12-point advantage with 10:55 to go. The Musketeers (20-4, 8-2) cut the deficit to seven with 7:30 to go but could get no closer.
Derrick Brown led Xavier with 17 points.
The UD win snaps a six-game losing streak to Xavier.
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TweetGregory wants Flyers to keep their cool
Dayton coach Brian Gregory wants his team to treat the Xavier clash like any other game, aside from playing with crazed intensity.
The Flyers will need to shoot a great percentage and protect the ball on offense like it’s the Shroud of Turin, but he doesn’t want them to try to do more than they’re capable of doing — a common pitfall in games of this magnitude.
“It means more (than other games). You wouldn’t be human if it didn’t. At the same time, you can’t go outside of the things you do well. Sometimes, the most important thing in a game like this is to stick with what you’re good at.”
The Flyers may need to beat Xavier to negate the loss to lowly Charlotte to keep their NCAA tournament hopes on course. But Gregory doesn’t think the setback to the 49ers should be viewed adversely.
“The biggest step our league needs to take — and we’re not there yet — is when you lose a game, especially on the road, that it won’t be considered a bad loss,” he said. “Some people will look at it that way. But Charlotte has been decimated with injuries and now has their entire team back.”
He thinks Xavier’s accomplishments shouldn’t be diminished by a loss at Duquesne, either.
“I already know how good Duquesne is. We went there and won a hard-fought game,” Gregory said. “We’re not there as a league, but I think people in the league understand (the difficulties on the road). The next step is to be known nationwide that these are tough places to play, they’re well-coached teams with talented players. I don’t think there’s any team in the country that wouldn’t take (Charlotte’s) Lamont Mack, the way he’s playing.”
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TweetWright takes Charlotte defeat hard
Chris Wright isn’t happy about his dreary play against Charlotte in a 79-66 loss Sunday, and he’s even more upset about his lack of intensity.
The sophomore forward had a season-low five points and one rebound. He also committed five turnovers.
A four-possession stretch during the 49ers’ game-breaking 19-4 surge typified Wright’s day. He had an offensive foul, a turnover against a full-court press, had a shot blocked and was called for another charge.
“I kind of take some of the blame (for the loss),” he said Monday. “This team lives and dies off hard work, energy and effort, and our team didn’t have it yesterday. I thought about it long and hard last night, and that was out of character for us to play that way.
“Coach (Brian Gregory) tell us he’d rather take mistakes if we’re going 100 miles per hour than not trying. It was devastating. It’s a loss, and I understand everybody loses, but to lose the way we did … I’m going to do everything I can to make sure every game is hard-fought because that’s the type of team we are.
“I guarantee Wednesday (against Xavier) we’ll be a totally different team.”
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TweetUD, Xavier looking to bounce back after defeats
UD Basketball: The week ahead
Games: vs. Xavier (20-3, 8-1 Atlantic 10) at 7 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN Classic); vs. Richmond (11-12, 3-5) at 7 p.m. Saturday (no TV).
Scouting Xavier: The Musketeers were shocked Saturday at Duquesne, which shot 81 percent in the first half while building a 45-30 lead on the way to an 72-68 upset.
“They shot 81 percent in the first half and scored 45 points,” Xavier coach Sean Miller told reporters afterward. “They were shooting at an impossible rate for us even to catch up.”
A-10 player of the week Aaron Jackson had a game-high 21 points for the Dukes.
“I felt we needed to get up early against these guys,” he said. “This is a team that has always been aggressive off the bat.
“We saw the losses they had (to Duke and Butler). They got jumped on, and it was hard for them to come back. They don’t have the veteran guard they had the past couple of years. So, we got ahead of them and took care of business.”
Xavier’s Derrick Brown (12 points) went just 8-for-15 on foul shots. He was fouled on a 3-point attempt with his team down by six with 1:12 to play but made only one of three free throws..
The Musketeers, who had its 11-game win streak snapped, made just 14-of-26 freebies.
“I’ve got to get the job done, it’s as simple as that,” Brown told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I take responsibility for what happened tonight.”
