Dayton’s Jack benefits from season as backup to Holmes

“He sounded in good spirits,” Dayton forward Jaiun Simon said. “It’s DaRon. He’s always happy.”

“Once you get back on the court, just remember to show them who you are,” Cheeks told Holmes.

No one knows who Holmes is on the court better than the player who backed him up last season and guarded him often in practice — the only player on the roster bigger than 6-foot-10, 235-pound Holmes. That would be 6-foot-11, 250-pound forward Isaac Jack.

Jack took his turn sitting down with the Dayton Daily News for an offseason interview last week at the Frericks Center. He’s entering his second season at Dayton and his third season at college basketball with a chance to fill a new role now that Holmes has moved on to the NBA.

“It changes a lot,” Jack said. “Last year, I came in knowing DaRon was hopefully coming back and I was going to work with him and we were going to make each other better. I was going to play that second role. So I think this year just seeing everything he did last year and the success he had and the things he had to do to get that success helps me a lot and makes me excited for this year.”

Jack played the role Jordy Tshimanga had during the 2019-20 season when Obi Toppin won all the national player of the year awards. Tshimanga averaged 9.8 minutes as the backup big man. Jack averaged 8.5 minutes, giving Holmes a rest and helping him deliver an All-American performance .

Asked specifically what he learned from Holmes, Jack said, “Just his consistency, how hard he works every day and his ability to lead in different ways. ... Guarding him every day, it was always a battle. I think I’ve taken strides in my progression. It just helped me get a lot better playing against him every day.”

Jack played a smaller role as a sophomore at Dayton than he did as a freshman at Buffalo because Holmes rarely left the court and they didn’t often play at the same time. Jack averaged 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per game at Buffalo and 3.1 points and 1.6 rebounds in half as many minutes at Dayton. Despite the decreased playing time, he improved his shooting percentage (66.1 to 71.7) and free-throw percentage (59.5 to 71.4).

Jack’s playing time fluctuated throughout the season. He played double-digit minutes five times in the first eight games but only six times in the last 25 games.

“I kind of went into games not knowing what to expect,” he said. “Sometimes I played a bunch, sometimes not at all.”

Every time Jack stepped on the court, though, he asked himself, “How can I help my team? How can I give them a jump if we’re down? Or how can I keep the lead if we’re up.”

Depending on the situation, Jack said his goal was to do “whatever I can do to help the team win that game.”

In the first round of the NCAA tournament against Nevada, that meant scoring four points in a four-minute stretch early in the second half. Dayton trailed by 14 points when Jack entered the game and by 11 when he left, and the deficit would grow to 17 points before the comeback began in a 63-60 victory. However, every basket helped at that point when nothing was working for Dayton.

Jack focused on staying ready for those opportunities. He might have gotten more chances if Holmes got in foul trouble more often. That rarely happened. Holmes never fouled out. He committed four fouls only six times in 33 games.

“I don’t know how he does it,” Jack said. “I don’t think he was ever in foul trouble. I talk about that all the time.”

With the summer practice period ended, Jack will head home to Port Alberni, B.C., for a week and a half. He took a shorter visit in the spring. When the players return to campus later in August, preparation will begin again for the 2024-25 season.

Jack will have a chance to compete for a bigger role, but that’s not guaranteed. Dayton has three returning starters (Nate Santos, Cheeks and Javon Bennett) plus three new transfers (Zed Key, Posh Alexander and Jacob Conner) who started at their previous schools. The 13-man roster also includes three players who sat out last season (Malachi Smith, Jaiun Simon and Marvel Allen) and two freshmen (Hamad Mousa and Amaël L’Etang).

Jack is excited about the group, which will try to build on a 25-8 season that saw Dayton end a seven-year NCAA tournament drought.

“I think we’ve got a lot of weapons,” he said. “We’ve got older guys who are going to bring leadership and skill. They’ve been in great conferences before this. Zed was at Ohio State, and Posh was at St. John’s and Butler. They’re coming from really good programs. They know what to expect. They know how to lead. I think it’s going to be good. I think we’re going to be a sleeper for sure.”

As with Holmes last season, Jack has found himself guarding Key often in practice.

“I think he can be an amazing defender,” Jack said. “His ability to block shots is crazy. He can get off the ground. He can be a real key defender for us, especially against some of the big guys. He’s an energy guy. He can get up and dunk the ball and shoot the 3.”

Jack also got a glimpse of what the 7-1 L’Etang can do in the last couple weeks of summer practices.

“He’s skilled for sure,” Jack said. “He can shoot the hell out of the ball. He’s a great passer. But he’s young. He’s going to get better over time. I think his ceiling is crazy high. I’m definitely excited to see what he does.”

The five newcomers Dayton added replaced four players it lost to the transfer portal: Zimi Nwokeji; Kobe Elvis; Petras Padegimas; and Koby Brea.

“You build a bond with everyone over the season, and you go through everything together,” Jack said. “You want the best for everyone. You want to see them get the best opportunity. I think they did. It’s bittersweet. You’d like to see them succeed. They’re your brothers, so you want to be around them. But at the end of the day, it’s a business.”

Jack didn’t consider entering the portal. This past season was the fourth straight season he was in a different place. He was at the Alberni District Secondary School in his hometown in the 2020-21 season and then played the 2021-22 season at Fort Erie International Academy. He played for Buffalo in the 2022-23 season and then Dayton last season.

“I was really excited to know I’m staying,” Jack said. “I don’t have to move everything. I can feel comfortable. I already have a little bit of knowledge of what we’ve got to do, and I don’t have to completely restart again. I was looking forward to that, for sure.”