2024 Maui Invitational diary, Day 5: Covering the Flyers in Hawaii

A reporter asked North Carolina coach Hubert Davis on Sunday if he had any excursions planned for the players. He said the trip to Maui was the excursion.

I would ask the players myself what they’ve been doing away from the court, but one disappointing aspect of the Maui Invitational is it’s hard to get one-on-one interviews. The locker rooms are small, so teams leave the Lahaina Civic Center fast after games. I could loiter outside the building and catch players on the way to the buses, but then I would miss Anthony Grant’s postgame press conference.

Grant and Nate Santos appeared at the press conference Monday after Dayton’s 92-90 loss to No. 12 North Carolina. On Tuesday after an 89-84 loss to No. 5 Iowa State, Malachi Smith accompanied Grant to the press conference. There was little time to ask about snorkeling or cliff jumping. There were more important questions to ask.

Maybe tonight I’ll get the chance. Dayton plays No. 2 Connecticut at 7 p.m., or midnight back in Ohio. If Dayton fans had been told before the tournament, they would be playing UConn, they would have thought it was in the championship game. Instead, it’s the seventh-place game.

Dayton, no doubt, is in the midst of its toughest three-day stretch of basketball in its history. There are plenty of seasons Dayton hasn’t played one top-12 team. This week, it’s playing three in three days.

I thought before the tournament Dayton needed to win at least one game here, or its NCAA tournament hopes would take a serious early hit, but three losses to teams as strong as these shouldn’t doom Dayton, especially with chances against two top-25 teams, Marquette and Cincinnati, coming up in December.

Iowa State made Dayton look good Wednesday by beating Colorado 99-71 in the fifth-place game. One day after beating UConn 73-72, the Buffaloes lost their second game in this tournament by a decisive margin. They fell 72-56 to Michigan State in the first round.

If Dayton beats UConn, it will leave the island with one victory against UConn, like Colorado, but with two close losses, unlike Colorado.

The championship game earlier Wednesday was also lopsided. Auburn beat Memphis 90-76. The game wasn’t that close. Auburn led from start to finish after opening the game with a 9-0 run and led by as many as 20 points in the first half.

As for myself, I’ll head over to the arena in a couple of hours. I wore myself out by driving to the top of Haleakalā, the 10,000-foot volcano that towers over Maui. It’s hairpin turn all the way to the top. Shoutout to all the bicyclists climbing to the summit with their leg power. I didn’t get that kind of workout, just a 2- to 3-mile hike at the peak.

I’m sure I will rally tonight to write about what I hope will be a third straight memorable game.