The senior point guard missed 7 minutes in the second half after banging his knee — as Flyer fans cringed, hoping for the best and fearing the worst. But still he had an efficient day on offense: 3-of-6 from the field, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line.
“I didn’t even know I got to the line that much,” Dillard said. “I just tried to attack and get in the gaps and take what the defense gave me. Today I was trying to penetrate and get it to the big guys.”
Dillard wasn’t worried about the knee.
“It’s just a little tender,” he said. “I’ll be good. I’m not going to sit out or anything.”
The Flyers improved to 3-1 and put the first-round loss against Colorado farther in the rear-view mirror. Dillard shot 4-of-12 from the field with 10 points in that game. But in the two games since, he’s shot 8-of-12 from the field with 34 points.
Dillard had a lot of help on Sunday. After going 0-for-4 from the field in the first half, Jalen Robinson scored all 12 of his points in the second half on 6-of-6 shooting. He also had a team-high 7 rebounds.
Devin Oliver had 12 points and 6 rebounds. Dyshawn Pierre, after an 8-of-8 performance and 23 points in Friday’s 87-71 victory over Boston College, made his first two shots and finished with 7 points on 3-of-6 shooting.
The Flyers went on a 13-3 run over the last 5 minutes of the first half to take a 35-25 halftime lead, seizing the lead for good. They started the second half on a 16-8 run to give themselves more a cushion. That helped out later when Dillard left the game with the injury and senior center Josh Benson was sitting with four fouls.
“I don’t think our team budged,” Miller said. “I don’t think we flinched. We had a lot of young guys in and out of the mix. That’s what it’s going to take.
Dayton shot 27-of-36 from the free-throw line, while Auburn went 13-of-17 at the line.
“First time all season that our team was able to get to the line,” Miller said. “We’re learning about our team more and more. We have some guys who can put the ball on the floor. I think we kind of recreated ourselves in these last three games. Early on, we were more structured. I think less structure is better for this group. Get the ball moving. Get the players moving.”
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