ESPN Events Invitational: Flyers hold first practice in Florida

The Dayton Flyers flew to Orlando on Tuesday and held their first practice Wednesday morning at the HP Fieldhouse at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports.

The practice was split between the court where Dayton will play the Miami Hurricanes at noon Thursday in the first round of the ESPN Events Invitational and another court a short walk away at the sports complex. The NBA Finals, which took place in a bubble at this complex in 2020 during the early months of the pandemic, were played on the court where Dayton held the second part of its practice.

Dayton coach Anthony Grant, who met with local media in Dayton on Monday, talked to ESPN’s broadcasting crew after the first 50 minutes of practice.

“This is a great opportunity here,” Grant said. “This is a great tournament. We’ve got three games in four days. We’ve just got to get better and learn about ourselves and build some habits.”

Dayton (1-3) will try to stop a three-game losing streak Thursday. It lost to UMass Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin Peay at home in an eight-day stretch and has led at halftime in only its most recent game, the 87-81 loss on Saturday to Austin Peay.

Playing with more tempo is the goal in this tournament. Dayton used a full-court pressure defense to speed the game up against Austin Peay and scored 1.1 points per possession after scoring 1.07, 0.97 and 0.91 in its first three games.

“In the first half, especially, we’ve struggled offensively,” Grant said, “so it’s a way for us to manufacture more offense and more easy opportunities.”

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Dayton’s first opponent, Miami (3-1), ranks 83rd in the Ken Pomeroy ratings. The Flyers have dropped from No. 84 when the season started to No. 131. They are the second lowest-ranked team in the field ahead of No. 145 Iona (5-0).

Dayton’s second opponent on Friday will be No. 2 Kansas (3-0) or No. 115 North Texas (2-0). The Flyers will play No. 16 Alabama (4-0), No. 53 Drake (3-0), No. 73 Belmont (3-2) or Iona on Sunday.

Miami was picked to finish 12th out of 15 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason poll. Its top player is 6-foot-3 guard Isaiah Wong, an All-ACC preseason first-team selection who averaged 17.1 points per game last season and is averaging 16.0 this season.

“They’ve played well,” Grant said. “They’ve got an older team with four guys that are graduates. We’ve got to be able to handle their maturity and their physicality and their experience. They’re fast. They’re athletic. They drive. They do a good job of getting to the free-throw line.”