ANALYSIS: Breaking down Dayton’s performance in non-conference play

“So we’re pretty good, too,” Grant said.

To emphasize he was pleased with the team’s performance in non-conference play, Grant added, “I’m good.”

That Grant would say that after Dayton’s worst performance of the season says a lot about what his team accomplished in 13 non-conference games. Dayton dropped out of the Associated Press top 25 on Monday after the 66-59 loss to Cincinnati in the Hoops Classic at the Heritage Bank Center, but it finished 10-3 against the most challenging non-conference schedule in years.

Dayton, picked second in the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason poll behind Virginia Commonwealth, set itself up as the favorite heading into A-10 play. The Flyers play La Salle (8-5) in the first of 18 league games at 2 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena.

The 11-day holiday break gave most of the players a chance to go home for the holidays. Malachi Smith, for example, returned to Bronx, N.Y., where he joined former teammate Koby Brea for a basketball camp Sunday at Brea’s alma mater, Monsignor Scanlan. Zed Key, who’s from Long Island, N.Y., posed for a photo in front of the Brooklyn Bridge, according to his Instagram account. Amaël L’Etang watched the Cincinnati Bengals play Sunday and then visited Chicago and shared photos from both places on Instagram.

Before turning the page to the A-10, here’s a summary of Dayton’s non-conference season:

MVP: Fifth-year guard Enoch Cheeks leads Dayton in scoring (13.9 points per game) and rebounding (7.4). He has improved his 3-point shooting percentage from 30.4 to 40.4 despite shooting much more from behind the arc. He has already made as many 3-pointers this season (24 of 60) in 12 games as he did last season (24 of 79) as he did last season in 33 games.

Most improved: Cheeks would get this award, too, but the second-most improved player is junior guard Javon Bennett, who has improved his 3-point shooting percentage from 31.6 to 36.8. He is shooting about the same number of 3s per game (3.4 last season and 3.3 this season).

Most consistent: After scoring in single digits three times in the first four games, the team’s top returning scorer, senior forward Nate Santos, has scored between 12 and 24 points in the last nine games. He’s close to Cheeks in scoring (13.8) and also has improved his outside shooting (41.8 last season to 43.3 this season).

Biggest comeback: Smith, a redshirt junior guard, missed all of last season after injuring his knee in the season opener, and now he’s putting up the best numbers of his career: 11.2 points and 5.8 assists per game. He’s shooting 46.7% (14 of 30) from 3-point range and a career-best 48.6% from 2-point range. Two years ago, in another injury-plagued season, he averaged 7.7 points and 5.6 assists in 19 games, while shooting 38.3% (32 of 79) from 3-point range and 40.5% from 2-point range.

Best newcomer: After averaging 7.4 points in four seasons at Ohio State, Key is averaging a career-best 12.3 points in his first and only season at Dayton. His field-goal percentage (65.8) is also the best of his career. He averaged 10.8 points and shot 55% in his best season at Ohio State two years ago.

Best sixth man: A starter for three seasons at St. John’s and one at Butler, fifth-year guard Posh Alexander has accepted a smaller role at Dayton. He’s averaging 22.8 minutes per game after averaging no fewer than 31 minutes in his first four seasons. His scoring (6.8) and assist averages (3.3) are also the lowest of his career. But he’s had big moments: 16 points and 6 assists against Connecticut, for example.

Top freshmen: L’Etang, a 7-foot-1 forward from France who is the tallest player in UD history, averaged 5.9 points and 4.1 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game in non-conference play. Only Key (31.2) is putting up more points per 100 possessions than L’Etang (29.5).

Best performance: Dayton beat No. 2 Connecticut 85-67 on Nov. 27 in the seventh-place game at the Maui Invitational. It was Dayton’s biggest upset since it beat No. 2 Notre Dame in 1974. UConn lost all three games in Maui but has since won six straight games. Its last five opponents are all ranked in the top 75 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool: Baylor; Texas; Gonzaga; Xavier; and Butler. It fell to No. 25 in the AP poll after Maui but now is No. 11.

Biggest comebacks: Dayton overcame 13-point deficits in a 71-66 victory against Northwestern on Nov. 9 and did it again in a 71-63 victory against Marquette on Dec. 14.

Biggest collapse: Dayton led North Carolina by 21 points early in the second half on Nov. 25 in the first round of the Maui Invitational and lost 92-90.

Worst performance: Dayton faced its biggest deficit of the season, 18 points, against Cincinnati. It shot a season-worst 45.5% from 2-point range and committed a season-high 17 turnovers.

Biggest shot: Smith’s 3-point play with eight seconds to play lifted Dayton to a 66-65 victory against UNLV on Dec. 17 and pushed Dayton’s home winning streak to 25 games.

Best streak: That 25-game home winning streak is tied for the fourth-longest active home winning streak in the country, according to WarrenNolan.com. Houston has 29 straight home games. Connecticut and Drake have each won 27 straight. Iowa State and Samford have also won 25 in a row.

Biggest milestone: Key scored his 1,000th career point during an 86-62 victory against Lehigh on Dec. 7. He now has 1,043 points in five seasons. Cheeks (1,279) and Alexander (1,421) also have 1,000-plus points in five seasons.

Best stat: Dayton’s turnover percentage (14.2) ranks 26th in the nation. Its program’s best number since KenPom.com started keeping the stat in the 1996-97 season. Dayton averages 9.5 turnovers per game. That would be the best number since the 1976-77 season, which is as far back as the turnover numbers go on Stathead.com. Dayton set its previous best mark (10.4) last season.

Worst stat: Dayton forces 10.8 turnovers per game. That’s the third-lowest number of the past 41 seasons.

TUESDAY’S GAME

La Salle at Dayton, 2 p.m., Fan Duel Sports Network, 95.7, 1290