Dayton Flyers: Six ways team has improved since last season

Dayton’s Trey Landers leads the team onto the court before a game against Saint Louis on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019, at UD Arena. David Jablonski/Staff

Dayton’s Trey Landers leads the team onto the court before a game against Saint Louis on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019, at UD Arena. David Jablonski/Staff
Sports
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Feb 26, 2019
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The Dayton Flyers have four more victories than a season ago. They surpassed their Atlantic 10 Conference win total by two with four to play. They have climbed more than 100 spots in the Ken Pomeroy ratings.

In almost every way, coach Anthony Grant’s second team is better than his first, which is no surprise because that team, which finished 14-17, was the worst Dayton team in 12 years.

How is this team better, though? Here are six ways:

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1. Overall rankings: Dayton ranked 109th in adjusted offensive efficiency last season and now ranks 33rd. That's higher than the four Dayton teams that reached the NCAA tournament from 2014-17. The defense has jumped from 238th to 128th.

2. Three-point defense: Opponents shot 38.3 percent against Dayton last season from 3-point range. This season, they're shooting 32.9 percent. Some of that has to do with the struggles of the A-10, which ranks 30th out of 32 Division I conference in 3-point shooting (33.0 percent).

3. Fewer turnovers: Dayton averaged 13.7 turnovers per game last season. Anthony Grant talked about the goal of protecting the ball throughout the offseason, and Dayton has averaged 12.2 turnovers per game this season. It still has a minus-1.1 turnover margin. That is only slightly better than last season (1.2).

4. Inside presence: Obi Toppin has taken Kostas Antetokounmpo's role as the high-flying, hard-dunking, lengthy redshirt freshman forward and has vastly outperformed him. Antetokounmpo, who left the program after one season on the court now plays in the NBA G League, averaged 5.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 15.1 minutes per game. Toppin has averaged 13.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game. He has won the A-10 Rookie of the Week award five times.

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5. Veteran's return: After undergoing two hip surgeries and sitting out last season, Ryan Mikesell has returned to action and shown everyone what the team missed. He's averaging 9.7 points and 5.1 rebounds as a redshirt junior.

Mikesell ranks eighth in the country in 2-point field-goal percentage (62 of 87, 71.3). Toppin ranks 27th in this category (150 of 223, 67.3). Cunningham ranks 53rd (65.0). The team ranks second (59.0) for the second straight season.

6. Fewer fouls: Dayton ranks second in the country this season in fouls per game (14.0). Last season, it averaged 16.5. Josh Cunningham battled foul trouble at times last season, fouling out of three games and averaging 3.1 fouls per game. He hasn't fouled out of a game this season and has averaged 2.3 fouls per game.

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David Jablonski covers the Dayton Flyers and other sports for the Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun and Journal News.