Dayton had plenty of ways to celebrate and plenty of reasons to rejoice after one of the signature victories of the Grant era. This was the first time Dayton had played an Ohio team from outside the Mid-American Conference in Grant’s seven seasons and the first time it had beaten an Ohio team from one of the power conferences since its victory against Ohio State in the first round of the 2014 NCAA tournament.
The Flyers had played a much tougher non-conference schedule than Cincinnati leading up to the game, and that may have played a part in a dominant performance. UD’s non-conference schedule ranks 36th, according to KenPom.com, and UC’s ranks 260th.
“Our guys have have been tested throughout the year,” Grant said, “and I think it’s made us better. It’s helped us understand some things that we need to be able to do better. We’re not a finished product right now. I think we still have room to grow, and we will. I think the guys understand the opportunity that we have in front of us. It’s just about continuing to grow and continuing to get better.”
Credit: David Jablonski
The next chance comes at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Dayton (8-2) plays Oakland (6-6) at UD Arena in its second-to-last non-conference and its last game before the Christmas break.
Oakland is the second-highest ranked team in the NCAA Evaluation Tool that will play at UD Arena in non-conference play. Longwood, which Dayton plays on Dec. 30, is No. 86. Oakland, which was picked to finish sixth out of 11 teams in the Horizon League, is No. 108.
Oakland has played one of the strongest schedules in the country. Its non-conference schedule ranks 16th in difficulty. It has losses to three Big Ten teams: Ohio State; Illinois; and Michigan State. It led Ohio State and Illinois in the second half before fading in the final 10 minutes. It beat Xavier 78-76 at the Cintas Center on Nov. 27.
Oakland’s leading scorer, 6-6 forward Trey Townsend (15.9 points per game), is a fourth-year player who has scored 1,383 points in his career. Second-leading scorer Jack Gohlke (11.6), a 6-3 guard, is a graduate student who spent the last four seasons at Division II Hillsdale College. The starting lineup also includes Rocket Watts, a 6-2 guard who played two seasons at Michigan State and one at Mississippi State before transferring to Oakland last season.
Towsend and Watts combined for 33 points Monday in a 79-62 loss at Michigan State, which led from start to finish and stretched its advantage to as many as 27 points in the second half.
“You’re dealing with a team in Oakland that has a lot of veterans on their team, a lot of fifth- or sixth-year guys on their roster,” Grant said Monday on WHIO’s Flyer Insider Show. “They’re very good offensively with a variety of weapons from what I’ve seen, and then defensively, probably 90 to 95% of the game, we’ll see a zone, so it’s something that’s different than any other prep that we’ve had this year.”
Dayton brings a five-game winning streak into the game. It has won 15 straight non-conference home games. It ranks 29th in the NET and received two votes in the Associated Press top-25 poll this week.
Although Holmes and Elvis earned the headlines Saturday by combining for 55 points, Grant thought it was a team effort.
“(Enoch) Cheeks got in foul trouble, so he only played like three and a half minutes (in the first half), but I thought his defense and rebounding and his energy in the second half helped propel us,” Grant said Saturday. “Nate (Santos) didn’t have a great shooting night, but his aggressiveness and his physicality showed up and helped us win. Petras (Padegimas), as a freshman, competed really hard. He made a big play, to take away an easy bucket for them in transition, and that led to an opportunity for us in transition.”
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. Oakland, 7 p.m., Spectrum News 1, 1290, 95.7
Credit: David Jablonski
About the Author
