The Dayton Flyers did not reward those fans Tuesday, delivering another poor performance on the road and losing 75-53 at the Reilly Center. The result wasn’t as jarring as the margin of victory for the Bonnies. The last Dayton team to suffer two 20-point losses in Atlantic 10 Conference play in one season was the worst Dayton team in recent memory, coach Anthony Grant’s first team in 2017-18.
Grant’s first team struggled from the start and finished 14-17. His current team finished 10-3 against the best non-conference schedule in recent memory. That makes its 4-4 start in A-10 play — with two losses by 20 or more points plus another loss at home to George Mason that was a blowout until the final minutes — all the more perplexing.
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I see fans creating all sorts of ridiculous conspiracy theories to try to explain what has happened to Dayton. The reality is Dayton’s defense just hasn’t been good enough.
Even with a 53-point performance Tuesday, the offense ranks 39th in the country in adjusted efficiency, according to KenPom.com. The defense ranks 147th. That’s the worst mark by far since it ranked 238th in that 14-17 season.
Teams are shooting 34.8% from 3-point range against Dayton. That’s the worst mark since — you guessed it — the 2017-18 season when the number was 38.3%. It’s the same story with opponents’ 2-point shooting percentage: 50.8% this season; 52.5% seven years ago’ and nothing over 49% in the seasons between.
It’s hard for me to point at specific problems right after games because I take photographs from Dayton’s offensive end. It’s hard to judge defensive issues. So I went to ESPN+ to watch the replay of the Duquesne game. Here’s a glance at the shots Duquesne made during a 9-0 game-changing run early in the second half.
1. Melvin Council Jr. throws a pass from behind the 3-point line on the left side to the right corner, where Lajae Jones stood all alone. Dayton’s Enoch Cheeks was guarding Jones when the possession began but drifted far away from Jones into the paint, perhaps with the intent to double team the player Amaël L’Etang was guarding. That decision left Jones, who made 5 of 6 3s in the first half, wide open. Cheeks ran at him as he caught the ball, but he made the shot and gave the Bonnies a 42-35 lead.
2. Dayton had two players, Malachi Smith and L’Etang, guarding Jonah Hinton outside the 3-point line on the right. That left Noel Brown wide open at the free-throw line. L’Etang moved to guard him after he caught the ball and put up one hand but did not jump or run at him. Brown made the shot.
3. After L’Etang missed what should have been a simple layup or dunk, Brown scored again, throwing a short hook shot over L’Etang. Grant sent Isaac Jack to the scorer’s table after the miss by L’Etang and replaced L’Etang with Jack the next chance he got.
“I thought Isaac was giving us a little bit more tonight,” Grant said. “But Amaël will be fine. He wasn’t able to finish the plays. The big fella’s (Brown) physicality, kind of got the best of him in a couple of situations.”
4. Even with Jack in the game, the run continued. Council dribbled past Smith to score on a layup to give St. Bonaventure a 48-35 lead with 17 minutes, 32 seconds left in the game.
Those four possessions and many more show Dayton’s defensive problems don’t fall on any one individual. It’s a team-wide weakness, and it’s hard to see it improving this far into the season. Teams are taking advantage of Dayton’s lack of size on the perimeter.
It doesn’t seem to matter if Grant puts the team in zone or man to man. There are no easy fixes.
Another road test on Friday
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
I just sat down at my gate at the Columbus airport. I’m on my wait to St. Louis for the 12th time in 12 seasons. Two of those trips took place in one season because Dayton played in the NCAA tournament in St. Louis in 2016. The only season I didn’t cover a game at Chaifetz Arena was the pandemic season of 2020-21.
I met two Dayton fans on the shuttle bus from the Red Lot to the terminal. They’re taking the same direct flight to St. Louis and joining a group of 20 alums at the game. They saw my Dayton Daily News jacket and thanked me for my service, which is a first for me in many years of traveling. I told them I’m just a sports writer and not doing the important work of investigative journalists like Josh Sweigart and others but appreciated the sentiment.
I told them I don’t know what to expect tonight when Dayton plays Saint Louis at 7 p.m. The Billikens have not lived up to the preseason hype in coach Josh Schertz’s first season but have played better lately and just beat Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday for their best victory this season.
“What I’ve learned, and it’s probably not a good thing for the conference, is how much parity there is and how deep it is,” SLU coach Josh Schertz said in an article on longtime SLU beat writer Stu Durando’s Substack. “Every single night is remarkably challenging. There’s not a game where you’re like, ‘We can basically write this down as a win.’ One through 15, you’d better be ready to bring it.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
A memorable interview on Monday
On Monday, I traveled to St. Leonard in Centerville to interview Jim Zofkie, who covered the Flyers in the 1960s and 1970s for the Journal Herald. His son Tim helped set up the interview, and Tim and another son, Mike, were there when I talked to Jim.
Jim’s sons brought his old typewriter and a scrapbook with his stories. They also showed me a number of letters Jim received from famous coaches during his sports writing days. Dean Smith, Lee Corso and even Adolph Rupp wrote to Zofkie.
“I enjoyed so much hearing from you and also for the nice article you did on me,” Rupp wrote in 1972. “I thought it was tremendous.”
The story I will write next week on Zofkie will be a companion piece to the article I’m doing for the Feb. 9 Flyer Connection section on my interview with former UD beat writers Hal McCoy, Bucky Albers and Doug Harris. I spoke to Zofkie, 90, and his sons for 30 minutes.
On covering Don Donoher, Zofkie said, “We got along. He understood that if things were bad I had to report that.”
On covering games at the UD Fieldhouse, Zofkie said, “I remember that it was so much smaller than the new arena. I was kind of glad to see the move to a new arena because the field house was getting packed.”
Zofkie took his kids along for the ride many times. I hope my 6-year-old son Chase has similar memories someday once he’s able to tag along with me more often.
“It was a really cool way to grow up as a kid,” Tim said.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Does Dayton still have a chance to earn a NCAA tournament at-large bid? Not really. TeamRanking.com lists those chances at 0%. I think they’d make it if they win their last 10 games, but the website gives them a 1% chance of accomplishing that.
🏀 George Mason did not win an A-10 championship in its first 11 seasons in the league, and it never contended for a regular-season title in those years. It’s been a different story this season. The Patriots are 7-1 in the A-10 and all alone in first place. The headline of this story from BustingBrackets.com is “George Mason may recapture March magic with Tony Skinn.”
🏀 What do you want to know about the Flyers?
I want to hear from you. Reach out to me directly at david.jablonski@coxinc.com with your questions and feedback on the team or this newsletter.
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