With his arms raised and the euphoria of the moment filling him too, Simon came down the court at UD Arena — and like those charismatic crowd orchestrators of the recent Flyers’ past — he began conducting the cheering throng.
He wanted more energy. More decibels. More realization, as he would explain later, that “We’re here! And we can compete with anybody!”
In a battle of conference unbeatens, UD defeated the Revolutionaries, 79-72.
Simon was a big reason.
With the Flyers’ two most prominent post players — 7-foot-1 Amaël L’Etang and 6-foot-8 Malcolm Thomas — out with injuries for the third game in a row, Simon gave Dayton an inside presence that was as good — and sometimes better — as when those two more celebrated Flyers are on the court.
In contrast, the 6-foot-6 redshirt sophomore spent his first two years at UD — and even a few early games this season — in the shadows.
A 17-year-old when he entered UD from Mableton, Georgia, he was simply a practice player his first year here and averaged just 7.1 minutes a game last season.
And he got little court time against Bethune Cookman, Georgetown and BYU this year.
Tuesday night he was center stage and like Bernstein, the famed conductor, he shined.
“I’ll say this, I’m really proud of the growth of Jaiun Simon,” UD coach Anthony Grant said afterward. “Over the course of three years, look at his maturity; the way he has grown; the work he has put in.
“It’s just a great story.”
Simon ended the game with career-highs in minutes played (30:25); points scored (13) and rebounds (9).
Afterward, though, he was most animated when asked about his first ever middle of the court effort to direct the crowd. He said he’d done it before from the bench, but this was different:
“My first year here with DaRon and Koby Brea, I saw how they got the crowd going.”
One day, he said he hoped to do that, too.
And the spirit finally moved him with 5:57 left in the game. UD had come back from a nine-point deficit and Jacob Conner had just upped the Flyers’ lead to seven, 61-54, with a drive to the basket that also drew a foul.
Simon responded enthusiastically. He ran to Conner and gave him a leaping chest bump before standing there and pounding his own chest — King Kong style — with both of his fists.
Trotting back down the court as Conner prepared for — and made — his free throw, Simon suddenly started urging the crowd on.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Pressed on his bravado later, Simon was more subdued, almost sheepish, in his answer:
“I ain’t gonna lie — I just be doing stuff out there now. It just comes to me.”
The other stuff he does is one reason the Flyers have won their first three Atlantic 10 Conference games and now are 12-4 on the season.
Simon and Javon Bennett are the two scholarship players on the team who have been here the longest. This is their third season and in these quick change of address days of the transfer portal that makes them someone with a little deeper understanding of what the program is about and now needs most.
After Tuesday’s game — Keonte Jones, who arrived this year from Cal State Northridge and had 15 points and five rebounds against GW — said Simon, unseen by the public, “holds the team accountable for lack of effort sometimes.”
Jones also noted how Simon was in Bennett’s ear Tuesday night, urging him to “keep shooting” — after the team’s leading scorer went 0-for-11 in the first half.
Bennett listened … and produced.
He made four of nine shots in the second half — including three of five three-point attempts — and finished with a team-high 20 points.
Simon does all this coming off the bench.
“My whole thing is just playing hard and bringing all the energy I can. I want to get everybody jumping.
“Ever since I came here, it’s been a dream of mine to be somebody the team can rely on.”
‘The film will show it, too’
Coming into Tuesday night’s game, one big concern for the Flyers was contending with GW’s talented big man, 6-foot-11 redshirt senior Rafael Castro, who played his first two seasons at Providence and is now in his second year with the Revolutionaries.
He was picked as a preseason All A-10 first teamer and part of the All Defensive team. He was a second team All A-10 pick last year.
Against UD, he’d be playing his 110th college game.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Three days earlier he had 26 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots in a victory over LaSalle. The game before that, he had 27 points and six rebounds against Richmond.
He was averaging 16.6 points and 8.7 rebounds a game this season.
Grant called him “one of the elite big men in the conference.”
Although he would be giving up five inches, Simon said he wasn’t phased:
“I looked at him on film and could see he was kind of a skinny guy.
“He likes to run around freely, so I just wanted to stay attached to him as much as I could and minimize him getting an easy dunk or something.
“I just wanted to be physical with him. I feel I’m as strong, if not stronger than him, so I was just trying to use my body and overwhelm him.
“I wanted to bump him and bother him and let him know: ‘It ain’t gonna be easy tonight.’”
In a private moment before he made his way to the team locker room after the postgame press conference, Simon was asked how he thought his Castro strategy had worked:
How did he respond?
“You seen the game,” he said quickly, then smiled. “And the film will show it too.”
So did the box score.
Castro, who failed to score in double figures for just the third time this season, had eight points, seven rebounds and four turnovers.
Simon had 13 points, nine rebounds and one turnover.
‘Stay and fight and compete’
“There’s probably people thinking we’re underdogs and they’re looking down on us because we’re missing two of our key players,” Simon said. “But I just want to send a message and let the world know:
“‘We’re here!’
“And regardless of who we got on the court, we can compete with anybody.”
Outside the visitors’ dressing room ,GW coach Chris Caputo echoed the same thoughts Keonte Jones did after the game.
Although the Flyers are missing their two big men inside — L’Etang and Thomas combined give UD 17.8 points and 8.3 rebounds a game this season — the new-look Flyers are a quicker and more versatile bunch.
“The thing about this group, they don’t make excuses,” Grant said.
Jones noted how the Flyers are willing to play out of position — as Simon is now — for the betterment of the team.
Grant stressed that the sacrifices also come with the amount of time they get on the court.
In Simon’s case, he said: “Whether he’s a guy we ask to play three minutes or, like tonight, 30 minutes, he’s going to give us everything he has.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
During those three-minute nights — and there were plenty of them last season — did he ever consider entering the transfer portal, as so many little-used players do?
Simon shook his head:
“No, I never did. I thought I just had to put in the work and the results will come. I got all the resources I need, everything I want, right here.
“I’m not a guy who likes to run from a battle. I like to stay and fight and compete.”
That’s what he did — and did well — Tuesday night.
Like he said: “You seen the game.
“And the film will show it, too.”
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