Adversity seems to follow the Flyers.
In 2015, when the team advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, the Flyers started 3-3. The season before was a 2-4 start en route to a 23-8 campaign and a spot in the tournament.
“I actually use that from the Elite Eight team,” said Green, who was an assistant to Jim Jabir at the time. “We were 1-3 coming home from a miserable West Coast trip, but the team kept their focus and kept grinding.
“It’s not how you start, but how you finish.”
Friday night mirrored some of the Flyers’ moments during a 2-3 road trip that included a loss at UConn and a pair in the Bahamas to Creighton and Georgia Tech.
Dayton built an early lead and then ran through spurts where the intensity level dropped.
“We got the win, but it was an ugly game,” Kelley Austria said after leading the Flyers with 15 points. “There is still a lot we can learn from this game.
“We definitely had opportunities to win both games (in the Bahamas). We got the lead, we got comfortable with it and let up. We know we have to work at keep going after them and play all 40 minutes.”
Dayton grabbed a 9-2 lead with Austria and Saicha Grant-Allen accounting for all nine points, but Morgan State (1-6) chipped away to cut the deficit to 9-8.
“I can’t say it’s intentional,” Grant-Allen said of the roller-coaster rides through the early part of the season. “I don’t know what the reasoning is, but we are hoping for a strong finish.”
Dayton found its way back to lead 28-20 at halftime and 44-32 heading into the final quarter before out-scoring Morgan State 17-10 the rest of the way. The Flyers were outscored in the fourth quarter in the Georgia Tech and Creighton losses.
“We’ve had leads and didn’t execute down the stretch and that’s very frustrating,” Green said. “But I have the clearest vision of what we need to improve on and do now.”
Grant-Allen and Jenna Burdette each finished with nine points while Alex Harris came off the bench and scored eight with a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Flyers have a short turnaround as they open Atlantic 10 play Sunday at 2 p.m. when LaSalle comes to town.
“I think we are in a great spot mentally,” Green said. “I told the team that the A-10 is what we do everything for and this is the start of that journey.”
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