Four days after a 69-55 victory at Davidson on New Year’s Eve, Dayton routed Saint Joseph’s 76-56 on Wednesday at UD Arena. The Flyers have won their first three A-10 games by an average of 15.3 points, while every other team in the league, except St. Bonaventure has suffered at least one loss in their first two or three games.
Dayton showed its strength against Saint Joseph’s with a parade of dunks. If the Saint Joseph’s Hawk, the only A-10 mascot who travels to every road game, wasn’t known for shedding feathers, the workers who clean up UD Arena after every game would have assumed he had been dunked on by DaRon Holmes II or one of the other Dayton Flyers. Holmes’ former teammate, Lynn Greer III, now a Hawk, had the good sense to get out of the way of Holmes on a fast-break dunk in the second half.
Holmes dunked four times and leads the nation with 45. Toumani Camara and Mustapha Amzil each had one dunk. Each slam was a sign of Dayton’s dominance, and Dayton has so far proven to be every bit as strong as an A-10 favorite as it was expected to be at the start of the season.
The Flyers (11-5) have won six games in a row overall, all by double digits, since a 77-49 loss at Virginia Tech on Dec. 7.
“You’ve got to go through some stuff to really figure out who you are, the identity that you need to play with,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said, “and I think at this stage, we’ve gotten some experience under our belt with this group and they’re understanding who they are and what allows them to have success. Every game is going to be a different challenge, but I think for the most part, if you stay true to your identity, good things will happen. Guys are understanding that. That’s a great sign of maturity.”
Credit: David Jablonski
What is Dayton’s identity:
1. Playing strong defense: Saint Joseph’s (6-8, 0-2) got off to a good start and led 25-19 at the 8:53 mark but scored only 31 points in the last 28 minutes. After making 3 of 7 3-pointers in the first 11 minutes, the Hawks made 2 of 17 the rest of the way and shot 20.8%, their second-worst effort of the season.
Dayton has allowed 57 points or fewer in each of its last six games. Its defense has climbed to No. 18 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. The Flyers rank fifth in the country in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (26.5). Only two of Dayton’s first 16 opponents have shot better than the national average (33.5%) from 3-point range, and the last six have shot worse than 30%.
“I feel like we did a good job slowing them down,” forward DaRon Holmes II said. “That team’s a very good offensive team. They made their run early in the game, but it’s a long game, and I feel we did a good job throughout the whole game holding them down.”
2. Getting the ball to Holmes: Holmes scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. He raised his season scoring average to 19.0 points per game. He also grabbed 12 rebounds. It was his third straight double-double and seventh of the season.
Holmes has scored at least 20 points in six straight games. The last Flyer to do that was Obi Toppin in the 2019-20 season.
Holmes scored four straight points to start a 12-0 Dayton run in the first half. That spurt turned a 25-19 deficit into a 31-25 lead.
“I’m really trying to go in there and bring that energy, that spark,” Holmes said.
Dayton led 38-30 at halftime and owned a double-digit lead for the last 15 minutes of the game.
3. Turning its inside advantage into outside success: With Holmes and Toumani Camara, who scored 14 points, Dayton has the best forward duo in the conference. Early in the season, Dayton didn’t make the most of the attention those players were getting in the paint. It couldn’t get outside shots to fall.
That’s not the case anymore. Dayton shot a season-best 50% (10 of 20) from 3-point range against Saint Joseph’s and is shooting 40.8% (42 of 103) during its six-game winning streak.
R.J. Blakney matched his career high with 19 points by making 4 of 6 3-pointers. He scored 17 points in the previous home game, making 3 of 4 3-pointers in a 69-57 victory against Duquesne.
“They double team (Holmes) because he’s dominant inside,” Blakney said. “A lot of guys will have a lot of open shots. So I’m basically just standing there, being ready to take shots because our inside play is dominant.”
TUESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Fordham, 7 p.m., 1290, 95.7
Credit: David Jablonski
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