For about half a second Tuesday at Coleman Coliseum, UD celebrated an exclamation point on a victory over Alabama. Scoochie Smith avoided a foul and passed ahead to Josh Cunningham. With five seconds left, the sophomore forward threw down a thunderous slam over Alabama’s Ar’Mond Davis, who fouled Cunningham, causing him to land awkwardly.
The faces on Dayton’s players changed from joy to disbelief in an instant. A crowd of 10,834 fell silent. Everyone heard Cunningham screaming in pain.
Minutes later, after trainers carried Cunningham to the locker room and Dayton shook hands with the Crimson Tide after a 77-72 victory, the Flyers left the court in shock.
“We just beat an SEC team on the road,” Dayton sophomore forward Ryan Mikesell said, “and it doesn’t feel like it because of Josh falling at the end. Hopefully, he’s all right. Prayers to him.”
Here are seven things to know about Dayton’s second victory:
1. Cunningham's status: Coach Archie Miller said Cunningham injured his ankle and knee, but the extent of the injuries won't be known until he's examined today in Dayton. He left the arena on crutches with a brace over his whole leg. For what it's worth, Cunningham responded to numerous fans who sent him well wishes on Twitter and said he'd be fine.
Senior guard Kyle Davis also maintained a positive outlook, even though video of the injury makes it hard to believe Cunningham didn’t suffer a serious injury.
“It was kind of an awkward fall,” Davis said. “You could tell he was in pain. I asked him in the locker room, ‘What’s up?’ He said his foot hurt a little bit but nothing too major. Am I worried? Somewhat. Not that much, though. I know he’s a fighter. He said his ankle hurt more than his knee. I’m assuming he tweaked his ankle or dislocated it at the most. Hopefully we get him back in the next couple weeks.”
2. Moving forward: If the Flyers lose Cunningham for an extended period, can they keep winning? They're 2-0 and play No. 17 St. Mary's on Saturday. Miller offered no updates on Dayton's other injured forward Kendall Pollard, who remains out indefinitely with a thigh contusion.
Even Pollard’s teammates don’t know when he’ll be back. Smith remains optimistic it’ll be sooner rather than later.
“He’s getting closer to coming back,” Smith said. “It’s possible it’ll be Saturday, but I’m not really sure. Everybody talks to him about it. Me being his roommate, I try to keep his mind off that.”
3. Rally time: The Flyers trailed 7-0 and 10-2 in the opening minutes and 36-31 at halftime. They trailed for the last six minutes of the first half and the first eight minutes of the second but never let the Crimson Tide (1-1) get farther ahead than six points in that span.
A back-and-forth game turned for Dayton with 2:11 to play. After Dazon Ingram gave Alabama a 64-63 lead with a layup, Charles Cooke hit two free throws.
On Dayton’s next possession, Mikesell hit a 3-pointer to give the Flyers a 68-64 lead with 1:32 left. Mikesell scored 12 and hit both of his 3-point attempts.
“It was huge,” Mikesell said. “I’ve actually been struggling with my shot a little bit, but now that I’ve knocked a few down, hopefully I can feed off of it.”
4. Big shot: Smith led the Flyers with 20 points and followed Mikesell's shot with a layup with 47 seconds left, extending Dayton's lead to 70-67.
“We just stayed together throughout the course of the game,” Smith said. “That’s what you’ve got to do on the road. It’s never going to be easy.”
5. Slow start: Cooke scored 19 points one game after scoring 31. Alabama held him to three points in the first 14 minutes. Then Cooke started to find his groove.
“They really double-teamed me and face-fronted me and denied me the ball the whole game,” Cooke said. “It loosened up a little bit in the second half. They were still denying me, but I was just trying to work off the ball.”
6. Foul issues: The game was a foul-plagued mess. Teams are still adjusting to the new rules that prohibit defenders from even touching offensive players. Dayton committed 23 fouls. Alabama committed 25.
Dayton made things tough for itself with its performance at the free-throw line (20 of 33, 60.6 percent).
7. Strong shooting: Dayton didn't rebound the ball well. Alabama won the boards 40-28. The Flyers struggled to come up with loose balls all afternoon.
However, the Flyers won by shooting much better from the field than Alabama. Dayton made 9 of 18 3-pointers and 24 of 44 overall. Alabama made 6 of 23 3-pointers and 23 of 59 field goals.
About the Author
