Photos of Miller, Rhode Island women’s basketball coach Tammi Reiss and football coach Jim Fleming adorn a banner attached to the front of the Ryan Center.
“Welcome to Rhody Nation,” it reads.
Two years ago, Miller’s Rams gave the Flyers a rude welcome at the Ryan Center, winning 75-70 in the first matchup between the current Dayton coach, Anthony Grant, and the previous one, Miller. Rhode Island ranked 255th in the Ken Pomeroy ratings that season. It was the worst loss of the season for Dayton.
In its return to the Ocean State on Wednesday, Dayton played a much-improved Rhode Island team — No. 133 in the KenPom ratings — and dealt Rhode Island its first home loss in more than a month. Dayton’s 85-77 victory kept it in the hunt for a top-four seed in the Atlantic 10 Conference with three games to play.
“March is basically here,” Dayton guard Javon Bennett said. “You kind of want to start stringing wins together and start getting that momentum before we get to the tournament.”
The A-10 tournament starts in two weeks at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. Dayton (19-9, 9-6), Saint Joseph’s (18-10, 9-6) and Saint Louis (16-12, 9-6) share third place. The Hawks have the easiest remaining road as these schedules show, though Dayton has the head-to-head tiebreaker if it ends the season tied with them.
• Dayton: Saturday vs. Richmond (10-19, 5-11); Tuesday vs. Saint Louis; and March 7 at Virginia Commonwealth (23-5, 13-2).
• Saint Joseph’s: Saturday at Fordham (11-17, 3-12); Wednesday vs. Rhode Island (17-10, 6-9); and March 8 at La Salle (12-16, 4-11).
• Saint Louis: Saturday vs. Loyola Chicago (19-9, 10-5); Tuesday at Dayton; and March 8 vs. Duquesne (12-16, 7-8).
Credit: David Jablonski
Dayton won Wednesday in part because it showed improvement in one of its weakest areas: 3-point defense. Rhode Island shot a season-worst 10.5% (2 of 19) from behind the arc. That’s also the best number for Dayton’s defense. A-10 opponents have shot 34.5%, the 12th-worst mark in the conference, against Dayton. The Rams missed 15 3s in a row at one point.
“We had an emphasis on the guys for them that had been shooting the ball really well,” Grant said.
David Green, Rhode Island’s best 3-point shooter, missed all six of his attempts after making 4 of 6 in the previous game against Saint Louis. Jamarques Lawrence made 1 of 6 after making 5 of 6 against Saint Louis.
Rhode Island also committed 19 turnovers, its third-highest number of the season. Dayton tied its season high for forced turnovers.
“They made a lot of winning plays,” Miller said of Dayton. “We turned it over too much. We couldn’t make a shot. That’s a disaster in terms of those two statistical things. We fought hard to kind of hang around and claw back, but we just weren’t good enough tonight.”
Rhode Island built a 25-15 lead in the first half despite its shooting struggles. It scored nine baskets on layups or dunks in a six-minute stretch. But after scoring 25 points in the first 10 minutes of the half, it scored five in the last 10 minutes, missing nine straight field-goal attempts at one point.
“We had a way about us early in the game,” Miller said. “We were in control. We played with great pace. We had great movement. We were able to attack the paint in a really good way. They switched and went to a zone, and in about a three- or four-minute stretch, we probably had six possessions of three wide-open shots that didn’t go in and then maybe three 50-50 plays around the basket. That really stagnated us. In the second half, our defense caved early, and their press was able to get set up. As they pressured us, they took the rhythm out of the game. I don’t know if frustration was a part of it, but we had a really hard time adjusting.”
Dayton erased the 10-point deficit with a 12-0 run, took a 33-30 lead into halftime and then broke open the game in the second half, stretching its lead to 62-42 on a 3-point play by Enoch Cheeks at the 11:18 mark.
Cheeks, playing his first college game in his home state in front of assorted friends and family members, including his sister, scored 15 points to tie Malachi Smith for the team lead. Cheeks made 4 of 9 field goals and 6 of 7 free throws. He also had a team-high eight rebounds.
“Not a lot of college players get to play back in their home state,” Cheeks said. “I’m just forever grateful for the opportunity, and it was just awesome to get the win.”
Dayton won by shooting 37% from 3-point range (10 of 27). It also made 21 of 23 free throws (91.3%). It’s the fourth time it has shot 90% or better in a game this season.
The Flyers needed the big cushion because Rhode Island did mount a comeback, trimming the deficit to six points four times in the last six minutes. Twice after the lead shrunk to six points, Dayton forward Nate Santos made a 3-pointer on the next possession to push the advantage to nine.
In the final three minutes, Smith twice pushed the lead back to eight points, making 2 of 2 free throws and then using a shot fake to get an open layup.
In the final minute, two free throws by Santos and a dunk by Amaël L’Etang sealed the victory for Dayton.
“Our guys responded,” Grant said. “They made some big plays offensively and defensively down the stretch to preserve the win.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Richmond, 2 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 1290, 95.7
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