Three takeaways from Dayton’s loss to Xavier in exhibition game

That T-shirt may not have seen the light of day for the last decade or more because it had been nine years since Dayton had played its old rival in any type of game and almost 12 years since the Musketeers had played the Flyers on Tom Blackburn Court.

The memories of the teams clashing twice every year for the Blackburn/McCafferty Trophy are fading fast.

“I had no idea that Dayton and Xavier were big rivals,” Dayton forward Zed Key said.

“I had heard about it,” Dayton forward Nate Santos said. “I just didn’t know a lot of details.”

This game won’t show up on any of the list of greatest games between the Flyers and Musketeers, mostly because it was a charity exhibition game that doesn’t count in the record book and also because there was little drama. Xavier took control of the game late in the first half and never let Dayton make a serious run in the second half en route to a 98-74 victory.

Dayton fans didn’t boo Xavier much and didn’t have a lot to cheer for in regards to their team.

“This is our first time playing outside competition,” Santos said, “so I think obviously it’s just a lot of learning about what we need to do better. It sucks to lose, but there’s a lot to learn.”

Here are three takeaways from the game:

1. Xavier looked like a top-25 team: The Musketeers landed just outside the top 25 in the Associated Press preseason poll as they enter the third season of coach Sean Miller’s second stint with the program.

Seven Xavier players scored in double figures with sixth-year forward Zach Freemantle, who missed last season with an injury, leading the way with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting.

“From a basketball standpoint, I thought this was great for our team,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “Like I told them, this is practice 19 for us. These games are what I call rubber-bullet games. They hurt if you don’t win and you don’t play well, but they don’t count, and it gives you a chance to learn about your team. I thought the difference in the basketball game today was (Xavier’s) physicality on both sides. It kind of got the best of us from about the 10-minute mark to the end of the first half, and that opened the game up for them.”

2. Dayton couldn’t keep up with Xavier behind the arc: Xavier made 12 of 26 3-pointers (46.2%). Junior guard Ryan Conwell, an Indiana State transfer, made 3 of 6.

Dayton made 1 of 13 3s in the first half when it fell into a 46-28 halftime hole and then 5 of 15 in the second half, finishing at 21.4% (6 of 28).

Santos made 2 of 6 3s for Dayton and led the team with 13 points. The three starting guards — Javon Bennett, Enoch Cheeks and Malachi Smith — combined to make 2 of 13.

“We are a really good 3-point shooting team,” Key said. “I’m not worried about it. We have guys on this team that can really shoot the ball, and if you leave them open, it’s going to go in. Just tonight, the shots weren’t falling.”

3. Grant spread the minutes between 11 players: Bennett, Cheeks, Smith, Key and Santos started. Posh Alexander, Jacob Conner and Amaël L’Etang were the first players off the bench for Dayton. Hamad Mousa was the next player off the bench. Isaac Jack and Jaiun Simon also entered the game in the first nine minutes.

The eleven scholarship players who dressed in uniform for the game all played between 11 and 27 minutes.

Guard Marvel Allen, who redshirted last season as a freshman and had knee surgery in early June, and fifth-year guard Brady Uhl, who sprained his left ankle earlier this month and wore a protective boot on the bench, were the only players not in uniform.

Allen said in July he expected to return to action in August. Grant said Allen had setbacks in his return to the court.

“Marvel has not been cleared to practice,” Grant said. “I think we should hopefully get some final ideas in terms of what his availability is going to be within the next week or two weeks.”

This was the second straight year Dayton played an exhibition game in front of a sold-out crowd of 13,407 fans at UD Arena. Last year, Ohio State beat Dayton 78-70.

Grant said he prefers this type of game to the closed-door scrimmages his team played annually against the likes of West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, etc. in previous years.

“This was better, to be honest with you because this is the environment you’re going to play in in real games,” Grant said.