This was that important a game for the Dayton Flyers. The students, a few of whom started tailgating at sunrise on Saturday morning, brought the type of energy their team needed to have a chance against the nation’s No. 6 team. The rest of the sellout crowd of 13,407, which hasn’t seen Dayton lose on Tom Blackburn Court in 658 days and counting, did its part as well.
Everyone had plenty of reasons to boo and cheer on a night that will rank among the most memorable in the 56 seasons of UD Arena. In its first home game against a top-six team since the 2007-08 season, Dayton rallied from a 13-point deficit in the second half to beat Marquette 71-63. The players celebrated by going into the student section after the game and making a mosh pit with their fellow students.
“Coming to the end of non-conference, we’re trying to finish strong,” Dayton forward Nate Santos said. “It’s a huge one.”
Dayton (9-2) won its 24th straight home game. It also became the first Dayton team to beat two top-six teams in the regular season since 1955. The only other Dayton team to accomplish that feat was the 1967 Flyers who beat No. 6 Western Kentucky and No. 4 North Carolina in the NCAA tournament.
Dayton has now won three straight games in the series against Marquette (9-2) and six of seven since losing seven straight games in the 1990s. This was the first meeting between the former Midwestern Collegiate Conference and Great Midwest Conference teams since the 2008-09 season
“A lot of the credit goes to the players,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said, “and their heart, their resiliency, their willingness to stick together through adversity and believe in each other. And then I can’t say enough about our crowd. This environment here tonight was as good as anywhere. Man, this was big time. I’m so happy and grateful we’ve got the best fans in the country, and so I’m glad we were able to come through with the win tonight.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 11th game:
1. Dayton’s offense found a rhythm in the second half: The Flyers scored five points in the first 10 minutes. Several times they had to force a shot to beat the shot clock. Nothing was working. Shots weren’t dropping — they made 1 of 9 3-pointers in the half. They trailed 32-19 with three minutes left in the first half and 36-26 at halftime.
The second half was a different story. The high-powered offense Dayton showed in three games in Maui led it to a 45-point half. Dayton 3 of 10 3-pointers in the second half and 17 of 26 2-point shots.
“I’m just really proud of the effort from our guys today,” Grant said. “Obviously, much respect for Marquette. Shaka (Smart) has done an unbelievable job of building one of the best teams in the country. We knew we would have to do a great job taking care of the ball and have some continuity and success offensively to keep them out of transition. They’ve got a lot of weapons offensively. We tried to keep them in front of us. On the defensive end, our coaching staff did a great job of having a game plan ready to try to limit some of the things that they’ve had success with. We had to make some adjustments. Credit to our staff, to the players, for being able to make those adjustments from a defensive standpoint, and then offensively, we were able to figure some things out in the second half to get some success offensively, to be able to set our defense.”
Credit: David Jablonski
2. Dayton proved once again it can play from behind: Dayton rallied from a 13-point deficit in the first half to beat Northwestern 71-66 in the second game of the season. This time, it faced a 13-point deficit in both halves.
Dayton chipped away at the lead until tying the game at 53-53 on a steal and layup by Javon Bennett with 7 minutes, 43 seconds to play.
Dayton took its first lead on the next possession on a layup by Zed Key and led the rest of the way. Dayton ended the game with a 5-0 run with layups by Malachi Smith and Enoch Cheeks sealing the victory.
Marquette committed seven of its 13 turnovers in the last 11 minutes.
“I thought we allowed the chaotic and frantic nature of the game to affect our clarity of mind on the defensive end,” Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. “It’s a real lesson for us.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3. Dayton added another impressive line to its NCAA tournament resume: The Flyers likely will land in the Associated Press top 25 for the first time this season next week. They jumped six spots in the Ken Pomeroy ratings to No. 26, their highest point this season.
This was Dayton’s second Quadrant 1 victory. Marquette is No. 7 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. As long as it stays in the top 30, this will remain a Quad 1 victory. Dayton also has a victory against No. 20 Connecticut on a neutral court in Maui. If UConn stays in the top 50, that will be a Quad 1 victory for Dayton.
“These kind of wins help us for March Madness,” Dayton guard Javon Bennett said. “We set a goal to be one of those teams in March Madness. When we have a team come into our building that highly ranked, we want to take advantage of those opportunities.”
STAR OF THE GAME
Nate Santos had 12 points and 13 rebounds. It was the second double-double of his career. He twice tipped in missed shots by teammates in the final four minutes to push Dayton’s lead to five points.
STAT OF THE GAME
Dayton outscored Marquette 46-26 in the paint. Zed Key led Dayton’s big men with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Marquette’s highest-scoring forward, David Joplin, scored eight points on 3-of-7 shooting.
LOOKING AHEAD
Dayton plays UNLV (4-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena. UNLV lost 83-65 at Creighton on Saturday. It has lost three straight games.
TUESDAY’S GAME
UNLV at Dayton, 7 p.m., Peacock, 1290, 95.7
About the Author
