Now Dayton (21-9, 13-4) will play Davidson (25-4, 15-2) at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena with the hopes of improving from a No. 3 seed to a No. 2 seed, though that depends on Virginia Commonwealth losing at Saint Louis. Davidson will play to win the championship outright and secure the No. 1 seed, though it would still get the No. 1 seed if it loses and VCU also loses.
Mostly, the Flyers would just like to enter the postseason with a victory against the best team in the league. Davidson surpassed preseason expectations — it was picked sixth — en route to its second A-10 regular-season championship and first since its first season in the league in 2014-15. Davidson would have tied Dayton for the title that season if the Flyers hadn’t lost at La Salle on the final day of the regular season.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said Thursday. “It’s the first time we’ll see them. It’s not often you have the No. 1 team in the league coming in for the last game, so we’re looking forward to that opportunity and looking forward to honoring our seniors.”
The emotions of Senior Day have helped propel Dayton to 10 straight victories in its final regular-season home game, but this will not be a typical Senior Day. Dayton has no scholarship players going through the pregame ceremony. Walk-ons Christian Wilson and Drew Swerlein will be honored as well as student managers Patrick Edwards, of Pittsburgh, John Miller, of Lancaster, Pa., and Murphy Weiland, of Chicago.
Davidson has won five games in a row and the last four of those without Michigan State transfer Foster Loyer, the team’s second-leading scorer (16.5). He’s been out with a lower leg injury.
Davidson has stayed at the top of the standings all season by surviving a number of close calls. It won seven games by six points or fewer in its first 11 A-10 games. It lost only to VCU — 70-68 on Jan. 26 — in that stretch. After suffering its second A-10 loss — 72-65 at Rhode Island on Feb. 12 — Davidson has been more dominant, winning its last five games by an average of 17.6 points.
Davidson has never won at UD Arena since joining the A-10 in the 2014-15 season, losing to the Flyers in Dayton in 2016, 2018 and 2020, and coach Bob McKillop knows it will be difficult to end the streak Saturday.
“We expect a team that’s probably going to be very aggressive defensively,” McKillop said on 730 AM radio in Charlotte. “I think they’re the best defensive team in the conference. They shoot the 3 ball very well. They’re methodical in the way they work on their offensive sets. On both sides of the basketball, we better be ready to play.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Davidson at Dayton, 12:30 p.m., USA Network, 1290, 95.7
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