“Are you guys aware of Dayton’s history?” forward Nate Santos was asked Tuesday during interviews at the Cronin Center. “It’s been a long time since it won the tournament. Do you guys know that fact pretty well?”
“Yeah, yeah, we know that,” Santos said. “We’ve heard about it, but we’re trying to go out there to win it and try to break that.”
The A-10 tournament starts Wednesday at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., with three games involving the six lowest seeds in the 15-team field.
No. 3 seed Dayton (22-9) will play No. 6 Saint Joseph’s (20-10), No. 11 Massachusetts (12-19) or No. 14 La Salle (13-18) in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Dayton has played 55 games in the tournament. It is 28-27.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
In 29 A-10 tournament appearances, Dayton has lost its first game eight times. It has won its first game and lost its second game 14 times. It has gone 2-1 five times. Only the 2003 (3-0) and 2011 (3-1) teams have won three games, and those teams as well as the 2015 and 2024 teams are the only teams to reach the final game.
For the first time since it joined the A-10 in the 1995-96 season, Dayton will get to play in the tournament after winning its last four regular-season games. The 2019-20 team won its last 20 games but never played a game in the postseason because of the tournament.
Dayton, which leaves for Washington on Thursday afternoon, will play Friday one week after a 79-76 victory against Virginia Commonwealth (25-6). VCU will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
“We feel good,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “Obviously, it’s March, so we understand the situation that we’re in. We’re looking forward to getting to D.C., and it should be a great tournament.”
No. 9 seed Dayton lost 77-72 to No. 8 seed VCU in its first game in 2018 when the tournament was first played at Capital One Arena. That was Grant’s first A-10 tournament game. The loss left his first team with a final record of 14-17.
In 2022, the A-10 tournament returned to Washington. Dayton had the No. 2 seed and beat No. 10 Massachusetts 75-72 in the quarterfinals. The next day, Dayton lost point guard Malachi Smith to an ankle injury in the final seconds of the first half and then blew a 15-point lead in the second half, falling 68-64 to No. 6 seed Richmond. A victory likely would have given Dayton a NCAA tournament berth because it found out on Selection Sunday it was the first team left out of the field.
Dayton has slim hopes of earning an at-large bid this season, and those hopes depend on winning two games and getting help with losses by other teams on the bubble. The only sure chance Dayton has of earning an NCAA tournament bid is winning the A-10 tournament.
A year ago, Dayton didn’t have that pressure. It earned a No. 7 seed despite the quarterfinal loss to Duquesne.
“It’s definitely motivating,” Santos said. “We want to make sure we end on a high note. This year is a lot different, but I think the approach is the same. We want to win this tournament. The guys coming back from last year, we’ve learned from last year’s tournament. We kind of know how to approach it. And obviously we have good momentum going into the tournament.”
Dayton showed an improved defense toward the end of the season. No one shot better than 40% from 3-point range against Dayton in the last six games. Five opponents topped that mark in the first 12 A-10 games.
Rebounding, another area of concern for Dayton, was still an issue in the regular-season finale against VCU. The Rams grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and scored 16 second-chance points.
“I think the key for us it was it’s been all year,” Grant said. “It’s defending and rebounding. I think we’ve been relatively solid on the offensive end. We’ve got to understand what we’ve got to be able to bring on the defensive end and in rebounding the basketball.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. Saint Joseph’s, La Salle or UMass, 7:30 p.m., Peacock, 95.7, 1290
Credit: David Jablonski
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