The Musketeers have had trouble with their point-guard play. They’re next-to-last in the A-10 in assist-turnover ratio. They have 303 assists and 361 turnovers. Dayton is sixth in the league with a near equal split of both.
Scouting Richmond: Spiders guard David Gonzalvez scored his 1,000th career point last week. He’s just the 10th player at the school to reach the milestone as a junior. The Spiders, who lost in triple-overtime to Saint Louis on Sunday, confound teams with their Princeton-style offense (keeping their “bigs” on the perimeter) and are third in the league and 26th in the nation in field-goal shooting (.475).
Scouting Dayton: Joe Lunardi knows his stuff. The ESPN “bracketologist” correctly predicted all 34 schools that locked down at-large spots in the NCAA tournament last year, and he said last week Dayton was a virtual shoo-in for The Dance as long as it doesn’t suffer any bad losses.
In dropping a 79-66 decision at Charlotte on Sunday, the Flyers may have managed to do exactly that.
The 49ers were one of three one-win Atlantic 10 teams and were ranked 193rd in the RPI, but they battered the Flyers, 79-66.
Charlotte buried nine of its first 15 shots — its “bigs” were connecting consistently from the wings — but the Flyers overcame some horrid free-throw shooting in the first half (7-for-15) with some precision sniping from 3-point land (4-for-7) to take a 37-33 lead at the break.
They led by six with 15 minutes to go, but they had five turnovers and a shot-clock violation over their next 12 possessions and went down meekly after that.
“They came to play and played better than us,” UD guard Marcus Johnson said. “We don’t look at the NCAA’s or who’s at the bottom. We just played the game we had today. We don’t focus on records. But this was a tough one for us.”
Johnson was coming back from a bout with the flu — he had seven points while playing just 16 minutes — but coach Brian Gregory pointed to the Flyers’ dismal foul-shooting (9-for-20), feeble rebounding (Charlotte had 14 offensive boards) and sloppiness with the ball (17 turnovers) as bigger factors.
“We have to get through some of that stuff (like illlnesses),” he said.
The Flyers’ clash with Xavier has lost plenty of sheen with both teams losing prior to their showdown.
“We’ve got two days to get ready for that game,” Gregory said. “We have to play better than we did today, that’s for sure.”
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TweetDayton suffers road loss to Charlotte
CHARLOTTE — Lamont Mack had 20 points and DiJuan Harris had 13 points and 12 assists to lead Charlotte to a 79-66 win over Dayton here Sunday afternoon.
Chris Johnson had 13 points (all in the first half) and Charles Little 11 to lead UD (21-3, 7-2 Atlantic 10), which had its seven-game winning streak. Charlotte (8-14, 2-6) won for just the third time in its last nine games.
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TweetFlu-stricken Johnson participates in shoot-around
CHARLOTTE — Dayton junior guard Marcus Johnson missed practice Friday and Saturday with a stomach virus, and his status for Sunday’s game against Charlotte won’t be determined until the 1 p.m. tip-off.
Johnson was given intravenous fluids Saturday but felt well enough to eat at the team dinner and participate in a shoot-around at Halton Arena here Saturday night. He’s the Flyers’ second-leading scorer at 12.0 points per game and the team’s top 3-point shooter and defender.
Back-up point guard Stephen Thomas also has the flu and didn’t make the trip. The virus has been going around the UD campus, and the student health center has been flooded with those seeking relief.
If Johnson isn’t 100 percent, junior Mickey Perry, who is averaging 3.3 points while shooting 35.8 percent from the field, would likely move into the starting lineup.
“We’ll have to play him in spurts,” UD trainer Nate Seymour said of Johnson. “As long as we don’t let his tank get completely empty at any one time, he’ll be fine. But then again, he might wake up tomorrow and feel greet.”
The Flyers have won seven straight games to climb into second place in the Atlantic 10 with a 7-1 record.
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TweetWright needs more seasoning before pursuing NBA
You hear a lot of national anthems in this profession (not going anywhere with that, just felt like sharing), and you work with a lot of athletes of all stripes. Some seem like such loose cannons that you’re never surprised when they end up on the wrong side of the law — like Maurice Clarett — or Tasered by the cops — like Alex Boone.
