Dayton fans not letting anyone forget Flyers beat Kansas

Yes, four months ago, Mustapha Amzil’s buzzer-beater lifted Dayton to a 74-73 victory against No. 4 Kansas in the semifinals of the ESPN Events Invitational in Florida.

Now Kansas is the national champion. The Jayhawks beat North Carolina 72-69 on Monday, setting a championship game record for the largest comeback by rallying from 16 points down in the second half.

Dayton fans looking back fondly on the victory against Kansas may also be asking themselves, “Had Dayton ever beat a team that went on to win the NCAA championship in the same season?” The answer was no until now. Dayton ran into the eventual champion nine times before this season and lost all nine before. Here’s a glance at those games, one of which was the national championship game:

2019: Virginia

The Flyers lost 66-59 to the Cavaliers on Nov. 22, 2018, in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. De’Andre Hunter scored 23 points for the Cavaliers and made a 3-pointer with 55 seconds to play to give Virginia a seven-point lead.

“He’s a really good player,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “That was a huge (3-pointer) at the end. Obviously a two-possession game, shot clock winding down with a minute to play. You get a miss there and who knows. You get a transition opportunity. It’s a different ballgame. That was huge. He’s a big player and made a big-time play for his team.”

Virginia won its first national championship later that season, beating Texas Tech in the final.

1985: Villanova

No. 9 seed Dayton lost 51-49 to No. 8 seed Villanova on March 15 in the first round of the NCAA tournament at UD Arena.

Playing a NCAA tournament game at UD Arena for the first time, the Flyers lost when Sedric Toney’s 16-foot shot at the buzzer rolled off the rim. After a turnover by Dayton’s Anthony Grant, the future UD head coach, with 2:33 to play, Harold Jensen scored on a layup with 1:11 to play to give Villanova a 51-49 lead.

Dayton shot 37% from the field but made 17 of 17 free throws. Damon Goodwin scored 16 points to lead the Flyers. Ed Pinkney had 20 for Villanova.

“We had a bad game,” Dayton coach Don Donoher said, “but Villanova had everything to do with it.”

With the victory, Villanova began a six-game run that culminated in a victory against Georgetown in the national championship. It remains the lowest-seeded team to win the title. North Carolina could match that this year.

1984: Georgetown

No. 10 seed Dayton lost 61-49 to No. 1 seed Georgetown on March 25 in the Elite Eight at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. Patrick Ewing scored 15 points for the Hoyas. Ed Young led the Flyers with 14.

Dayton ran out of steam after upsetting No. 10 seed LSU, No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 6 Washington in its deepest NCAA tournament run since 1967.

“I think this team gave everything it had,” Donoher said.

“I feel Dayton — with the size they have — is as well coached as any team we’ve played this year,” Georgetown coach John Thompson said. “Particularly because they attack you. Most teams with that kind of size pull back and play cat-and-mouse with you. But they went right at us and played us head on. These kids he has, he has to be proud of.”

Georgetown then beat Kentucky and Houston to win its first national championship. It returned to the title game in 1985 but lost to Villanova.

1971: UCLA

Dayton lost 106-82 to UCLA on Jan. 2. The teams played in the regular season four years after meeting in the national championship game. This time, Dayton traveled across the country to play at Pauley Pavilion, where UCLA had won 74 of its last 76 games, the only two losses coming to crosstown rival USC. The game tipped off at 11:40 p.m. Ohio time.

Ken May scored 24 of his 34 points in the second half for Dayton.

“I wouldn’t be honest if I said it wasn’t a big thrill to have that kind of night against UCLA,” May said. “But, of course, if we had been able to upset them, it wouldn’t have mattered if I had scored at all.”

Sydney Wicks scored 28 for UCLA. The Flyers led 24-19 midway through the first half but trailed by 10 at halftime.

UCLA beat Villanova in the national championship game that season for its fifth title in a row. It won seven in a row in all and 10 in a 12-year stretch.

1967: UCLA

Dayton lost 79-64 to UCLA on March 25 in the national championship game at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, scored 25 points for the Bruins. Don May led Dayton with 21. UCLA completed a 30-0 season and won the first of seven straight national championships.

“UCLA is fabulous,” May said. “There are no words to describe them.”

Dayton didn’t score in the first six minutes and fell behind 26-8 in the first half.

“It looked bad for us early in the game,” Donoher said. “We didn’t get our offense going. They force you to do things differently. We were too impatient from our first shot.”

1963: Loyola Chicago

Dayton lost 74-59 to Loyola on Dec 31, 1962. Loyola entered the game with a 6-0 record, while Dayton was 3-3, so the Flyers were not supposed to win. They did hold the nation’s highest-scoring team to what was then its lowest score of the season.

Jerry Harkness scored 25 points for the Ramblers. Gordon Hatton scored 18 for Dayton.

Jimmy Powers, who had 10 points for UD, had to leave the game when Harkness elbowed him in the eye.

“They talk about this being a big-league operation,” Dayton coach Tom Blackburn said, “and they don’t even have a doctor in the house. We’ve got to send a kid to a hospital to have two stitches put over his eye. That could have meant the ballgame. We lost the ball about a dozen times in the middle of the court by not getting it up the floor. Jimmy could have moved the ball up for us.”

Loyola, which will become a regular opponent for Dayton in the Atlantic 10 Conference in the years ahead as it joins the league, won the national championship that March by beating Cincinnati 60-58 in overtime, denying UC its third straight title.

1962: Cincinnati

Dayton lost 80-61 to Cincinnati on Jan. 16 at Cincinnati Gardens. The Flyers led 33-26 at halftime, but the Bearcats dominated the second half, outscoring Dayton 27-8 in the first 10 minutes of the half.

Bill Chmielewski led Dayton with 17 points. Paul Hogue scored 21 for UC.

Cincinnati beat Ohio State 71-59 in the national title game for the second straight season.

1961: Cincinnati

Dayton lost 71-61 on Dec. 29, 1960. Hogue scored 21 points for the Bearcats, and Hatton had 15 for the Flyers, who had a 10-point lead midway through the first half.

This and the loss in 1962 came during a 14-game losing streak for Dayton in the series against Cincinnati. Dayton didn’t beat UC from the 1957-58 season through the 1969-70 season.

Cincinnati beat Ohio State 70-65 in overtime in 1961 to win its first national championship.

1954: La Salle

Dayton, ranked No. 17 at the time, lost 82-58 to unranked La Salle on Jan. 16 at Convention Hall in Philadelphia. Bill Uhl scored 26 points for Dayton. Tom Gola, whose name now adorns the school’s arena, had 21 for La Salle.

The Explorers went on to beat Fordham, N.C. State, Navy, Penn State and Bradley to win the NCAA tournament that season. La Salle is the only current Atlantic 10 Conference program that has won a national championship.