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Home > Blogs > Flyer Connection: University of Dayton sports > Archives > 2009 > February > 25 > Entry
Flyers, Rams put on show in OT thriller
KINGSTON, R.I. — Dayton coach Brian Gregory objected when a reporter asked whether the Atlantic 10 deserved three NCAA tournament bids.
Just three? Gregory believes the league deserves four, and UD and Rhode Island certainly looked like a pair of NCAA teams as they clawed away at each other for 45 minutes Wednesday night.
The Flyers dropped a 93-91 overtime decision in a classic when Rams guard Marquis Jones made a driving lay-up as the clock dropped to zeroes. Jones came off a screen, forcing UD center Kurt Huelsman to make a switch with London Warren. Jones picked up a step on Huelsman and made a shot in traffic that would have earned high marks in the degree-of-difficulty category in another sport.
“Sean Miller at Xavier said the other day, ‘You lose on the road in this league, and you don’t have to apologize to anybody,’ ” Gregory said. “And I’m not going to apologize for our guys’ effort tonight.
“The problem is, right now, some people will say that’s a bad loss. Our league is not at the point yet where losing to a team on the road that has 21 wins, that has beaten practically everyone it’s played … it’s hard. It’s a sore subject. Right now in this league we’re doing what real good leagues do — beat the crap out of each other for two months.”
The Flyers needed a defensive stop at the end of regulation to force overtime and got it. Warren made a steal and then had the ball poked away from him. He may have been fouled. But then again, he might have been guilty of a foul while trying to retrieve the ball before the horn went off.
“I’d like to see that play on tape after London got the steal. I’d like to see what happened after London got the steal — wink, wink,” Gregory said, clearly hinting that the Rams got away with a hack. “There were about seven seconds or six seconds left, and all of sudden, he’s …”
Gregory stopped himself.
“I’d like to see that on tape,” he said.
The Flyers can only blame themselves for the defeat because of a 21-for-35 effort from the foul line, but they competed to the end in an inhospitable environment, and they had sparkling performances by an assortment of players.
Marcus Johnson struggled at the foul line (4-for-8), but he tallied a season-high 21 points and made a game-tying 3-pointer with Jimmy Baron in his face with 13.5 seconds to go in OT. Chris Wright had 17 points and a slew of athletic plays, but he spent just 26 of the 45 minutes on the floor because of foul trouble.
“One of Chris’ greatest challenges is this: He plays extremely hard, but because he missed so many games as a freshman, he’s going to make mistakes that freshman make,” Gregory said.
“When you have three fouls, you can’t go for a steal. Or, when you have four fouls and a guy is in the post, you have to make him make a shot. You can’t go for the reach.
“Freshmen get a pass on those because they’re dumb freshmen.”
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Comments
By Miami Grad Student
February 26, 2009 7:17 AM | Link to this
Just heard on Fox that the A10 is probably a one bid league… again.By Bam-Bam
February 26, 2009 7:25 AM | Link to this
Gee, not only do we lose the game, now we are the #1 highlight on ESPN on Thursday. Hulesman had a serious brain fart making that switch at that point in the game. URI could have dumped the ball to Seawright who was covered by Warren because of the switch. Come on Dayton, step up or get out of the way.By FlyBoy
February 26, 2009 7:46 AM | Link to this
Here is what I just saw on TV, Xavier is a lock. UD and Temple are on the bubble. If we can beat Xavier, they will be on the bubble.By FaithfulFlyer65
February 26, 2009 8:10 AM | Link to this
Coach Gregory’s excuse that Chris Wright makes freshman mistakes is pretty lame. Between last season and this Chris has played in around 40 games and attended probably over 200 practices and team meetings. He has no reason to be making “freshman” mistakes. Coach Gregory has also told us in the above article what a player shouldn’t do when he has 3 or 4 fouls. Why is he telling this to us? It needs to be pounded in CW’s head! He has been in foul trouble many times this season and by now he should have learned from it. I would also like to think that the coaching staff reminds him of it before he goes back into the game when he has 3 or 4 fouls.By Shaq