Some, though, are such good-hearted kids you hope your grand-daughters can one day find someone of their ilk — like Chris Wright.
I bring up the Dayton sophomore forward because I hope he makes a clear-headed basketball decision after the season and avoids a premature reach for NBA riches.
Wright is an impressive physical specimen and a rare athlete. And if he matches those gifts with the work ethic of Rudy (the former Notre Dame football walk-on, not the UD mascot), I believe he’ll hone his skills enough to make it at the next level. But he’s a good two years away from that.
The Trotwood native said he hasn’t talked to any NBA scouts — which would be permissible, as long as the athlete doesn’t sign a contract or accept any cash or gifts — and UD coach Brian Gregory said he’d help the player and his family work through the process after the season if they choose to go that route. Let’s hope saner heads prevail, though.
Wright has good support around him with his close relationship with his uncle, J.D. Grigsby, and I’m sure the former Flyer star who teaches in the Dayton City school system and also works as a pastor will offer sound advice.
To his credit, Wright said he hadn’t thought that far ahead — and he seemed convincing.
“I’m just worried about the team,” he said. “The team is most important, us having success this season. When that time comes, when we come to that bridge, we’ll cross it, but I’m just thinking about getting better and helping the team get better.”
I talked this week to an NBA scout, who has seen Wright play twice this season. He said Wright would play the 3 spot in the pros and asked if I thought he could defend NBA wings. My answer? Not at this point. But Wright is getting a chance to learn how to guard 3’s at UD, which is another point for staying in school.
But I agree with Gregory, that it’s not a matter of IF Wright will play in the NBA, but WHEN. Let’s just hope the kid isn’t in too much of a hurry to get there.
I did like how Wright put an end to that nonsense about him transferring to a BCS school. That theme seems to pop up on Dayton Daily News comment posts from paranoid fans, and it’s always seemed preposterous to me.
Wright thought through all of what he might be passing up when he made the decision to stay home for college.
“I always dreamed about my mom getting to see me play,” he said earlier this week. “We have a real, real strong relationship. And we’re 20-2. You can’t complain about that. I lot of people would like to be 20-2.”
He praised the UD coaching staff profusely for helping him develop — Gregory, Billy Schmidt, Jon Borovich and Cornell Mann — and didn’t sound then like a kid eyeing a more visible platform for his skills.
“If it weren’t for BG, Billy, JB, Corn, Dayton and this program, I wouldn’t even get to be talking about (the NBA),” he said. “They’re the ones pushing me hard every day. I’m really enjoying it here. Last year with my injury, I got a little depressed, but I kept my faith in God.
“As far as me transferring and all that stuff, it’s not true. … I’m happy playing with Dayton across my chest.”
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TweetFlyers get some play in national media
UD’s 21-2 start is beginning to get the Flyers noticed in the national media:
• Tonight, in the 10 o’clock hour, UD coach Brian Gregory will be a guest on Fox Sports Radio. Gregory will chat with radio host Tony Bruno. Should be an entertaining segment.
• ESPN.com columnist Dana O’Neil featured UD sophomore Chris Wright is a story posted today. Wright’s mom, Ernestine Grigsby, is quoted extensively.
Wright leads the Flyers in scoring with 12.9 points per game. The Flyers are 35-4 (4-0 vs. ranked teams) the past two seasons with Wright in the lineup.
Read article about Chris Wright
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TweetFlyers keeping cool in crunch time.
I hate to make blanket statements about a team — I’d be a pathetic at sports-talk radio because I don’t have that cocksure attitude that convinces me I’m always right and everyone else is a dolt — but I’ll inch out of my comfort zone a bit and say this about the Dayton basketball team: These guys are winners.
The Flyers don’t shoot with any consistency. There probably are some middle-school teams out there more accurate at the free-throw line. But they play with as much fight as any team in the nation. They also have more athleticism than all but a handful of teams. And that’s a pretty lethal combination.
They proved that again with a 63-61 road win over La Salle on Wednesday. They don’t panic. They play as loose as if they’re squaring off in some shirts-and-skins game during summer workouts.
