One day after Dayton coach Anthony Grant hugged Rhode Island star Fatts Russell after his final game, VCU’s Mike Rhoades embraced Crutcher on the court before he headed to the locker room. No. 7 seed Dayton faced long odds of advancing to the championship game at UD Arena on March 14, but that was the dream until No. 2 VCU derailed it.
“We’re all sad,” Crutcher said.
“I’m just hurting,” fellow senior Jordy Tshimanga said.
Jalen Crutcher's great career ends (unless there's a NIT bid, and I'm not caught up on NIT bracketology) with a 73-68 loss to VCU. The Flyers made a late run to make the final score respectable but never gave VCU a serious scare and trailed from start to finish. pic.twitter.com/sZwmxDWez2
— David Jablonski (@DavidPJablonski) March 5, 2021
Unless Dayton is one of 16 teams invited to the NIT, its season is over. It won’t play in the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year, though it would have a year ago if not for the coronavirus pandemic. Dayton followed a historic 29-2 season with a 14-9 season. It still hasn’t won the A-10 tournament since 2003, and it hasn’t advanced past the quarterfinals since 2015.
Dayton has lost to VCU all three times the teams have met in the A-10 tournament, and VCU (18-6) beat Dayton three times in 2021 by a combined 37 points. The Rams will play No. 3 seed Davidson or No. 6 George Mason in the semifinals at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Siegel Center.
“VCU has had an outstanding year,” Grant said. “They came out tonight and played extremely well. Our guys fought for 40 minutes. We’re obviously disappointed with the result.”
Turnovers, Dayton’s biggest issue all season, haunted them again on Friday. Dayton committed 14 turnovers in a 66-43 loss at the Siegel Center on Jan. 23. It had 16 in a 76-67 loss to VCU at UD Arena on Feb. 9. It had 21 in this game, falling one short of its season high.
“VCU’s a good team,” Crutcher said. “They make you make plays instead of running your plays. They have a great game plan. They have a great defense.”
Bones Hyland, who missed the previous two games with a sprained foot, led VCU with 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting. He scored 77 points in the three games against Dayton. He made a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer while falling out of bounds in front of the Dayton bench, giving VCU a 37-26 lead.
“He’s a really good player,” Grant said. “He’s proven that all year. He was really good in terms of making shots in the first half. Our guys tried to make it as difficult as we possibly could. He’s got some really good teammates that help him as well.”
Crutcher scored 12 points on 5-of-18 shooting in the first two games against VCU. He led the Flyers with 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting in this game. If this was his last game, he finished his career with 1,587 points. That ranks 16th in Dayton history. He’s between Chris Wright (1,601) and Johnny Davis (1,562).
Like the rest of the Flyers, Crutcher played all season in front of few fans. His family travelled from Memphis to many home games and were at the A-10 games in Richmond as well. This was a season like no other because of the COVID-19 protocols that affected daily life for everyone involved with the team.
“We had to make a lot of sacrifices during this pandemic,” Crutcher said.
“It was a year of adversity,” Tshimanga said. “I’m really proud of the group we had this year, and I’m proud of who we became at the end of the season. The events didn’t turn out the way we wanted to, but I’m proud of the guys.”
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