Flyer Connection newsletter: Dayton closes non-conference play with one more challenging game

I missed the North Florida game and the Obi Toppin celebration on Saturday because of the family gathering. It’s called the Leary Christmas party because my mom was Mary Leary until marrying Jeff Jablonski, and she’s got a big family. Half of the eight siblings went to Alter. The younger kids went to Centerville.

My grandparents Jim and Josie have been gone a long time, but I remember getting a Bowling Green sweatshirt from them not long before my grandma died when I was a junior in high school and not being pleased. Hopefully, I hid it well. My mom went to BG, but I had no interest in BG gifts.

Like father, like son, I guess.

***

Toppin received a great holiday gift in the form of a hall of fame induction. I wish I could have been there. We had great coverage from two UD graduates: our new high school sports reporter Steven Wright, who filled in for me; and Tom Archdeacon, of course.

I wrote another Obi story this week for our special Flyer Connection section that runs every two weeks. It’s a Toppin tribute, looking back at many great moments in his career. It will run in the newspaper and online on Dec. 28.

DaytonFlyers.com also has a new section devoted to Toppin and all the UD hall of fame members. Fans can click on any name and read about the hall of famers and see photos of them, going all the way back to the first class that included Chuck Noll, Don Meineke and others in 1962.

A strong performance against a poor opponent

Credit: David Jablonski

Credit: David Jablonski

Miles Combs, a sophomore at Fairmont High School, shadowed me for the Florida State vs. Dayton game Tuesday at UD Arena. I talked to him before the game about my job and my career. During the game, he sat next to me on the baseline and shot photos with me. He experienced the smell of burning rubber. That’s how close we were to the action. After a hard cut by a player, you can smell the sneakers.

Combs was the second student to follow me around at a game this season, and there’s one more scheduled to do so for the VCU game in March. Dayton’s directors of communication, Doug Hauschild in years past and now Kyler Ludlow, have always made getting a pass for students easy for me.

Combs wrote to me in July.

“I’m really into sports photography and would love to be considered!” he said. “Let me know if there’s anything I need to do. Thanks so much! Looking forward to hearing back from you!”

When Combs picked the Florida State game as the one he wanted to see, that appeared to be the premier home game on Dayton’s non-conference schedule. Then Florida State lost four straight games. Then it lost 97-69 to Dayton, committing 31 fouls and letting Dayton make 40 free throws.

“We’re just not playing good basketball,” second-year coach Luke Loucks said in a postgame radio interview. “We’re not a good basketball team right now. We fouled way too much. We’re not going to blame anyone but ourselves. We’ve got to be better. They shot 47 free throws. We turned the ball over too much. Our offense had no rhythm. They scored 22 points off those turnovers. They had 20 fast-break points, and they scored 55 in the second half. And I thought we just laid down and quit. We’re going to watch the film. We’re going to keep trying to push to get better. No one’s going to save us. We’ve got to find a way to get better, and we’ve got to find a way to galvanize our group and play some good basketball.”

One more test for Dayton in non-conference play

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Etan Thomas, the father of Dayton redshirt freshman forward, Malcolm Thomas, shared a story on Instagram this week about talking to an unnamed reporter (it wasn’t me, and I’m not sure who it was) at UD Arena. The reporter wanted to know — off the record — his thoughts on whether Malcolm should be playing more.

“It’ll come,” Etan said. “He’s a freshman, redshirted last season. He just has to keep working hard and doing what he’s doing and just trust the process.”

Later in the post, Etan said, “We trust the coach. Anthony Grant is a great veteran coach and has a process and Malcolm will be fine. It’s going to be a great year for everyone.”

Etan also mentioned that the addition of Sean Pouedet, the 6-foot-2 guard from Belgium, will be “fantastic for everyone.” Pouedet sat on the bench during the game Tuesday. He started practicing this week after arriving on campus last week. He ran the scout team in advance of the Florida State game.

Grant said the earliest Pouedet could play is Saturday when Dayton (9-3) plays Liberty (7-3) at 12:30 p.m. in the final non-conference game before Atlantic 10 Conference play starts Dec. 31.

At the moment, Liberty is the second highest-ranked non-conference opponent on Dayton’s home schedule. It’s No. 140 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Florida State is No. 148. East Tennessee State, which Dayton beat 88-71 on Dec. 2, is No. 109.

This will be Liberty’s second true road game. It lost 85-45 at North Carolina State on Dec. 10 in its other true road game.

Liberty coach Ritchie McKay talked about Dayton in his postgame press conference Wednesday after a 95-57 victory against a NAIA program, Midway University.

“They’ve got a successful program that has a great following,” McKay said. “They’ll sell out. It’ll be a good experience for our guys.”

McKay wants his team to play to its identity better than it did at N.C. State.

“I just want our response to be better,” he said. “I want to be more competitive.”

Fast Break

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