The Flyers led by 17 with 4:55 to go in the first half after an ally-oop dunk by Chris Wright, but they committed three straight turnovers after that (they had 19 in all) to trigger a comeback from the Explorers, who hit a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer and took that momentum into the second session, cranking out a 14-1 run.
UD had no answer for bulky guard Rodney Green, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound junior who had 25 points.
“It’s a different system that you don’t see anywhere else. Their guards post up, and those guards can score,” UD coach Brian Gregory said.
The Flyers (21-2, 7-1 Atlantic 10) never trailed in the game and still had a 60-54 lead with 3:32 to go, but the Explorers got a 3-pointer from Green and, after a Rob Lowery turnover, two free throws from Green.
Wright hit one of two foul shots for a 61-59 lead, and the Flyers got a defensive stop. But London Warren committed a palming violation as the shot clock was winding down with 1:00 to go.
Green then hit a turnaround eight-footer on the baseline with 46.4 seconds left. But the Flyers turned one possession into two, forcing a jump ball with 14 seconds left and setting up a play for Wright.
“We just wanted to spread the court and try to let Chris get to the basket to make a play,” Gregory said.
Wright missed another off-balance drive, but Marcus Johnson soared in for a monster tip-dunk with 1.2 seconds to go.
“If you look at it, everybody kind of stretched out and created a driving area for Chris, and the guy, (Yves Mekongo) Mbala, did a good job on him.” Gregory said. “But with everyone stretched out, it gives you rebounding avenues, and Marcus went right down the gap.”
The Flyers keep doing what winners are supposed to do — prevail on the road. They’re 5-2 on foreign courts and 7-2 in all games away from UD Arena.
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TweetFlyers win on Johnson’s dunk
PHILADELPHIA — Marcus Johnson scored on a dunk with 1.2 seconds to go to give Dayton a 63-61 win over La Salle here Wednesday night.
With the game tied, UD’s Chris Wright missed an off-balance drive after starting from the top of the key, but Johnson grabbed the rebound off the rim and jammed it in one motion.
La Salle’s Rodney Green missed a half-court heave at the buzzer as the Flyers improved to 21-2 overall and 7-1 in the Atlantic 10. The Explorers fell to 12-9, 3-4.
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TweetFlyers finally reach Philly for La Salle game
Dayton coach Brian Gregory doesn’t expect the travel troubles on the trip to Philadelphia to be a factor in tonight’s game at La Salle, even though the players had a short night’s stay in a city they never expected to see.
The Flyers (20-2) didn’t arrive in Philly until 11:30 a.m. today for their 7 p.m. game, going straight to Tom Gola Arena for a light practice. The city reportedly was hit with six inches of snow in a two-hour span Tuesday night, forcing the team to divert to Allentown, Pa.
The Flyers, though, didn’t appear to be zapped from their travails during their lively workout, which lasted about an hour. They can bolster their NCAA tournament hopes with a win against La Salle (12-8), which is a one-point favorite.
“We live in the Midwest and travel to the East coast. You’re going to have travel adversity the whole year,” Gregory said. “The most important thing is for the guys to concentrate on what they can control, and the only thing we can control is the energy we play with, the attitude we play with and the toughness we’re going to need. That doesn’t change whether you’re on a bus or plane, in Maui or Philly.”
The Flyers’ charter jet was scheduled to take off from Dayton at about 6 p.m. Tuesday, but it was delayed until 9:30 p.m. because of the snowstorm in Philly. Once in the air, a typical 70-minute flight stretched into two hours as the pilots were instructed to go into a holding pattern because of problems on the ground.
While waiting for clearance to land, the charter became low on fuel and was forced to divert to Allentown, landing at about 11:30 p.m.
After waiting for a favorable report from the Philadelphia airport for nearly one hour, the decision was made to find lodging near the airport in Allentown, which is about an hour north of Philly. The team, UD athletic director Tim Wabler, UD Arena manager Tim O’Connell, other school personnel, media and about a dozen fans finally began checking into a nearby hotel at 1 a.m.
The Flyers had an 8:45 a.m. wake-up call, ate the complimentary breakfast at the Homewood Suites and boarded the bus for the arena. The trip took almost two hours — nearly twice as long as planned — because of traffic.
