Dayton fans have wondered all week how Smith is doing since he injured his ankle on the final play of the first half Saturday. Anthony Grant has not spoken to the media since the postgame press conference following that loss to Richmond in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament semifinals, and UD did not provide an update on Smith when asked Monday. In almost every injury situation, an update isn’t provided until just before the next game so UD can keep opponents in the dark.
Smith’s dad, Elliot Rosado, who was at the game Saturday and visited Smith in the locker room at halftime and after the game, posted a photo his son on Instagram and wrote, “If you don’t bruise, you don’t reach your destiny. The world got a peek of what would have happened if you got in & the world also knows if you don’t get hurt we win that game. Let’s continue to absorb these wounds so when you reach your destiny you can say you earned it. Love you.”
Assuming Dayton doesn’t have Smith on Wednesday, Kobe Elvis will run the point guard spot as he did throughout the second half against Richmond. Either Koby Brea or Mustapha Amzil could replace Smith in the starting lineup.
Beating Toledo, even with Smith, would be no easy task, especially on the road. The Rockets won the Mid-American Conference regular-season championship to earn an automatic NIT berth. They played one A-10 team in the regular season, losing 72-69 at Richmond. This will be Toledo’s first game against Dayton since 2009.
“Playing against an in-state team like Dayton, our guys are extremely excited,” Toledo coach Tod Kowalczyk told the Toledo Blade.
Dayton has won 12 straight games against Mid-American Conference teams since losing 80-54 to Buffalo at UD Arena on Nov. 30, 2011. That game came 15 days after a loss to another MAC team, Miami, 72-67 in overtime at Millett Hall in Oxford.
Kowalczyk got the Toledo job two years after Dayton last played Toledo. After a 4-28 record in his first season, guided the program to a 15-win improvement in the 2011-12 season and a 27-7 record in his fourth season. This was Toledo’s fifth straight winning season and sixth 20-win seasons in Kowalczyk’s 12 seasons.
Toledo led the MAC in scoring (80.7 points per game) and ranked first in field-goal percentage (48.4) and second in 3-point shooting percentage (36.0).
The Toledo roster features one player from the Dayton area. Springfield High School graduate Ra’Heim Moss is starting and averaging 8.8 points as a freshman. He spent a post-graduate year at Spire Academy in Geneva, Ohio, and then sat out last season as a redshirt. He was named to the All-MAC freshman team.
Toledo played dominant basketball at the end of the regular season, winning its last four games by double digits, but then snuck by Central Michigan in the MAC quarterfinals, winning 72-71. Akron, the eventual MAC champion, then beat Toledo 70-62 in the semifinals to earn its fourth NCAA tournament appearance in the last 14 years.
Toledo has not played in the NCAA tournament since 1980. Beating Dayton would be a consolation prize of sorts. Dayton will have to put the disappointment of being the first team left out of the NCAA tournament behind it.
“They look like they’re a very good defensive team,” Kowalczyk said. “They play a very slow pace. They’re a young team, but they look like a really talented team.”
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at Toledo, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 1290, 95.3
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