Dayton guard Bennett wants to ‘put some banners in UD Arena’ in second season with Flyers

This is the third straight year the current Flyers have supported the former Flyers at TBT games.

Bennett, a 5-foot-10 junior guard from Orlando, Fla., got a chance to watch overseas veterans who finished their college careers when he was in junior high or high school roll to an 88-74 victory against DaGuys STL. In some ways, one year into his time at UD, Bennett is also a veteran. He’s experienced a full season on the court at Dayton, which is more than seven of the 13 players on the current roster can say.

Bennett, Enoch Cheeks and Nate Santos return as starters from a group that finished 25-8.

“Our leadership role definitely has to improve,” Bennett said. “That’s going to take time.”

Bennett sat down with the Dayton Daily News last week in the Skuns Room at UD’s Cronin Center to talk about last season, this summer and next season. Most of the returning players will conduct the same interviews this month.

The interviews have become an annual tradition. Five years ago, in July 2019, months before the Flyers would begin their march to 29-2, Obi Toppin said, “We talk about competing at the highest stage. We have all the tools.”

Toppin knew more about the potential of that Dayton team in the offseason than Bennett and the other players about their team this summer. There are too many new pieces and unknowns. The two newcomers from overseas, L’Etang (France) and Mousa (Qatar), have been on campus for only two weeks. Two other players (Santos and Marvel Allen) aren’t participating in summer practices because of injuries.

Bennett has seen enough, though, to know what will define coach Anthony Grant’s eighth Dayton team.

“I feel like guard play is going to be big,” Bennett said. “We’re going to have a lot more guards this year. I feel like we’re going to have to play through the guards a little bit.”

Dayton lost guards Koby Brea and Kobe Elvis to the transfer portal but gained Butler transfer Posh Alexander. If Allen gets healthy and Malachi Smith, who missed last season with a knee injury, stays healthy, Dayton will have more help on the perimeter.

Adjusting to life without All-American forward DaRon Holmes II, the No. 22 pick in the NBA Draft in June, will be one of the team’s biggest adjustments.

“It’s going to be different,” Bennett said. “But it’s going to be a lot faster. It’s going to be exciting to watch. I feel like we’re going to rely heavily on defense — 94 feet, trying to harass people and guard people and make them speed up.”

Dayton ended a seven-year NCAA tournament drought and won a NCAA tournament game for the first time in nine years but fell short of its Atlantic 10 Conference goals in Bennett’s first season with the program.

“We want to put some banners in UD Arena and win some championships,” Bennett said.

Bennett ranked fifth on the team in scoring (8.4 points per game) and second in assists (3.3). He tied Cheeks for the team lead in steals (1.2). He appeared in 31 of 33 games and started 28 games. He entered the starting lineup in the second game of the season after Smith’s injury in the opener.

“I would say I did pretty well,” Bennett said. “With the situation I was in, with Mali going down, I kind of had to step into the fire. But my teammates and my coaches helped me a lot throughout that.”

Bennett missed the final two games of the regular season after injuring his thumb March 1 at Loyola Chicago. He said the thumb wasn’t 100% in the postseason and he spent extra time in the training room in the weeks after injury but it didn’t affect his performance. He averaged 4.0 points in the three postseason games against Duquesne, Nevada and Arizona after the injury.

Bennett started against Duquesne in a loss to Duquesne in the A-10 quarterfinals. Brea then took his spot in the starting lineup in the NCAA tournament.

Bennett saw his numbers decline slightly from his freshman season at Merrimack but improved his 3-point shooting percentage (27.9 to 31.6) and his 2-point percentage (44.7 to 51.9). He has worked throughout the offseason to take another step with his outside shot.

Grant is one of the coaches who works closely with the shooters.

“That’s one thing (Grant) has harped on me about,” Bennett said. “Losing Koby Brea and Kobe Elvis, those were two guys that we relied on heavily as 3-point shooters. Coach wants me to be able to take quick shots and to be able to shoot with a hand in my face.”

While Brea transferred to Kentucky and Elvis left for Oklahoma, Bennett elected to stay at Dayton. Asked if he considered transferring, Bennett said, “No, not necessarily. I kind of knew I wanted to stay at least one more year and try to win a championship and try to get back to March Madness. When everybody was leaving, it was kind of like, ‘Dang. We did all this last year, and you guys are leaving.’ But they had their reasons obviously. It’s on to the next, and we start from here.”