February 26, 2009 8:14 AM | Link to this
Stupid fouls, lots of turnovers and poor free throw shooting. Gregory isn’t going to apologize for any of that - he’s just going to make excuses.By Mid-Major
February 26, 2009 8:25 AM | Link to this
Hello NITBy wallyp
February 26, 2009 8:34 AM | Link to this
UD showed a lot of heart with the comeback, but it sure would have been nice if the team could have shot free throws like you expect from a high school team so it would not have had to make the comeback. FlyBoy, how can a team be a lock and then get on the bubble if it loses a game to probably the best team remaining on its schedule?By Jerseyflyer
February 26, 2009 8:53 AM | Link to this
Watch CDub when he guards his man away from the ball. He’s up real close and pressing like a player who lacks top notch athletic skills. When you have the kind of game Wright has, you can slack off your man and be able to make it up when opponent does get the ball. Why press? Gregs would leave him in more if he could harness all his skill sets. You can’t teach 42 vertical and 6feet8. NBA drools over this type of player that brings tons of raw talent to next level. Heck, NBA takes chances on kids(Danilo Gallinari went 6th to Knicks) from Euro league play so Chris will not be a big reach if he goes 1st round in the 16-24 slots. He’s still a year away from his potential but I think he’ll go unfortunately. Just my take.Hope he stays another year. Beat Temple.By Satch
February 26, 2009 8:54 AM | Link to this
Husellman is Horrible!He is so slow on defense he cannot adjust. The best defense he played was when he shoved some of the RI fans as they stormed the floor after their win!!!By texasfan
February 26, 2009 9:07 AM | Link to this
NIT!NIT!NIT! UD will be right where they deserve in the NIT. I hope, really do, that I’m wrong and they make the NCAA’s, but they do not win on the road, and the tired every team is great in the A-10 mantra by BG is just ridiculous, the A-10 is NOT great, they are average, and losing consistently on the road to average teams gets you, and UD, the NIT.The excuse factory that is BG is like the old saying excuses are like Butth*s, everybody has one and they all kinda stink, and UD’s stinks alot withe BG excuse train.By Fed Up
February 26, 2009 9:09 AM | Link to this
FREE THROWS, FREE THROWS, FREE THROWS,FREE THROWS, FREE THROWS, FREE THROWSFREE THROWS, FREE THROWS, FREE THROWSFREE THROWS, FREE THROWS, FREE THROWS! Missing 14 of these in a game, most of them on a front end of a one and one. Come on UD!By Agree!!!
February 26, 2009 9:25 AM | Link to this
I’m tired of hearing “If Shaq doesn’t have to be good at free throws, neither do we”. We don’t have anyone that will ever be remotely close to Shaq. FREE THROWS, for crying out loud! Shoot ‘em til your arms hurt! As for the Dance, here comes another CHOKE season. What a reward for fans that pack 12,000 in the arena every game. Pathetic.By sec 312
February 26, 2009 9:38 AM | Link to this
I thought if we would have won we would be NCAA for sure..now? not so much. There is no shame in losing last night that is a very good team at their place. The key to me .. we were up two, loose ball and their big guy just pushed/crushed two of our players out of the way and Baron hits the 3 …thats a foul..we get that and……….By Tartanforlife
February 26, 2009 9:44 AM | Link to this
It is obvious to me that UD’s fans are worse than OSU. Come see good basketball at Sinclair, the fighting Tartans could be UD any day of the week.By Dick
February 26, 2009 9:46 AM | Link to this
Na Na Na Na, hey hey hey, goodbye, NCAA TourneyBy Lax20
February 26, 2009 9:57 AM | Link to this
This one hurt! They needed a quality win on the road and once again fell short. I am inclined to believe that a Xavier win or an appearrance in the A10 championship game will be a must to secure an NCAA bid. If not, another good season, NIT bound.By Really?
