• Malachi Smith sat on the bench without a protective boot on his right foot for the first time in weeks.
No. 24 Dayton (2-0) survived the first week of the 2022-23 season without those injured players, plus Kaleb Washington, who’s suspended. Smith was one of Dayton’s five returning starters. Brea was the Atlantic 10 Conference’s top six man last season. Amaefule redshirted last season but showed promise in practice.
The sight of two of the players in uniform and Smith moving around and standing with ease soothed the nerves of the Flyer Faithful — or Fretful — and the Flyers themselves. DaRon Holmes II, who scored 20 points Friday, summed up the situation with two words: “Coming soon.”
“It’s a very good sign,” Holmes said. “Our team slowly is coming back together to be fully healthy. It’s just going to be even more dangerous when we have our full squad. I know it hurts them not be able to get in right now because of injuries, but they’re still rooting for us and they’re still being great teammates off the court. That’s all we can ask for from them right now.”
With seven scholarship players available in the first week, Dayton had four players average between 32 and 34 minutes: Holmes; Toumani Camara; Kobe Elvis; and Mike Sharavjamts. R.J. Blakney averaged 27.5. Mustapha Amzil averaged 23.5. Zimi Nwokeji averaged 11.0.
Dayton’s reserves have played 20.4% of its minutes, according to KenPom. It ranks 330th in the country in bench minutes. The national average is 29.6%.
Dayton returns to action at 11 p.m. (EST) Tuesday against UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. UNLV improved to 2-0 with an 88-63 victory Saturday against Incarnate Word.
With Smith still having not returned to practice at all, it’s unlikely he sees playing time soon. Brea and Amaefule are closer because they have “partly” returned to practice, Grant said Friday. All three have “lower body injuries,” in the words of Grant, who rarely gets into specifics about injuries and doesn’t like to provide timetables for returns.
“They’re making progress,” he said of Brea and Amaefule, “and hopefully we continue to move in the right direction but certainly there is progress there. They’ve basically missed the whole preseason, so right now, it’s about getting back in condition, staying healthy and not having any setbacks.”
As far as Smith, Grant said, “He’s doing some things. He’s not back on the court yet, but he’s making progress.”
Recruiting note: Dayton had two 2024 recruits behind bench Friday: Durral “Phat Phat” Brooks, a 6-foot-2 point guard from Grandville, Mich., and Central Catholic High School; and Ayden Evans, a 6-8 forward from Elizabethtown High School (Ky.).
Evans ranks 118th in the 2024 class, according to the 247Sports.com Composing Rankings. Brooks ranks 127th.
TUESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at UNLV, 11 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 1290, 95.7
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