Las Vegas is all about the stars, the hype, the glitz and the glamour, and the No. 21 Dayton Flyers had all of that going for them heading into a game Tuesday night game at UNLV. Now they are picking up the pieces after their first stay at “Heartbreak Hotel” this season — actually it was a Westin just off the Vegas strip — and regrouping for the 28 games ahead in the regular season.
The dream of 31-0 died in the Silver State because of numerous basketball sins committed by Dayton in a 60-52 loss: 24 turnovers, the most in a game since December 2017 (26 against Mississippi State); lackluster defense in the second half as the Runnin’ Rebels shot 48.1%; and an inability to grab loose balls or rebounds late in the game.
For the Flyers, the hope, of course, is what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas.
“We’re going to be OK,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said. “This is good for us. It’s adversity.”
This game featured sickening moments for Dayton and its fans long before the final whistle.
• Forward Toumani Camara left the game after tweaking his right knee in the first half and sat on the bench throughout the second half with a bag of ice on the knee. He said he has tendinitis in the knee. That’s why he didn’t return. He said after the game he’ll be OK and expects to play Saturday when Dayton (2-1) plays Robert Morris at UD Arena.
• Holmes limped off the court 30 seconds into the second half with Dayton leading 32-22. He headed straight to the locker room with trainer Mike Mulcahey. He also said he’ll play Saturday.
“I was trying to block (Keshon Gilbert’s) floater, and I landed on my bad ankle,” Holmes said. “That was really painful. I went to Mike, and he got me some Ibuprofen. He got me right.”
• Holmes missed about three minutes of action after his injury. Zimi Nwokeji replaced him but left the game after getting hit in the face and suffering a cut on his cheek. He returned to the bench because he was bleeding. With Mulcahey in the locker room with Holmes, Andy Farrell, the special assistant to the head coach, treated Nwokeji.
The Holmes and Nwokeji injuries allowed Richard Amaefule to make his Dayton debut nearly 17 months after he first arrived at Dayton. He redshirted last season, missed most of the offseason with injuries and only recently returned to practice. He finally got on the court for two minutes but was soon replaced by Holmes, who raced out of the locker room to the bench and straight into the game with 16:03 to play and Dayton leading 38-27.
The return of Holmes did not slow UNLV, which started a 10-1 run to tie the game at 38-38 with 12:54 to play. The Runnin’ Rebels (3-0) looked like a different team on offense in the second half but did a good job in both halves forcing Dayton into mistakes and shutting down Holmes, who had his lowest-scoring game (2 points on 1-of-5 shooting) since the third game of his freshman season.
“We can be disruptive,” UNLV coach Kevin Kruger said. “I think we can have fun being annoying.”
UNLV was so annoying Dayton didn’t make a field goal in the final six minutes. It scored its last five points at the free-throw line. UNLV outscored Dayton 38-20 in the second half and 16-8 in the final eight minutes.
Dayton repeatedly tried to get the ball to Holmes, and sometimes that resulted in a forced pass and a turnover. Holmes also missed several shots he’ll make nine times out of 10. UNLV didn’t have height — it’s one of the shortest teams in the country — but it had a strategy for Holmes.
“They just crowded him,” Grant said. “You could tell it was their game plan to limit his opportunities. Obviously, he wasn’t 100%, but he battled.”
Even before Holmes hurt his ankle, he was having trouble with the double teams.
“I think Deuce has got to be a little bit more physical,” guard Kobe Elvis said. “I know guys are double teaming him. That’s part of what he’s going to have to face being as good as he is. You’re going to have to play through a lot of that.”
Elvis carried Dayton on offense early, scoring 13 of his 16 points in the first half. Playing the point guard spot for the third straight game with Malachi Smith still sidelined by a lower body finished with six turnovers and no assists.
Freshman Mike Sharavjamts was a bright spot. He scored 14 points and made 4 of 6 3-pointers in 25 minutes. He would have played more minutes if he hadn’t picked up his fourth foul with nine minutes to play. He has made 8 of 16 3-pointers in his first three games.
Another positive development for Dayton was the return of guard Koby Brea, who missed the first two games and all of the preseason with a lower-body injury. He looked rusty early with two quick turnovers and missed his first three 3-point attempts but made two in the second half when nothing else was working for Dayton’s offense.
Brea scored six points in 25 minutes.
“My intention wasn’t to have him go that many minutes tonight,” Grant said. “We just got him back. Hopefully, his body reacts well to that. That wasn’t the plan, but with the foul trouble and everything else we had going on, it just worked out that way. But I thought he did a good job in terms of going out there and competing.”
SATURDAY”S GAME
Robert Morris at Dayton, 1 p.m., Spectrum News 1, 1290, 95.7
Credit: David Jablonski
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