Dayton lost the Atlantic 10 championship game that season, dropping thetitle game against George Washington. The then-seventh seeded Flyers knocked off Iowa State, Kentucky and Louisville to earn its spot in the Elite Eight, the longest run in program history.
“If you get to the NCAA tournament,” said Green, the sixth-year head coach and former Dayton assistant said. “You do not know what can happen. It can all come together.”
Dayton met with the media Thursday afternoon after knocking off DePaul by 31 points on Wednesday night. The Flyers return to the court Friday against sixth-seeded Georgia (7:30, ESPN News) with plenty of confidence.
Those in Flyer uniforms had done it before, after all.
Georgia (20-9) made its statement across the women’s basketball landscape with wins over Notre Dame and NC State, but fell short toward the tail end of Southeastern Conference play with numerous close losses. The Bulldogs are similar to Dayton in many ways. The two teams are defensive-oriented, feature two true bigs and have talent at the guard positions.
Dayton played two SEC teams earlier in the season, Mississippi State and Florida, but lost both games. Georgia went 2-1 against those opponents.
Georgia and Dayton will meet for the first time in program history.
“I like the matchup,” Green said. “We have athletic guards that can guard their guards. We have a couple of big kids who can match up with (sixth-year senior Jenna) Staiti down low. They’re athletic, they’re long and they’re going to get up and defend.”
Dayton’s confidence can be drawn from how it played against DePaul. The Flyers hit 13 3-pointers, had three double-digit scorers as Erin Whalen led the way with 28 points and racked up 15 blocks (guard Jenna Giacone had five alone).
Georgia is a team that turns its defense into transition offense. Staiti leads the Bulldogs with 15 points per game. Fifth-year senior Que Morrison also averages double figures.
Georgia also has a deep bench with as many as 12 players who can significantly contribute.
“We know that Georgia’s a really handsy team,” Dayton guard Kyla Whitehead said. “We know that they have a little bit of size, so we have to box them out. A lot of them like to crash.”
Green admitted that Dayton probably won’t shoot at the clip it did against DePaul, especially not 12-of-14 from deep as it did in the first half. It’s tough to replicate such results, but Georgia has struggled at times defending the perimeter. In Georgia’s SEC tournament loss to Alabama, the Crimson Tide hit nine 3-pointers and won by double digits.
“This is a team where if you let them do what they do well, you’re going to be in for a long night,” Georiga coach Joni Taylor said. “We have to buckle down and just bear down and make sure that we take them out of what they want to do and force them to score in other ways. It’s an area of concern, obviously.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. Georiga, 7:30 p.m., ESPN News
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