ANALYSIS: Three takeaways from Dayton’s victory against Rhode Island

Bennett made the shot anyway. The officials said nothing.

Archie Miller went a couple steps farther, literally, on Saturday and nearly collided with Dayton guard Koby Brea as Dayton pushed the pace in the first half. Miller, at least, tried to get out of the way. Brea passed to DaRon Holmes II under the basket for a score.

This time the officials issued a coach’s box warning to Miller.

Despite the “defensive” efforts of those opposing coaches, the Dayton Flyers continue to soar. They climbed to No. 21 in the Associated Press top-25 poll on Monday, beat Saint Louis 70-65 on Tuesday and then routed Rhode Island 96-62 on Saturday to hand Miller one of the worst losses of his career on a court where he won so many games from 2011-17.

Dayton (15-2, 5-0) delivered its most dominant performance yet in Atlantic 10 Conference play.

“There’s always going to be ugly wins, and there’s always going to be great wins,” Holmes said. “It’s about staying the course and trusting your habits, the things that you do every day.”

Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 17th game:

1. The outcome was never in doubt: Holmes opened the game with a turnaround, fadeaway jump shot from a couple of steps inside the 3-point line on Dayton’s first possession. A minute later, he got a good bounce on a 3-pointer. He then scored on a dunk to cap an 11-0 run by the Flyers in the first three minutes.

Dayton stretched its lead to 24-8 before Rhode Island answered with a 4-point play and then a 3-pointer. The Flyers then squashed any hope for the Rams with a 15-0 run to take a 39-15 lead with 5:37 left in the first half.

Dayton took all the drama out of Miller’s return to UD Arena and lived up to the hype it has built throughout what is now a 12-game winning streak.

“Our guys have shown a level of maturity to understand what we came together to try to do,” Grant said. “We’re five games into it. We’re a long way away from anything that we say we want to accomplish, but we can see the vision of what we’ve worked for. We’re just going to continue to take it one game at a time.”

2. Dayton played its best offensive game of the season: For the second time this season, the Flyers committed only two turnovers. They had two in a 91-67 victory against Oakland. That was their lowest total since at least the 2011-12 season.

Dayton has had single-digit turnovers six times in the 12-game winning streak. Rhode Island committed 11 turnovers, and Dayton scored 16 points off those turnovers.

The Flyers also had 24 assists on 33 made field goals. Dayton posted its most efficient offensive game of the KenPom.com era. The website stats date to 1999. The second most efficient performance also took place this season in a 91-67 victory against Oakland on Dec. 20.

“We came in locked in today,” Holmes said. “Everybody was ready to play.”

3. The victory will lead to a jump in the top 25: Dayton ranked as high as 11th on one AP ballot last week, but eighteen of the 63 AP voters did not rank the Flyers. They should garner more votes Monday with No. 9 Baylor, No. 10 Memphis, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 16 Utah State, No. 18 Creighton and No. 19 TCU among the losers early in the week.

After the game Saturday, Holmes was asked what Dayton can do to get more national attention.

“All we know is to do what we can and control what we can control,” Holmes said. “If we do a pretty good job of that, everything else will come. If people are our train and riding with us, that’s fine. But if people don’t believe in us, we’re going to believe in ourselves. It’s about staying the course and trusting the process.”

STAR OF THE GAME

Javon Bennett made 8 of 9 field goals, including 4 of 5 3-pointers, to score a season-high 21 points. He also had five assists and no turnovers. He had 21 points in the previous four games combined, making 2 of 18 3-pointers in that stretch. He’s averaging 8.2 points and a team-best 3.8 assists per game.

STAT OF THE GAME

Dayton made 16 of 27-pointers (55.9%). That was three short of the school it record it set earlier this season in a victory against Oakland.

Koby Brea made 5 of 7 3-pointers. Bennett made 4 of 5. Nate Santos made 2 of 3. Brady Uhl made 2 of 3 in the final minutes.

LOOKING AHEAD

Dayton plays La Salle (10-8, 1-4) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia. La Salle has lost six of its last eight games since an 8-2 start. In A-10 play, it has lost three games in a row to Massachusetts, Virginia Commonwealth and Saint Joseph’s and doesn’t play this weekend. Its only A-10 win is against Fordham.

Dayton beat La Salle 77-53 at UD Arena last season and lost 62-60 in its last visit to La Salle in 20220.