‘How do we respond?’ — Grant hopes for maturity from Flyers after first loss since November

“It doesn’t matter what jersey they’re wearing or where it’s played, home or away,” then UD coach Brian Gregory said. “If you’re not completely focused and ready to scrap and fight, you ain’t winning.”

That loss started a three-game losing streak and a skid that would see Dayton lose eight of 11 games after a 14-1 start. The absence of injured sophomore forward Chris Wright, the Flyers’ second-leading scorer and top rebounder, changed the trajectory of that season.

Sixteen years later, the 2024 Flyers, who saw a 13-game winning streak end with a 69-64 loss at Richmond on Saturday and fell from No. 16 to No 21 in the Associated Press top-25 poll on Monday, hope one setback is not a turning point but a minor pothole on the road to March.

“I think that’ll come down to our level maturity as a group,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “That’s a part of life. You’re going to have adversity that hits you at some point. How do you respond to that. There are two sides of that coin. How do you handle prosperity? How do you handle adversity? We’ve had a nice run where we haven’t had much adversity on the losing end. How do we respond moving forward? That story’s to be told.”

The story continues for Dayton (16-3, 6-1) with two 7 p.m. games at UD Arena this week: Tuesday against George Washington (14-6, 3-4) and Friday against St. Bonaventure (12-7, 3-4).

With 11 games left in the regular season, Dayon trails Richmond (15-5, 7-0) by one game. Virginia Commonwealth and Loyola Chicago (both 13-7 and 5-2) are tied for third place, two games back of Richmond.

Dayton and Richmond each play VCU twice in the next six weeks. Loyola has lost the only games it plays against VCU and Richmond and faces Dayton on March 1 in Chicago.

Richmond, Dayton, VCU and Loyola are the top four contenders for the regular-season championship. Every other team has at least three losses. Fifth-place George Mason (15-5, 4-3) is the only other team with a A-10 record above .500.

This week, Dayton deals with a pair of disappointing teams. St. Bonaventure has lost four of its last six games after opening A-10 play with an 89-78 victory at VCU.

First, there’s George Washington. This will be Dayton’s first game against the Revolutionaries, who were known as the Colonials in previous seasons. They were picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll and performed well in non-conference, finishing 11-2. They started 3-1 in the A-10 with a loss to Fordham followed by victories against VCU, Davidson and George Mason.

George Washington then lost road games at Massachusetts (13-7, 4-4) and Richmond before suffering its worst loss of the season Saturday, 80-70 at home to La Salle (11-9, 2-5). The Explorers lost 66-54 to Dayton in their previous game and had lost four straight games.

Dayton has a 93% chance to beat George Washington, according to KenPom.com. The Explorers rank 163rd in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Dayton is No. 17.

Fifth-year guard James Bishop IV leads George Washington with 17.9 points per game. He led the conference with 21.6 points per game last season. He had 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting in the loss to La Salle.

The other top returner, redshirt sophomore guard Maximus Edwards, averages 12.3 points after averaging 10.5 points last season.

GW’s top newcomer is Darren Buchanan Jr., a 6-foot-7 forward who redshirted last season at Virginia Tech. He led the Revolutionaries with 24 points and 12 rebounds against La Salle. He had 38 points in the team’s A-10 opener against Fordham. He averages 15.5 points.

George Washington ranks 34th in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (37.1) but shot a season-worst 16.7% (3 of 18) against La Salle.

Defense has also been an issue for George Washington. It’s giving up 83.6 points per game in A-10 play. That’s the highest number in the conference.

“Ultimately, you’re going to have to make people miss,” coach Chris Caputo told GWRadio.com. “I’ve got to do a better job with the makeup of our team, getting us better defensively somehow right now.”

Dayton won 80-54 in 2022, the last time George Washington visited UD Arena. That was Dayton’s fifth straight victory in the series and 10th straight victory against George Washington at home.

George Washington beat Dayton 76-69 in Washington, D.C. last season. Bishop made 10 of 15 2-pointers and 7 of 10 free throws, scoring 27 points.

To avenge that loss, Dayton first has to put the Richmond game behind it.

“We’ve just got to be better,” Grant said. “There’s a lot of ball still be played throughout the league. It’s a tough lesson. Hopefully, we’ll learn and get better from it.”

TUESDAY’S GAME

George Washington at Dayton, 7 p.m., Spectrum News 1, 1290, 95.7