“This is not something that just happened today,” Grant said.
Dayton expected to have depth with a 12-man roster. Instead, it has not had a fully healthy roster all season, and it had its smallest group yet available for the final non-conference game of the season: seven scholarship players, plus walk-on Brady Uhl.
Dayton’s 88-46 victory against Alcorn State — its most lopsided victory since a 96-41 victory against Fordham on Jan. 23, 2013 — was overshadowed by roster news. Two sophomore forwards left the program for the transfer portal on consecutive days: Tyrone Baker on Monday and Kaleb Washington on Tuesday.
Grant addressed their departures for the first time in his postgame press conference after his team improved to 8-5 with its third straight victory.
“Both of those guys, I support their decisions,” Grant said. “I think, obviously, it’s two different situations for each of them. But I think at the end of the day, you get one chance to to be a college student athlete, and I say this in recruiting a lot: You’ve got to find the right fit. Sometimes it takes going through stuff to figure out whether or not things are the right fit. So I wish both of them the best of luck. I think both of them are first of all just really good human beings, good people. This wasn’t the best fit for either of them. Right now it’s about finding that fit. They both leave here academically in good shape. They did a good job in the classroom. So they’ll be able to hopefully find another fit where they can thrive and become the best versions of themselves. We wish them all the success in the world.”
Baker and Washington are the ninth and 10th players recruited by Grant and his staff to enter the transfer portal in the last six seasons.
“It definitely hurts,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said, “but we just want the best for them. It wasn’t the best for them over here, but we want the best for them wherever they end up. They are both very good players. Our coaching staff loves both of them, and our players do as well. So we’re just going to continue to support them.”
Dayton moves on to Atlantic 10 conference play next week without Baker and Washington and with Malachi Smith (ankle) and Kobe Elvis (knee) still sidelined. Both are progressing, Grant said, but have not returned to practice. Smith was not at the game Tuesday because of an illness.
Another scholarship player, Richard Amaefule, is also sidelined by an injury. He sat on the bench in street clothes as did two walk-ons, Atticus Schuler and Ty Locklear. All three of those players would have seen action in the final minutes against Alcorn State because Dayton dominated from start to finish and never took its foot off the gas as often happens in blowouts of this magnitude.
Even considering the opponent — Alcorn State is 3-9 and ranked 217th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool — this was a performance that will give Dayton confidence and optimism heading into the Christmas break.
“I’m really proud of the effort tonight,” Grant said. “Defensively, it was great to see the consistency that we’re showing in terms of understanding what we’ve got to do to be successful. Offensively, we flowed well today. (Alcorn State) when you watch them on film, they’re really scrappy. They really make it difficult for you. A great all-around game. It was really good way to finish non-conference play.”
Players will be off Wednesday through Saturday and return to campus on Sunday, Grant said. Dayton (8-5) plays Duquesne (9-3) at 7 p.m. Dec. 28 in the first of 18 A-10 games.
The Flyers were the preseason favorite in the A-10 and played like it in the last three non-conference games, beating UNC Asheville, Wyoming and Alcorn State by a combined 82 points. By comparison, Dayton’s first five victories were by a combined 74 points.
DaRon Holmes II led Dayton with 23 points Tuesday. Mustapha Amzil and Toumani Camara each scored 15. R.J. Blakney and Zimi Nwokeji had 11 points each.
This 42-point victory came two weeks after Dayton’s most lopsided loss of the last seven seasons: 77-49 at Virginia Tech.
“We’ve definitely gained some steam,” Blakney said. “We’ve learned how to play together — our strengths and our weaknesses. Each game we played, we just get better. Coach said it. We’ve turned in the right direction, and we can definitely see it out there on the floor.”
NEXT GAME
Wednesday, Dec. 28
Duquense at Dayton, 7 p.m., Spectrum News 1, ESPN+, 1290, 95.7
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