As he always is at these practice, Grant was hands on and in charge. He ran a group of five players — DaRon Holmes II, Nate Santos, Kobe Elvis, Javon Bennett and Enoch Cheeks — through an offensive set as other players and coaches watched from the sideline.
This practice was important than most for the simple fact that for the first time in Grant’s seven seasons at Dayton the team will be playing outside competition this summer. The Flyers leave Friday for a 10-day trip to Spain and France. For Grant, the opportunity to play three games won’t be the most important part of the experience.
“Probably the main thing is just the team bonding opportunity, just to get a chance to get the guys where they’re relying on each other,” Grant said. “We’ll be in a place where English will be a second or third language. We get a chance to get to know each other a little bit better and get a chance to spend some time learning different cultures and different experiences.”
Grant said seven or eight scholarship players will be available for the games, though he did not specify who would be unavailable for the games. He said they are taking a few of the six walk-ons.
Guards Koby Brea and Malachi Smith, who are recovering from offseason surgeries, have said they will not play. Freshman guard Marvel Allen was the only player among the nine healthy scholarship players who are on campus who was not at the practice Wednesday. Freshman forward Petras Padegimas, who’s from Lithuania, will join the team in Europe.
Dayton held eight full team practices before leaving for Europe. It will arrive in Barcelona on Saturday and hold the first practice of the trip Sunday. On Monday, it plays a team called Spain Select.
Dayton flies from Barcelona to Paris on Wednesday. It will take a cruise on the River Seine on Aug. 9 and tour the Louvre Museum on Aug. 10 before playing the second game of the trip. The third game of the trip takes place Aug. 11. UD has not announced announced who it is playing in the second and third games.
The Flyers return to Dayton on Aug. 13. This is its first overseas trip since 2016 when Archie Miller was entering his final season as coach. Grant last took a team to Europe in 2013 when Alabama traveled to the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
It will be the first trip to Europe for most of the players, including Holmes, the team’s top returning scorer.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity to see new cultures and to play with the team,” he said Wednesday, “so it’s going to be a great time.”
Santos traveled to Greece last year with the USA East Coast Collegiate Team before his second season at Pittsburgh. He’s one of seven new scholarship players on the roster at Dayton entering the 2023-24 season.
“I think it’s good because right now we’re competing against each other,” Santos said, “It’ll be a good measuring point of where we are as a team and kind of give us a little cheat code ahead of competition before the season starts.”
The games give the newcomers, including freshman forward Jaiun Simon, their first chance to play with the returning players.
“It’ll be a really good opportunity to see what type of team we will be,” Simon said, “and just to see how people react to things in the game.”
Simon was the first member of the 2023 recruiting class. He committed to the team in October.
“I think I can bring versatility on offense,” Simon said. ”I can do a lot with the ball, and I think to get on the court a lot, I’ll have to defend, make the open shot and just be an energy guy.”
Off the court, Simon said he’s looking forward to shopping in Europe, while Holmes wants to see the art museums. Santos wants to try new food.
The team has its own translator. Associate head coach Ricardo Greer spent most of his playing career in France.
“He speaks both languages that we’ll have to get accustomed to,” Grant said, “so hopefully that’ll help out a little bit.”
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