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TweetFlyers at 26th spot in national polls
Dayton made a significant jump in the national polls after beating Saint Joseph’s for its third straight win Sunday but not enough to crack either the Associated Press or ESPN-USA Today coaches Top 25.
The Flyers have the 26th-most votes in each poll. Last week, they were 36th in the AP Top 25 and 33rd in the coaches ratings.
The Flyers are getting some love elsewhere. They’re ranked 24th in the collegehoops.net Power 50, and they’ve become fixtures in NCAA tournament bracket projections.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, who correctly picked all 34 at-large teams last year, has Dayton as a ninth seed now in his bracket. In other words, comfortably in.
But the Flyers, of course, still have much work left. They have nine regular-season games to go, beginning with road trips to La Salle and Charlotte before coming home to face league favorite Xavier.
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TweetGregory says Johnson ‘fine’
Dayton coach Brian Gregory is optimistic junior guard Marcus Johnson will be cleared for the La Salle game Wednesday.
Johnson suffered a knee injury after colliding with teammate Chris Wright in the waning minutes against Saint Joseph’s on Sunday.
“He’s fine. He just had a little bruise on the knee,” Gregory said on the Atlantic 10 teleconference today. “Chris Wright missed a free throw, and as Marcus sprinted down court, him and Marcus banged knees.
“He’s always had a little tendonitis in his knee, and it’s a little extra tender. He had ice on it right away. He’s got to get two days of a lot of rehab and stretching, and I think he’ll be OK on Wednesday.”
The Flyers put together one of their best showings of the season in a 69-58 win over St. Joe’s, making 7-of-11 three-pointers, holding the Hawks to 34.6-percent shooting and grabbing a 35-29 advantage on the boards.
UD led by six at halftime and opened the second half with a 10-3 run to put the game away, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Johnson.
“In some other games, we maybe did some specific things better, but all the way around — our defensive intensity, our coverage on the backboards, stepping up to the line and making free throws — every facet was pretty good,” Gregory said.
“The only one that maybe wasn’t as good as it could be was the opportunities in the open court. We were loose with the ball. At the same time, I make it hard on our (point guards). Those guys have to do a lot of stuff. The intensity and pace they need to play with for us to be successful … at times it’s almost an impossible task to slow down and make great decisions with the ball.
“What’s happened is we’ve done enough things to compensate for that shortcoming when we do have it. But for a 40-minute stretch against a team like (St. Joe’s), you had to be on the top of your game, and we were.”
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TweetUD looks to build tourney credentials on road
UD Basketball: The Week Ahead Games: at La Salle (12-8, 3-3 Atlantic 10) 7 p.m. Wednesday (no TV); at Charlotte (7-13, 1-5) 1 p.m. Sunday (Channel 7).
Scouting La Salle: The Explorers have four players averaging in double figures, led by Rodney Green’s 16.8 per game. They had a three-game winning streak snapped with an overtime defeat at Rhode Island on Saturday.
Scouting Charlotte: Aside from Lamont Mack’s performance this season (13.9 points per game), Charlotte has struggled mightily while being ravaged by injuries. The 49ers do have a win at Mississippi State, but they’re shooting just 40.2 percent from the field, the second-worst mark in the league. Leemire Goldwire, where have you gone?
Scouting Dayton: The Flyers are coming off a 69-58 win against St. Joe’s, which looked like a team that could make a run at the A-10 regular-season or tournament titles. (Yes, I know about Xavier, but the defending champs just squeaked by 12-loss UMass by two at home.)
“You look at St. Joe’s and what they’ve done with coach (Phil) Martelli, and it’s a program you do want to measure yourself against. … I respect him a lot and respect the way he coaches,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “It’s a completely different team than the one we played when they had Jameer Nelson and those guys. But it’s still a really, really good team.
“I’ll be honest, that’s an NCAA tournament team. I don’t care what their record says right now (12-8, 5-1 in the A-10). They play all home-and-home games. They don’t get any guaranteed games (that is, non-league games against soft touches willing to play on the road for a paycheck). He’s got those guys playing exceptionally well. … It just shows how tough our league is.”
