Anyone here in Maui could understand how someone could fall asleep, even in the noisy arena, because it’s hard to adjust to the time difference here. By the time the Dayton Flyers and Tar Heels tipped off, it was close to midnight back in Ohio. The game tipped off at about 6:45 p.m. in Maui.
The biggest fans stayed awake until the bitter end — and it was a truly bitter end for Dayton.
“We are Dayton fans,” wrote Dan Sulivan, the founder of the Talking Out Lowd podcast, on X after the game. “We are born in pain. We live in pain. We are pain. We did not choose this life, the life chose us.”
The Flyers lost 92-90 to No. 12 North Carolina, blowing a 21-point lead. You have to go back to 2000 to find a non-overtime game in which Dayton scored 90 points and lost.
Dayton has lost a bigger lead in recent years, 23 points, two years ago against Brigham Young in the Battle 4 Atlantis, but it owned that lead early in the game. This time, it had its biggest lead two minutes into the second half. The Flyers played about as well as they could have hoped to play in many categories but could not get defensive stops in the second half.
Dayton looked like a top-25 team in the first half. North Carolina looked like the No. 12 team, if not much better, in the second half.
Coach Anthony Grant was in no mood to talk about moral victories after the game. I asked if there was a silver lining in getting solid contributions from all 10 players who played. Jaiun Simon, for example, provided his most important contributions ever in a Dayton uniform, scoring on a drive to the basket in the first half and grabbing an offensive rebound in the second half that led to a 3-pointer.
This is the answer Grant provided when I asked about the team effort that almost led to an upset:
“It’s a hard loss,” Grant said. “We felt like we had chances to win the game. So we’ve got to be able to be resilient and put our focus on the next game. That’s what I’m trying to do right now.
“We can’t really relive what happened tonight. Didn’t go our way. Our guys fought. We gave it everything we had. Give Carolina credit. They were able to win the game. So now we’ve got to get prepared for another tough, really challenging game tomorrow.”
Dayton (5-1) will play Iowa State (3-1) at 8:30 p.m. today, or 3:30 p.m. if you’re in Maui. The Cyclones had their own rough day Monday, blowing an 18-point lead in an 83-81 loss to No. 5 Auburn.
Three of the first-round games were thrillers. Only Michigan State’s 72-56 victory against Colorado did not fit in that category. That was the one game I skipped. I took a break after watching No. 2 Memphis beat Connecticut 99-97 in overtime and spent some time at the beach and at the pool. I needed my energy for a late night.
Dayton fans didn’t get much sleep, probably tossing and turning and replaying the game in their minds. Some will take solace in a close victory that showed what this Dayton team could be. I joked with Morrison that I always enjoy when my team loses close games. That’s why I’m having such a great time watching the Bengals this season.
About the Author
