“Thank you, Flyer Nation, for a fun freshman season sticking with this young team. I’m grateful we have such a great support group traveling to our road games and (have) every home game packed. We gonna be back scarier next year.”
Smith’s season ended March 12 when he sprained his ankle on the final play of the first half in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. Dayton led Richmond 33-25 when Smith suffered the injury but lost 68-64. The Flyers won their next game without Smith, beating Toledo 74-55 on the road in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.
Dayton then lost in the second round of the NIT on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn. Xavier would have played at UD Arena on Tuesday if Dayton had won and instead played a home game in the quarterfinals, beating Vanderbilt 75-73 at the Cintas Center.
One Atlantic 10 Conference team did advance to the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden. St. Bonaventure won 52-51 at Virginia on Tuesday after beating Colorado and Oklahoma on the road in the first two rounds.
St. Bonaventure will play Xavier on Tuesday. The other semifinal will match Wake Forest or Texas A&M against Washington State or BYU. Those teams play Wednesday night.
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