“This place was good to us. We beat Michigan State and two days later we came back from like 16 points down and beat North Carolina. Those wins propelled us all the way to the Final Four.”
Skinn was a key player on the George Mason team that was fitted with its Cinderella slippers in this very building.
A 1,000-point career scorer and one of the most celebrated guards in Patriots history, he sat the bench the entire game against Michigan State in the Tournament opener.
“I was suspended,” he said quietly, without adding the details of his painful offense.
He had punched a Hofstra player in the groin during the semifinals of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.
He would make amends, become an integral part of the team for the rest of the tournament and go on to a 12-year pro career in Europe before starting a coaching career that included an assistant job at Ohio State four seasons ago. He took over at his alma mater last year.
In the process, he’s passed his big-punch capabilities onto his team.
Wednesday night they landed their own kayo blow — up higher — squarely on the Dayton Flyers’ chin. It left the hometown team crumpled on the canvas, beaten 67-59 in a game that wasn’t nearly that close.
The Patriots didn’t just shut down the Flyers, they shut up Dayton’s sellout crowd. From the opening tip to the final buzzer, UD Arena was the quietest it has been in years.
There was nothing to cheer about and eventually many fans decided there was nothing more to see. During a timeout with 5:35 left, many trudged along the aisles to the exits, leaving expanses of empty seats all around the Arena.
For the Flyers, the court was an empty place, as well. They never led.
George Mason had a 20-point lead midway through first half and still led by 19 with just 3 ½ minutes left. Only a desperation, 13-0 run at the end got the Flyers out of a double-digit deficit and a little closer to respectability on the scoreboard,
Through much of the game, the Flyers looked disjointed and seemed to lack confidence and a sense of fire and urgency.
The team — once in the Top 25 and flying high after wins over then No. 2 UConn, No. 6 Marquette and UNLV and making strong showings against No. 12 North Carolina and No. 5 Iowa State — has lost three in a row and four of its last five games.
These last three losses — against George Washington, UMass and George Mason — mark the first time in 11 years that the Flyers have lost three straight Atlantic 10 games.
This loss snapped Dayton’s 26-game winning streak at home, an unblemished run that went all the back to February 25, 2023.
The kayo culprit that night?
George Mason again.
In that 74-69 loss in 2023, UD’s only answer was DaRon Holmes II, who had 34 points.
Wednesday night, the Flyers only formidable force was forward Nate Santos, who made 4 of his 8 three-point attempts and finished with 20 points.
Although Malachi Smith and Enoch Cheeks both finished with double figures, most of their points came late, when the game already was mostly decided.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
‘We prepared for places like this’
At times Wednesday night it felt like men against boys and UD coach Anthony Grant alluded to at least the front end of that thought when he talked about George Mason’s skilled and veteran talent that plays well together.
Back when the Flyers fell here to Mason in 2023, the only current players on that team were Smith and Brady Uhl.
Wednesday night’s Patriots’ team had no one from back then. All of their key players are transfers, most notably — at least on this night — senior guard Darius Maddox, who started his career at Virginia Tech.
He came into UD Arena shooting just 22.6 percent (12 of 53) from three-point range over the last 12 games and was shooting 28.9 from long range for the season.
Against UD, he made 4 of 5 three-pointers and 8-of-11 shots overall for 20 points.
“Sometimes they say you’ve got to trust and believe in the numbers, but every once in a while you’ve got to just trust and believe in the player,” Skinn said. “His percentage is not a story telling of who he is as a shooter. I knew he was going to make some shots and if he did tonight, we had a chance.”
But Skinn is the first to admit this night was not left up to just supposition and superstition.
He said he and his team had followed a blueprint this season that paid dividends Wednesday night:
“This is a tough place to play. There’s a great atmosphere. It’s a great program and they have a great coach. That’s why we prepared for places like this. That’s why we changed our schedule this year.
“We went to Marquette and played in front of a real rowdy crowd. We went to Duke and if that’s not one of the toughest places to play at on the road, then I don’t know what is.”
George Mason lost both those games, but it hardened the team for league play. They are now 4-1 in the A-10 and 13-5 overall.
After the game you could hear the loud cheering and celebration coming from their locker room.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
‘In a slump’
Two subdued Flyers players — Santos and Smith — appeared before the media afterward.
Santos talked about the team being “in a slump” and how the “urgency” and “overall effort” they showed early in the year weren’t there in this loss.
He said with the beginning of conference play, “teams are coming at us. It’s something we’re not used to. We have to adjust to it.”
Smith, who during better times early in the season spoke about continuing to build on the team’s resume for the postseason, now said something telling:
“We could still have a chance to make the tournament.”
He was talking about winning the A-10 Tournament at season’s end and earning an automatic berth, not riding into the field as an at-large bid.
Grant is never one to talk about that stuff — at least not for public consumption — and as he so often has said this season, he stressed that each game “has a life of its own,” and should be treated as such.
Early in the season he cautioned against people inflating his team to something it was not. Now he also stressed not to sink into full “disappointment” and dismiss the Flyers.
While this team is not a second coming of the 29-2 bunch of a few years ago, it’s also not a group who should wear the loser’s mantle that comes with three straight failures, all in games where they were favored.
Like Skinn said, “You’ve just got to trust and believe in the player.”
Grant wrapped up his session, noting there are still a lot of games to be played:
“They don’t hand out championships in the middle of January.”
For that, the Flyers can be thankful because Wednesday night’s performance wasn’t worthy of a trophy.
But they did get a consolation prize.
George Mason did at least land its kayo punch above the belt.
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