Rudy Flyer, or some sort of stuffie like that looks like him, will soon find himself trapped in the same web because the No. 16 Dayton Flyers lost 69-64 at the Robins Center on Saturday.
Sixty nine days after its last loss to Houston in the Charleston Classic championship game, Dayton couldn’t overcome some of the shortcomings it had shown in recent weeks — most notably inconsistent outside shooting — in its first big test on the 18-game Atlantic 10 Conference schedule.
“One of our key traits is always looking at the next game, always trying to improve,” Dayton guard Javon Bennett said. “I feel like this is just a lesson for us. We’ve got to figure out what we’ve got to do for the next game and keep rolling and get another winning streak like we had before.”
Dayton’s 13-game winning streak, the longest active streak in the country and the third longest for the program in 50 years, ran into another winning streak. Richmond (15-5, 7-0) has now 10 games in a row, its longest streak since 1935. Its 11 game home winning streak is the longest in one season in school history.
Richmond improved to 6-1 against top 25 teams at home since 2009. The only loss was to the No. 7 Flyers in 2020.
“To be the kind of program that can be solid enough and good enough and when that opportunity comes you can take advantage of it,” Richmond coach Chris Mooney said, “that’s something we’re very proud of.”
The Flyers (16-3, 6-1) won’t match the 2020 team, which finished 18-0 in the A-10, but that was a longshot. This team is still in position to earn a NCAA tournament at-large berth. The Flyers dropped only one spot in the NCAA Evaluation Tool, to No. 16, after a Quad 1 loss. Richmond moved from No. 75 to No. 69.
“Credit to Richmond,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said. “We’ve just got to hit shots. I don’t think anything changes moving forward. We’re a great team. We still have a lot of confidence. We love each other. We love our fans. We love everybody who supports us.”
Dayton will now have to count on Richmond losing at some point to have a chance of winning the regular-season championship. The Spiders and Flyers both still have to play Virginia Commonwealth twice, and the Rams (13-7, 5-2) are one of the hottest teams in the conference with five straight A-10 victories after an 0-2 start.
The Spiders celebrated this victory with their student section, which stormed the court after the final buzzer. Security guards in yellow coats shielded Dayton players and coaches as they walked through the postgame handshake line. Minutes earlier, the same students had chanted “Overrated” as Holmes shot free throws.
Even in the final minute, Dayton kept scraping, seeking an unlikely comeback. It scored 12 points in the final minute — or just three fewer than it had in the first half. Richmond’s best player and leading scorer, Jordan King, who had 17 points, sealed the victory by making two free throws with eight seconds left.How did Dayton lose? Here’s a short list of reasons:
Credit: David Jablonski
How did Dayton lose? Here’s a short list of reasons:
1. Holmes struggled to make shots and also got into foul trouble: After scoring 20 or more points in four straight games, Holmes had nine points on 2-of-12 shooting in 26 minutes. He missed all three of his two-point attempts and made 2 of 9 3-pointers.
“He’s a very multifaceted player,” said Richmond center Neal Quinn, who scored 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting. “He can do a lot of things out there. He’s a pretty good shooter. We just wanted to make it hard for him in the paint, where he looks phenomenal. We just wanted him shoot tough threes over length, and that’s what we did.”
Holmes played only 7 minutes, 42 seconds in the second half because of foul trouble. He picked up his third foul at the 18:32 mark and left the game. Then he picked up his fourth foul at the 11:23 mark, less than a minute after returning to the game. He didn’t enter the game again until the 5:25 mark.
Holmes had nine points on 2-of-12 shooting, ending a four-game run of 20-point games.
“I’ve got to keep reminding myself there are going to be games where I’m off,” Holmes said. “I’ve got to find other ways to impact the game. I tried to stay confident. My shots just weren’t falling. That happens to every player. Every player has off days. No player is perfect. My goal is to continue to play hard and trust my teammates.”
2. Dayton couldn’t hit shots early: Dayton started the game on a 9-0 run in the first six minutes but scored just six points in the last 14 minutes of the first half and trailed 20-15 at halftime. It was Dayton’s lowest scoring half since Nov. 23, 2022, when it trailed Wisconsin 23-14 at halftime in the first round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Richmond wasn’t much better. The teams combined to make 4 of 26 3-pointers in the first half. Dayton made 3 of 16. Richmond made 1 of 10.
“We couldn’t make shots really,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “That’s what it came down to. I thought we got some good looks. We got out of character at times offensively, rushing things.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3. Dayton couldn’t get stops in the second half: The Flyers made 7 of 17 3-pointers in the second half. They overcame a 27-19 deficit with a 13-2 run to take a 32-29 lead at the 14:54 mark.
In the final 10 minutes, even as Dayton made shots, the Spiders kept getting to the free-throw line. They made 20 of 26 free throws in the second half.
King made the biggest shot of the game. After a quick 6-0 run by Dayton cut Richmond’s lead to 56-53 with 2:20 to play, King made a jump shot over Holmes to push the lead back to five points.
“(Holmes) contested it as well as you possibly could,” Mooney said. “That was a big-time shot. You’re going to need plays like that to win a game like this.”
TUESDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. George Washington, 7 p.m., Spectrum News 1, 95.7, 1290
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