Elvis hurt his left knee on the last play of the final regular-season game in a 65-61 loss at Saint Louis. He bumped knees with Mustapha Amzil on a relatively meaningless play in a game that was already decided.
The injury hurt even more because Elvis had already missed 12 games after hurting his right knee in the second half during a 79-75 overtime loss to Brigham Young on Nov. 25 in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Elvis used the word “annoying” to sum up his injury-plagued season. Seven months later, though, he’s healthy and ready for the 2023-24 season, his third with Dayton after one season at DePaul. Two other returning starting guards, Koby Brea and Malachi Smith, who battled pain throughout last season and underwent offseason surgeries, are also back at practice.
Dayton hopes to avoid the injury bug this season that contributed to it falling short of its goals in the 2022-23 season. Sitting down at the Cronin Center on Wednesday, 11 days before fans will see the Flyers for the first time in an exhibition game against Ohio State at UD Arena, Elvis talked about the hopes and dreams of a hungry team that was the first team left out of the NCAA tournament field in 2022 and that fell one victory short of the tournament in 2023.
“If people don’t associate those words — Dayton and hunger — together at this point, I don’t know what to tell them,” Elvis said. “Being a game away each year from making the NCAA tournament — our excuses were injuries or whatever but it’s not really a good excuse — and not being able to seal the deal, it hurt all of us. That keeps us all up at night. I don’t think you have to question if anybody here is hungry or motivated to go play and do well. I think the community wants it just as much as we do. I would definitely say we’re very, very motivated to go win the A-10 championship and go win another tournament like we did in Florida (in 2021).”
Elvis is listed as a junior on the roster, but this is his fourth season of college basketball. He has one season of eligibility remaining after this season because the 2020-21 season, played during the pandemic, did not count against anyone’s eligibility.
Elvis averaged 8.9 points and 2.4 assists, while shooting 36.2% (42 of 116) from 3-point range in his first season at Dayton. He started 30 games. Last season, he averaged 8.5 points and 2.9 assists and shot 32.5% (26 of 80) from 3-point range. He started 17 games.
Asked about what he has done this offseason to take his game to the next level, Elvis said, “The biggest thing I’ve been working on is my strength, just trying to make sure I stay healthy for the year. In terms of getting back on the court, I’ve working on ball-screen stuff, working on getting a lot of shots in the offense and limiting bad shots. I’m working on my shot selection and trying to figure out where I can pick my spots within the offense.”
Dayton shot 33.8% from 3-point range last season, ranking 180th in the country one season after shooting 36.1% and ranking 53rd.
Dayton also ranked 354th in the country out of 363 Division I teams in adjusted tempo, according to KenPom.com. Its average possession length on offense was 19.1 seconds, which made it one of the slower teams in the country. Some of that had to do with an offense focused on getting touches for DaRon Holmes II and Toumani Camara in the paint, but Dayton has not ranked in the top 200 in adjusted tempo in coach Anthony Grant’s first six seasons.
Elvis expects to see some changes to the way the offense plays this season.
“I think in terms of style of play, it’s going to be really fast, really upbeat,” he said. “We have an arsenal of weapons. There are guys that can score on all three levels. I think shooting is going to be a huge part of our identity. Playing fast and shooting, those are kind of key things for us.”
Elvis said injuries to the perimeter players changed Grant’s approach to the offense last season. Brea was hurt at the beginning of the season and played through pain when he returned. Elvis and Smith missed 17 and 15 games, respectively. Mike Sharavjamts, who transferred to San Francisco after the season, was limited by a knee injury during the A-10 tournament. R.J. Blakney, who’s now at Old Dominion, also missed time.
“Obviously, we had two of the best players in the country in DaRon and Toumani, so we played through the post a lot and it’s where we had a lot of success,” Elvis said. “This year, in terms of what we have, it just makes a lot more sense to play fast and space the floor.”
About the Author
