Anthony Grant: Repeating successful habits elusive for Dayton Flyers

»PREVIEW: La Salle at Dayton

One soon-to-be alum, redshirt senior forward Josh Cunningham, confirmed his interest in playing Monday as he talked to local media. However, before he reunites with former teammates, he has to write the last chapter of his career with his current teammates. He has two regular-season games remaining and then the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament next week in Brooklyn, N.Y., and whatever other postseason games that could follow.

Dayton will honor Cunningham and senior walk-on guard Jack Westerfield before a 7 p.m. Wednesday game against La Salle at UD Arena. It’s the second straight season Dayton has honored one scholarship senior and one walk-on on Senior Night. Last year, it was Darrell Davis and Joey Gruden.

» WEEKLY AWARD: Toppin honored again by A-10

Bigger classes will come for second-year coach Anthony Grant, who could have six seniors in 2021 if the roster doesn’t change. For now, it doesn’t take him long to sum up the class.

“(Westerfield) is the ideal walk-on in terms of the effort he brings, the focus he brings every day and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the betterment of the team,” Grant said. “It’s been an honor to coach him. We’ll certainly miss him. Josh is a guy that’s been through a lot with injuries, a lot of different things he has had to overcome. Having the chance to coach him over the last two years, he’s a great human being, a guy who has accomplished a lot over the course of his career and has endeared himself to Flyer fans because of who he is as a person more than anything else. We’ll miss those guys. Hopefully, we can send them out the right way with a win on Senior Night.”

Here are three storylines to follow Wednesday:

1. First look: Dayton (19-10, 11-5) has played twelve of the other 13 teams in the A-10 and seen Virginia Commonwealth, Saint Louis, Rhode Island and Massachusetts twice. This will be its only regular-season game against La Salle (9-19, 7-9).

Like most recent teams in the conference with a first-year coach — Dayton and VCU last season, for example — the Explorers have taken a step back under Ashley Howard. They were 13-19 last season and 7-11 in the A-10 under John Giannini, who coached them for 14 seasons.

» STANDINGS PICTURE: Dayton seeking top-four seed

The Explorers have played better since an 0-10 start. They have only two double-digit losses in conference play: 78-67 at home to Rhode Island and 62-49 at Saint Louis. They were 5-4 at the midpoint of conference play but have since lost five of their last seven.

“We’ve got a lot of respect for the job the staff at La Salle has done with their team,” Grant said. “They play really hard and together. They’re a very dangerous team. This will be a big-time challenge for us to get this win.”

2. Upset potential: Dayton has a reason to not overlook La Salle. It's the same reason it needed to take UMass seriously in a Feb. 26 road game Dayton won 72-48. UMass beat Davidson, which sits in second place, a and so did La Salle. The 79-69 victory on Feb. 27 came with leading scorer Pookie Powell sidelined with a lower body injury.

La Salle made 13 of 28 3-pointers (46.4) percent. Two La Salle guards hit their career highs in points: Isiah Deas (25 points) and Traci Carter (24).

"We came out today to just make a point to each other," Howard said, "that we can get back to playing our basketball, (with) defending and rebounding being the priority and let the offense take care of itself."

3. Lessons learned: Dayton will try to bounce back from a 72-70 loss Saturday to Rhode Island. Three weeks after beating the Rams 77-48 on the road, Dayton lost in overtime at home. It was Dayton's third loss at home in A-10 play.

» RHODE ISLAND GAME: Archdeacon | Notes | Four reasons for the loss | Twenty photos

“To be honest, the lesson we got in the last game is the lesson we’ve got a few times this year,” Grant said. “For our team, there are things we have to understand are required every day. Someone sent me something this week that says, ‘Success is something you have to earn every day. It’s not given to you.’ There’s no finish line for us. We have to be able to repeat over and over again good habits, good effort, good focus, all the things it requires. That’s been something that’s been elusive for us. It will be required again on Wednesday. It will be required the next game and the game after that.”

WEDNESDAY’S GAME

La Salle at Dayton, 7 p.m., Spectrum News One, AM 1290 and News 95.7 WHIO