They weren’t the only former Flyers in the building. Elijah Weaver, who played for Dayton the last two seasons and now plays at Chicago State, hugged Grant as he left the court.
Dayton has always had a strong connection to the Windy City and had strong fan showings — not only from former Flyers but from the Flyer Faithful — in 2016 when it lost to Northwestern at the United Center and in 2019 when it lost to Colorado in overtime.
This time, the Flyers rewarded the fans who traveled to Chicago or who journeyed from their Chicago homes to the game. They never trailed after falling behind 2-0 and controlled the action most of the game in a 66-49 victory against Wyoming.
“Moving forward, this was definitely a game that was necessary for us,” Dayton guard Koby Brea said.
Dayton (7-5) won its second straight game by double-digits since the 28-point loss at Virginia Tech. Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 12th game:
1. Toumani Camara’s defense earned extra praise from Grant: Camara, a 6-foot-8 forward, showed again he can guard anyone on the court. He helped hold Hunter Maldonado, Wyoming’ second-leading scorer with 12.8 points per game, to six points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Camara had 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.
“I’ve felt this way for a while, but I don’t think he gets enough credit,” Grant said. “He’s got to be one of the most versatile elite defenders in the country. When you can guard any position on the floor with the versatility that he does, I’ve got a lot of a lot of respect for that, and I’ve seen a lot of really good guys in 30-plus years in this business at every level.”
Dayton held Wyoming to 29.2% shooting (7 of 24), its fourth-worst performance of the season, from 3-point range, and 38.7% shooting (12 of 31) from 2-point range, its second-worst effort.
2. The Flyers answered Wyoming’s big run: In three of its five losses, Dayton blew early leads. It had a nine-point lead against UNLV and lost 60-52. It had a 10-point lead against North Carolina State and lost 76-64. It led Brigham Young by 23 and lost 79-75 in overtime.
This game seemed to be mirroring those games early in the second half as Dayton watched a 14-point halftime lead get trimmed to two points at the 14:33 mark. Back-to-back baskets by Holmes pushed the lead to six points. It was still a seven-point game entering the final seven minutes, but it was all Dayton down the stretch.
“Every team makes runs in the game,” Holmes said. “It’s a game of runs. It’s about how we fight back. That’s what the coaches were emphasizing in the timeouts. I feel like we did a good job with that.”
3. Grant had a busy day before getting to the game: While Dayton traveled to Chicago on Friday, Grant stayed home so he could attend his son Preston’s graduation from Dayton at UD Arena on Saturday morning. Preston earned a degree in philosophy.
Grant began his postgame press conference by thanking Athletic Director Neil Sullivan and UD for allowing him to fly to Chicago separately.
“Thanks to Neil and some very generous Flyer Faithful, it was able to happen,” Grant said.
STAR OF THE GAME
DaRon Holmes II led Dayton with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting. He scored Dayton’s only six points in the first eight minutes of the second half as Wyoming cut a 14-point halftime deficit to two points.
Holmes has scored 20 or more points five times this season. He improved his team-best scoring average to 17.3 points per game.
STAT OF THE GAME
Dayton made 7 of 16 3-pointers (44%). It has topped 40% three times in the last four games after not hitting that mark once in the first eight games.
Koby Brea made 2 of 5 3-pointers and scored 10 points after a breakout shooting performance (3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range) a week earlier against UNC Asheville.
LOOKING AHEAD
Dayton plays Alcorn State (3-7) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena in its final non-conference game. Alcorn State lost 74-68 to Southern Illinois on Saturday and has lost four games in a row.
TUESDAY’S GAME
Alcorn State at Dayton, 7 p.m., Spectrum News 1, ESPN+, 1290, 95.7
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