February 26, 2009 9:59 AM | Link to this
We’ve digressed to someone saying Sinclair can beat us? LOL. My high school gym was bigger than that arena, and more people went to the games too.By DavidUDUK
February 26, 2009 10:02 AM | Link to this
Did anybody REALLY think UD would win at Rhode Island? The fact UD played them so tough was amazing. All UD has to do is win the 2 at home and they are in. No 25 win team from a top 10 RPI league has EVER been left out of the NCAA’sBy TARTANPRIDE
February 26, 2009 10:04 AM | Link to this
Say what you want “REALLY”, but the fact remains that the Fighting Tartans have never lost to Rhode Island. It is crazy to think UD has a better program than Sinclair. Just look at the numbers, we have a better record. WE ARE, SINCLAIR!By Lax20
February 26, 2009 10:07 AM | Link to this
SINCLAIR? Isn’t that a gas station?By TartanAlum
February 26, 2009 10:18 AM | Link to this
I agree, I think I would rather watch a game at Sinclair and support a team that doesn’t crap the bed down the stretch. All you coolaide Flyer supporters better start praying the Rosary because none of the last 3 games are cupcakes for UD. Prediction, they go 0-3 down the stretch and again go to the NIT Tourney.By SINCLAIR#1
February 26, 2009 10:22 AM | Link to this
For all you haters, Sinclair was ranked #11 in pre-season.By Sinclair
February 26, 2009 10:43 AM | Link to this
Funny thing is, everyone Sinclair has played is a cupcake. Haha.You know, WSU has never lost a football game either. Why don’t we talk about that while we’re at it? WTF…Sinclair? C’mon now. At least bring up OSU or WSU like most people.By lc
February 26, 2009 11:05 AM | Link to this
What the heck is a “tartan?” Sounds like a european pastry.By uncoolio
February 26, 2009 11:30 AM | Link to this
How can anyone in their right mind declare that you cannot knock the Flyers for lossing this game? We give up 52 points in the first half—THE FIRST HALF! Dayton hangs its hat on quality defense yet URI ripped through Dayton’s defense like it was a div two team. URI broke down the Dayton D on nearly every time down the floor. ANd it doesn’t help that Gregory refuses to realize that his buddy, Kurt is killing us. The back up center (Searcy) scored 10 points off the bench last night in 13 minutes of action, yet he stills sees limited playing time—. This represents the first double digit output by a center for Dayton this year. (unbelievable) And Kurt—terrible move to force the switch on the last play of the game. Once the FORCED switch was made—-Dayton losses and perhaps SWITCHES from the NCAA to the NIT—now there’s a switch for you. I don’t blame Kurt—its a coaching mistake—-very much like the Binnie fiasco of last season. Ive seen the guy (Kurt)play an entire game and not get a rebound—not a single ONE—or a point— and guess what—-he is in the line-up starting the very next game—-it goes on and on. And I blame Gregory —because for the first time that I can remember our Arena BOOED one of our own players. Kurt got boo-ed at home!!!! And the next moron (or coach gregory) that tells me that the average fan is too stupid to realize the great things Kurt does on the floor—I will punch in the face. Gregory insisted on starting a player last year that ranked LAST in ability to run, defend, jump, rebound and shoot yet he was among the team leaders in minutes—and because of it a talented team with one of their best players of all time—plays in the NIT instead of the dance—sound familiar? Ive said so many times now its crazy—from the start of the season—-A moron like me can see that the front line HAS to be Little—Wright and Chris Johnson—yet the bone head we pay 500,000 $ a year, can’t see it. Its so obvious. Of all the sisters of the poor we’ve played this year—-you would think that our center could score double digits ONE time-ten points-just one. Dayton is the only a-10 team in the league that has a center that has failed to score in double digits in at least one game. Note to Kurt—-as a rule, players are taught to block out—THEN GO GET IT! You forget the go get it part Kurt—. Thus you are a weak rebounder. Kurt was better player his freshmen year. Searcy played well last night again—-too bad Gregory has his head up Kurt’s azz so far he didn’t get to see it.By AK
February 26, 2009 11:35 AM | Link to this
Its amazing how little basketball knowledge is on this board. Do you seriously think Sinclair could beat UD? London Warren, Chris Wright, Marcus Johnson, myself, and you (whoever you are) would beat Sinclair. People, Dayton is not choking once again, but simply playing tough teams. This isnt a home loss to Duquesne (like last year) or blowing a game at LaSalle. RI is a good team and we played them very tough. This team will close out by winning two of three. They are no where close to NIT bound.By Jerseyflyer
February 26, 2009 11:52 AM | Link to this
Here’s a piece of RI Newspaper article this morning. The Rhody players spoke about how they had watched PC’s victory Tuesday night. They said it did nothing but help give them inspiration. “It was a great win for Providence. We tried to top them, but you can’t top beating a No. 1 team,” Jones said. “We wanted to win this game for the university, for our student body. It was a great game for us.” Like I said in one of yesterday’s posts(which some poster said made no sense)RI would feed off PC/Pitt upset win. Well my knuckled headed poster friend, you saw it last night. Jersey knows his hoops.By Jimbo
