Dayton Flyers can tie school record for victories Wednesday

Jacob Toppin did the Dayton Flyers and all their fans a favor by making two free throws with six seconds to play last week, helping Rhode Island avoid an upset at Fordham.

If not for that 76-75 victory by Rhode Island, Dayton would have clinched the Atlantic 10 Conference outright championship on a night it didn't play, and there would have been little drama two days later at UD Arena. Instead, Dayton secured its second outright championship and first since 2017 with one of its best performances, beating Davidson 82-67 on Friday thanks in part to 23 points by Jacob's older brother, Obi Toppin.

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It was a good three-day stretch for the Toppins in a memorable season for the whole family.

“I congratulated him,” Obi said after Friday’s game, “but we play them Wednesday, so I can’t boost his head too much.”

The second matchup between the Toppin brothers and between Dayton (27-2, 16-0) and Rhode Island (20-8, 12-4) comes at 9 p.m. Wednesday at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I.

Here are four things to know about the game:

1. This is the last big obstacle between Dayton and A-10 history: Only four teams in conference history have finished the league schedule without a loss: Temple, 18-0 in 1983-84 and 1987-88; Saint Joseph's, 16-0 in 2003-04; and George Washington, 16-0 in 2005-06.

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Dayton will be a heavy favorite at home at 7 p.m. Saturday against George Washington (12-17, 6-10) on Senior Night. All season long, this game against Rhode Island stood out as one of the most difficult challenges for Dayton.

The A-10 championship doesn’t depend on the result, but Dayton is pursuing bigger goals now: improving its seed in the NCAA tournament; moving its name up the list of the all-time great A-10 teams; extending its 18-game winning streak, which is two short of the school record for consecutive victories in one season; and setting the school record for victories in a season (28-5 in 1951-52).

Those are a few reasons there was no special celebration Friday night after the clinching victory.

“We have two games left in the regular season,” said Dayton coach Anthony Grant, explaining the decision to not cut down the nets. “We want to stay the course.”

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

2. Rhode Island has struggled since losing to Dayton: The Flyers won the first game 81-67 on Feb. 11 at UD Arena. A 17-0 run to start the game proved decisive.

Rhode Island entered that game with 10 straight victories. Counting the loss to Dayton, it has lost three of its last five games. It lost 77-75 at seventh-place Davidson (15-13, 9-7) on Feb. 22 and 72-62 at home Sunday to fourth-place Saint Louis (21-8, 10-6).

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Rhode Island fell behind Saint Louis 11-0 and trailed the entire game.

“That’s a physical, extremely big and athletic team,” Rhode Island coach David Cox told reporters after the game. “They know who they are. They have an identity. We didn’t match that intensity or that physicality today.”

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

3. Rhode Island needs a victory for its NCAA tournament hopes: Rhode Island is on the wrong side of the bubble heading into this game. It and another A-10 team, Richmond (22-7, 12-4), are listed among the first four teams out of the tournament on BracketMatrix.com. There were 108 bracket predictions as of Thursday, and Rhode Island was listed on 41 of them, while Richmond was listed on 32.

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In Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket on ESPN.com, Dayton was the only team in the field. He had the No. 2 seed Flyers playing No. 15 Wright State in Cleveland.

The A-10 has sent at least two teams to the NCAA tournament the last 14 seasons. Its chances of that streak continuing may depend on this game or on Dayton not winning the A-10 tournament and the automatic bid next week in Brooklyn, N.Y.

On WHIO’s Anthony Grant Show on Monday, the Dayton coach said he watched Rhode Island’s game against Saint Louis and said they both looked like NCAA-caliber teams, along with Richmond, who he said is playing “as good as any team in the league.”

4. Injuries have hurt Rhode Island: Two of the team's top players, Cyril Langevine (bruised right shoulder) and Jeff Dowtin (right ankle), were less than 100 percent Sunday, according to the Providence Journal.

Langevine still played 40 minutes and tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds. Dowtin had 11 points in 31 minutes.

“Being bruised up or being fatigued is not an excuse,” Cox said. “Everybody’s bruised up. Everybody’s fatigued.”

WEDNESDAY’S GAME

Dayton at Rhode Island, 9 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 1290 and 95.7 WHIO

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