“What a crowd tonight,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “That was awesome. The guys were really excited with the uniforms and the student section (wearing blue). Just the whole atmosphere tonight I thought was big-time college basketball. It’s great to see obviously this early in the year and to be able to get a test like that on our home court. I thought our guys really fought. They really battled for 40 minutes, and obviously it was a back-and-forth, highly-contested game. We made some runs. They made some runs. I thought our guys’ composure really showed up down the stretch. The last four or five minutes was as good as we’ve played, and it’s great to see a young group be able to go out there and grow up right in front of your eyes and be able to accomplish that.”
Here are five takeaways from Dayton’s second victory and its first 2-0 start since the 2019-20 season:
1. The Flyers made the big shots down the stretch: Dayton trailed 7-4 in the opening minutes and then ran off 13 straight points. It never trailed again and led by as many as 13 points early in the second half. However, the Mustangs (1-1) did tie the game once: at 59-59 on two free throws by Samuel Williamson with 5:05 to go.
On Dayton’s next possession, R.J. Blakney made a go-ahead 3-pointer. Dayton didn’t trail again.
“He’s a guy with rhythm,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes Ii said. “R.J. is just old school. I already knew it was going in just because of his rhythm.”
The other big 3-pointer in the final minutes belonged to Mustapha Amzil, whose 3-pointer with 2:12 to play gave Dayton a 66-62 lead.
“I came off the down screen, and I was open,” Amzil said. “We had to score to keep them away.”
2. Toumani Camara was a force on the boards: Camara scored eight points and had a career-high 18 rebounds. He fell two rebounds short of becoming the sixth player in school history to grab 20 rebounds in a game since 1972.
“That is incredible,” Holmes said. “You don’t really see that all the time, especially in college. That’s a game changer.”
3. Dayton continues to play short-handed but maybe not for much longer: The Flyers used seven players in the game. Holmes led the starters with 39 minutes. The two reserves were Amzil, who played 22 minutes off the bench, and Zimi Nwokeji, who played just short of five minutes.
Malachi Smith, Koby Brea and Richard Amaefule all missed their second straight game to start the season, but Brea and Amaefule were in uniform for the first time, and Smith was not wearing a protective boot on the bench as he was in the first game.
Grant said Brea and Amaefule have “partly” returned to practice.
“They’re making progress,” he said, “and hopefully we continue to move in the right direction but certainly there is progress there. They’ve basically missed the whole preseason, so right now, it’s about getting back in condition, staying healthy and not having any setbacks.”
As far as Smith, Grant said, “He’s doing some things. He’s not back on the court yet, but he’s making progress.”
Kaleb Washington remains suspended. He was not on the bench.
4. Dayton avenged two earlier losses to SMU: The Flyers beat the Mustangs for the first time since Nov. 24, 2007: 82-57 at UD Arena. SMU beat Dayton 66-64 in December 2020 at UD Arena and 77-69 last season in Dallas. The Flyers will make another trip to SMU next season.
This was the first loss for SMU’s new coach, Rob Lanier, whose team beat Texas A&M-Commerce 77-60 on Monday.
“We had some opportunities there, but our execution wasn’t great,” Lanier said. “But a credit to (Dayton). They made enough plays to get it done. We were clawing a little bit, and we didn’t make some plays and some shots down the stretch. A hell of a job by (Dayton).”
5. The Flyers made a slight improvement from long range: Dayton made 5 of 19 3-pointers (26.3%) in a 73-46 victory against Lindenwood on Monday and 8 of 26 (30.8%) in this game.
Amzil made 3 of 6 3-pointers and scored 20 points. Mike Sharavjamts, who had 10 points, made 2 of 6. Kobe Elvis, who also had 10 points, made 2 of 7.
STAR OF THE GAME
DaRon Holmes II scored 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and had seven rebounds. He blocked five shots, falling one short of the single-game school record he tied twice last season.
STAT OF THE GAME
Dayton outscored SMU 20-12 at the free-throw line. The Flyers shot 74.1% (20 of 27) thanks in part to Amzil making 7 of 7. SMU made 12 of 14.
LOOKING AHEAD
Dayton plays UNLV at 11 p.m. (EST) Tuesday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. UNLV opened the season with a 66-56 victory at home against Southern on Monday and plays Incarnate Word (0-1), of the Southland Conference, on Saturday.
Dayton and UNLV have never played. It will be the first of two Mountain West opponents on Dayton’s schedule. It plays Wyoming on Dec. 17 at the United Center in Chicago.
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