February 26, 2009 12:08 PM | Link to this
As a dedicated Flyer fan, reading these blog comments is downright embarrassing. It’s no wonder Dayton is a dying city, it’s full of idiots.By Jerseyflyer
February 26, 2009 12:10 PM | Link to this
UnCoolio. RI papers think your right on the button concerning Kurt’s D. It reads on MJones drive: Would he try to get it inside to Kahiem Seawright, who’d carried the Rams in o.t.? Would he attempt to pass it to sharpshooting Jimmy Baron, deadly from anywhere this side of Narragansett Pier? Neither. Instead, he blew past Dayton’s 6-10 center, Kurt Huelsman, at the foul line and headed down the lane and toward the basket. There’d be no dish. Jones wasn’t looking for someone to pass to. He was looking toward the basket. And he throws up a lefty prayer that goes in”. A shot that CDub would have swatted into row 10. But you can’t block shots while nailed to bench or in Kurt’s case, the floor.. Beat Temple.By sec 312
February 26, 2009 12:34 PM | Link to this
gosh darn you are right Jersey..the whole game RI players were thinking…man Providence beat..who cares. Did you ever play the game? It had NOTHING to do with beating the Flyers…shootin lights out..didBy Weak big men
February 26, 2009 1:22 PM | Link to this
UD’s big men are terrible. Searcy shows promise, but Kurt is pathetic. Oh, at 6’9 Luke is a big man too. What in the heck were they thinking to recruit him? Hopefully Benson and Kavanaugh pan out quickly next year. Besides that, how about practicing some free throws? My Junior High FT% would have crushed anyone on the team. I’d be ashamed if I were a collegiate athlete shooting like that from the line. Jersey, love your posts and agree with almost everything you ever say on here.By Tom
February 26, 2009 1:22 PM | Link to this
All. This is NOT a bad loss. Look at RI’s schedule and see who they played tough. If this is BAD, why did we only fall from 29 to 33 in RPI? (That dreaded 33 spot agai.) We MUST beat Temple. They are the next team on the list for any brackest projectors. We also MUST beat Duquense. When we had 5 games left, the only BAD loss was St. Louis as long as we win at home. Chris Johnson is critical to our beating Temple and Duquense. We do not have to beat Xavier to get into the tournament. If we win 2 of last 3, receive a bye in A-10 Tournament and win our first game there and lose in semis, we will be 26-7. Our RPI will be in top 30. This will be hard to leave out.By Hank
February 26, 2009 1:28 PM | Link to this
I just heard on CNN that the A-10 is a four bid league, so all is not lost. Whew. Really, it sucks to have lost this game, but really a UD fan can’t ask for anything more from the team. Tough losses come and go. Bad reffing comes and, well in the A-10, comes and comes and comes. But, the Flyers were in a position to win the game, they made clutch shots. If UD takes care of business at home (and its not going to be easy) UD will be dancing. Everyone else who posts here just to diss the Flyers isn’t really a Flyer fan anyway and they have the basketball equivalent of p***s envy.By Jerseyflyer
February 26, 2009 1:34 PM | Link to this
sec 312. Yeah I played varsity basketball for powerhouse CBA out here in N.J. We finished my soph season ranked No 2 in the USA 28-0.I also played and coached at UD. It was guys like you that I enjoyed lighting up down at Fieldhouse/Rec Center. Sec 312 is on the roof as I remember.Proper place for your type. Bet you even sat on your rec team at UD (if you even went to UD). Wright Stater I suspect…By Tom
February 26, 2009 1:38 PM | Link to this
Kurt H. There is no doubt he has not developed like we would all like to see. What he seems to lack from my obsevations is any sense of court awareness on offense. He has to catch the ball, think, think somemore and by then any openning he had is too late. He never catches and moves in a contiuous manner, like he can not anticipate what others are going to do. He has NO court sense on offense. In defense of KH (pun Intended) he always has the task of getting beat up by the other bigs from the other teams. Quit watching the ball during a game and watchthe battle underneath. Searcy will be better as he builds mass, but he gets pushed around now. Take the time to look at these two observations and THEN comment back. This offensive problem that accompanies Londons inability to shoot from distance makes it tough on the other offensive Players. At the beginning of last season (before CW’s injury) teams were force to placed added defense on Brian Roberts and Chris Wright which freed up some other players. This year, we do not have the Brian Roberts type player to help deflect defensive pressure. The Flyers can recover from this and Dance. One other observation I have been making, does anyone else think that Mickey Perry is somewhat reluctant to shoot? He almost lokks like Jimmie Binnie at times by passing up wide open looks. I thought we recruited him to shoot. Thoughts?By Jerseyflyer
February 26, 2009 1:55 PM | Link to this
Weak Big Men. Thanks for the plug. I do my hoop homework. But last night’s game was almost a Win.I still like this team. They “bring it” every night and that’s what you need to win. Temple should go down as a win Sat. Toss up at X. We should win against Dukes.No upcoming games will be easy from here on out.Dukes crushed UMass last night by 17. A10 is very competitive and deserves a least 3 teams in NCAA. Tourney.By Joe
February 26, 2009 2:41 PM | Link to this
