“I’ve been telling myself I have to play with more energy over the course of the season. I feel at first I wasn’t playing as hard as I should have, so I’m trying to play harder. Now I just have to work on turnovers. But it’s about just hustling … and energy.”
“I’ve been telling myself to play hard, block (shots), run as hard as you can, create for your teammates…Just me having a motor is very important.
“I’ve really been focusing on, ‘Hey, I’m 6-10. I feel like I’m athletic. Why am I only getting three rebounds?’ So I focused on that.”
Holmes copped to all those recent ruminations Saturday afternoon after he led the Dayton Flyers to an overwhelming 79-56 victory over UNC Asheville at UD Arena.
The sophomore big man finished with 27 points, one shy of his career best, and he had 12 rebounds, which tied the best board effort of his career. He added four blocked shots and five dunks. But he also had seven turnovers.
While he wants to cut down on the miscues, no one wants him to curtail the extra gear he seemed to find, even if it did make for a miscalculation or two.
Guard Koby Brea said the whole team came into this game trying to show something a little extra:
“We talked about it when we got back from Virginia Tech. How important it was for us to come in with some attitude today.”
Brea was playing in just his fourth game this season after being sidelined by illness and injury. For the first time this year he found the long-range shooting touch that so defined him in games last season.
Against Asheville, he made three of five three-point attempts and finished with 11 points. He was one of five Flyers in double figures.
“It was a great feeling,” he said. “I felt like I haven’t had my super powers in a while, (but) they started to come back a little bit.”
Granted Asheville is not on the same level of some of the teams that have conquered the 6-5 Flyers — that includes Virginia Tech (9-1), UNLV (9-0) and Wisconsin (7-2 going into Saturday night’s game with Iowa) — but the Bulldogs are 6-4 and have an impressive win at 6-2 Central Florida.
Asheville did come in as one of the highest scoring teams in the nation (84.2 points per game) and was known for its three-point shooting (41 percent).
Dayton stymied the Bulldogs offense (they made 5 of 22 three pointers, 22.7 percent) and gave 6-10 Drew Pember — the Big South Preseason Player of the Year who scored 40 against UCF and was averaging over 21 points per game — a tough afternoon. He made five of 12 shots and finished with 16 points and four turnovers.
Holmes said there was a silver inning in the dark clouds at Virginia Tech:
“Honestly (that loss) brought us closer together as a team. We understand all the stuff going on in the season with injuries and Malachi (Smith) and Kobe (Elvis) being out.
“It’s been difficult overall, but it brought us together.”
Holmes said over the past few days he’s heard from his dad, his mom, his grandparents, his brother and especially his coaches.
“The coaches tell us they still live us and still trust us.
“We know we’re alright and at the end of the day we’ll focus on each other.
“We don’t have anybody in the program who is willing to give up. We’ll keep caring and we’ll play as hard as we can.
“We know there are some fans who have turned on us as a program. That’s on them. They decided that.
“For the ones who have stuck with us, we appreciate you guys. We love you guys.
“And we’re going to make you proud.”
About the Author