Dayton lays an egg at Saint Louis; Flyers fall on road
Wow. NCAA Tournament teams don’t lose at Saint Louis…do they? That being said Dayton did Saturday. Take it for what it’s worth.
After two impressive wins at home against Xavier and Charlotte, Dayton came crashing back down to earth in Saint Louis with a 68-65 loss in double-overtime to the Billikens. The defeat definitely hampers the Flyers chances of making the NCAA Tournament. At some point UD has to show the ability to win on the road. And to this point they haven’t.
There are chances to regain a ticket to the dance, but how many people truly believe a team that’s lost at Saint Louis and St. Joe’s is going to win at Temple, Duquesne and Richmond?
Dayton’s ineptitude on the road can be attributed to a couple things but none more glaring than its inefficiency from behind the 3-point line. Plain and simple the Flyers performance from long-range away from home has been embarrassing – to put it nicely.
Against St. Louis, UD was 1-of-13 from 3-point range. At St. Joe’s UD was 3-of-22 from 3. At Xavier 6-of-20. At New Mexico 8-of-33 (with four makes coming in the last two minutes).
That’s a total of 18-for-88. Wow is right.
What we learned Saturday:
1. Devin Searcy is a man: Searcy has disappeared at times this season but without him Saturday Dayton would have lost in regulation for sure. Searcy and Chris Wright were the only Flyers to put together complete games against the Billikens. Searcy tied Wright for team-high honors with 16 points and was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor. He added five boards but always seemed to be in the right spot when UD needed a lift or score.
2. Wright was unstoppable: For the third straight game Wright was a man. Makes you wonder why he didn’t get the ball down the stretch. Saint Louis had no one that could guard Wright, but it didn’t matter since the ball wasn’t in his hands at crunch time. In the overtime periods he should have had the ball every possession with one simple order – take it to the rack. And he didn’t.
3. UD’s Point Guards played horrible: London Warren and Rob Lowery combined for seven points, six assists, five turnovers and one steal in 51 combined minutes. Poor. Lowery also threw the ball away at the end of the first OT when Dayton had a shot to win the game with a final shot.
4. A loss is a loss: No matter how close these losses are, they still count as losses. The NCAA selection committee isn’t going to look at a one-point loss any different than a 20-point blow out. Unfortunately for Dayton, when it loses, it’s usually in the final seconds. The Flyers have dropped seven games this season by a total of 23 points. That’s incredibly close, but it’s still not good enough.
5. UD’s offense is sick: And not in a good way. The Flyers might have the best defensive team in the A-10. They can flat out play defense with the best of teams. Offense is a different story. And on the road they have none.
Next Up: LaSalle at UD, Thursday, 7 p.m.
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