The Flyers are 20-2 but probably still won’t crack the Top-25, even though there’s room in the poll with Saint Mary’s suffering two defeats last week and others near the bottom of the Top 25 falling.
“People might not hear about us, but the numbers don’t lie,” senior forward Charles Little said of the Flyers’ 20-2 record. “We’ll just keeping putting up the wins, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Lunardi weighs in: You’re going to see his face frequently as the NCAA tournament gets closer. He’s Joe Lunardi, perhaps the top “bracketologist” in the land.
He correctly predicted all 34 at-large spots in the tourney last year, and he explained Sunday why he thought the selection committee made the right call in leaving Dayton out.
The Flyers, you’ll remember, had a 21-10 record, an RPI of 32, a strength-of-schedule of 33 and wins over nationally ranked Louisville and Pittsburgh. But they were passed over apparently because of an 8-8 league record.
“The team being evaluated (on Selection Sunday) wasn’t the same team that played so well in the non-conference season,” Lunardi said. “If Chris Wright would have accelerated his comeback by two or three weeks, and he could have demonstrated he was whole, and the team could have demonstrated they were whole, they would have gotten in. But because he wasn’t, they weren’t.”
The Flyers have had some close calls against weak teams this season (a one-point home win over Fordham and a two-pointer at George Washington), but Lunardi doesn’t believe that will detract from the Flyers’ credentials.
“The committee will tell you the margin of victory is not an issue,” he said. “And arithmetically, with the RPI, it’s true. Whoever the committee member is who follows the A-10 … that person might say, ‘I watched them four times, and they were lucky to get by them and them and them.’
“Could that be an issue? Yes. Will it be if they win 25 games? I think the issue is can they avoid an anchor or two (by actually losing to a bottom-tier team)? Someone could say, ‘You know what, they lost at Charlotte, and that team has been in the tank for six weeks. A tournament team wins that game.’ “
Lunardi said beating Xavier at least would help the cause, but that isn’t necessarily a requirement.
“They’re going to have enough wins,” he said. “The idea is to avoid bad losses.”
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TweetWright glad to see Johnson OK
Chris Wright thought Marcus Johnson’s knee injury was serious at first. The two collided near halfcourt at the end of the St. Joe’s game Sunday, and Johnson dropped in a heap, clutching his leg.
But the junior guard was diagnosed with just a bruised knee and is expected to play Wednesday at La Salle.
“Marcus is a tough kid, but I knew it hurt,” Wright said. “When you bang knees like that, what people don’t understand is it’s bone on bone. It really does hurt. I was a little nervous. He banged my knee and I felt the impact. I was just talking to him, telling him we were going to pull it out.”
The 69-58 win over St. Joe’s was just what the Flyers needed for their confidence after squeaking by Saint Louis by a point in their previous outing.
“That’s an NCAA tournament-caliber team, a team that’s capable of winning our league and a player (Ahmad Nivins) that’s pushing for player of the year in our league. He was working down there. He’s a great player,” Wright said.
“Their whole team is really good. Every time we threw something at them, they came right back with something.”
Little heats up: After going scoreless against St. Bonaventure on Jan. 25, UD’s Charles Little has scored 27 points in his last two games.
“I’m just trying to be aggressive, get to the foul line and get some easy points,” he said.
Foul shots were no easy proposition for Little for much of his career, but he’s made 12-of-13 free throws in his last two outings, raising his percentage from 57.9 to 67.3.
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TweetFlyers cruise to victory over St. Joe’s
Chris Wright had 14 points and Charles Little and Marcus Johnson added 13 apiece to lead Dayton to its sixth straight victory, a 69-58 win over visiting Saint Joseph’s on Sunday.
Ahmad Nivins, who was averaging 20.2 points and 11.7 rebounds, finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for St. Joe’s (12-8, 5-1), which had its seven-game winning streak snapped.
The Flyers’ victory looked as if it may have been costly when Johnson injured his right knee with 2:18 to go. He was writhing on the floor while receiving medical attention. It turns out, though, he suffered only a bruised knee when he collided with teammate Chris Wright and is expected to be OK when UD visits La Salle on Wednesday.
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