This message board is funny but I don’t think many posters have actually looked over the available field for the NCAA tournament. If you go over the numbers right now there are only 47-50 teams that make it before UD. If UD goes 2-1 over the last 3 games they are a lock (that would make them at least 3-2 against the top 50). There will be some teams like Kentucky (4-5 vs top 50 and 63 RPI) that will get in, in spite of what they have done this year but I don’t think there will be 15 teams like that. If UD would fall to both Temple and XU in their next two games that would change things but right now they are still in good shape. Although, I did hear Sinclair was close to bid.By Joe
February 26, 2009 2:48 PM | Link to this
How about a different topic: I think SJ will beat XU tonight. I’m not trying to dog on Xavier but SJ had their number last year and a home game like this is what SJ needs to get their legs back under them. Can XU go into the UD game coming off a lost again?By Boxter
February 26, 2009 3:15 PM | Link to this
Last week I stated on here that UD is not very good. They have very weak guard play and they can’t run a 1/2 court offense. To all of you people on here that blasted me and wanting to know where they would be playing in the tourney…..guess I was right.By RudyFlyer
February 26, 2009 3:37 PM | Link to this
Where do they get the refs in the A10? They are pathetic. Even the RI announcers who were ridiculous homers noticed and commented on several key calls that went against Dayton in the end of regulation. Nevertheless, Dayto wins these last 2 games w/ just decent foul shooting. I agree that Huelsman is bad and belongs at the end of the bench. This loss did not hurt us that much in the daily RPI’s. I think we started to play better in the 2nd half and OT. That last shot was a lucky shot.By Oliver Purnell
February 26, 2009 5:14 PM | Link to this
Is there any chance that some other school will want Brian Gregory after this season? Has UD ever had a “bad loss” under his tenure? This guy has an excuse for everything. UD is going to get hammered by 20 next week at Xavier.By AK
February 26, 2009 5:41 PM | Link to this
Boxter—we scored 89 points last night…offense wasnt the problem.By XavierFan
February 26, 2009 8:42 PM | Link to this
UD is a phoney and played a candy a$$ schedule. You won’t get to the NCAA tourney when you play one of the worst schedules in the country.By Xavier Community College Grad
February 26, 2009 10:38 PM | Link to this
“By XavierFan February 26, 2009 8:42 PM UD is a phoney and played a candy a$$ schedule. You won’t get to the NCAA tourney when you play one of the worst schedules in the country. “ 71 - 58.By Bhoops
February 26, 2009 10:42 PM | Link to this
Tom, you are right! Perry is hesitant on his J at times. As a shooter, he has the most potential and needs to take more shots. Losing RL really hurts Dayton. He played tremendous defense, pushed the ball well on the break and made big shots. With ST at point, they are a different team. Dayton better get back to high intensity ball pressure d. If not, they could finish o-fer… BG should take credit for loss to RI. That was a moronic move to have KH jumpswitch the ballscreen at end of game. He should have instructed KH to take a slight step to slow down Jones until LW could recover. If you use a big to jumpswitch a ball screen, you are suceptible to your big overplaying causing a switch with big stuck on little. BG’s fault for putting his team in that situation.By Bhoops
February 26, 2009 11:00 PM | Link to this
BG is exercising poor utilization of personnel by playing KH more than Searcy. Searcy has upside and continues to improve. He runs floor, alters shots, makes freethrows, and has been finishing at the basket well. KH doesnt make free throws, has no potential, can’t post up, and is an offensive turnover waiting to happen. Enough of the “he takes up space crap”. A good coach who utilizes player personnel would choose a player who produces over a player who takes up space. With RL gone, they need offense from other areas and KH is Useless…. BG, enough of the unspoken ridiculous alliance to KH. Allow Searcy a chance and let him play through mistakes. He didnt need to be benched for losing a rebound to RI’s 280lb baby Shaq. Shaq himself would have problems boxing that kid out….By JS
February 26, 2009 11:52 PM | Link to this
Chris wright plays out of control to much. Lazy defense as he is constantly in foul trouble. Raw talent or not, he is not the savior that everybody wants him to be. UD has to win to next 2-3. If they don’t and then lay an egg in the first round of the A-10 tournament they are NIT bound. Games against RI are the exact reason why UD needs to STOP scheduling cream puffs with their nonconference schedule. Blowing out scrub teams are of no benefit as UD does it every year yet struggle in conference play. In closing, Brian Gregory please do us a favor and look for another job. Your act is old, you recruit athletes, not basketball players. When you do this you struggle with making shots and making free throws which is what this teams main problems are at this time.By BJ
February 28, 2009 1:19 PM | Link to this
Nice call on the X-SJ game Joe!!! It’s obvious you know nothing about BB. UD is going to make the tourney. They will win today. Mark it down. KH….sucks bad. Bench him. Sinclair folks…shut up. Who in God’s name do you play besides with themselves? The couldn’t beat Oakwood HS.