To its credit, Dayton did not give up after facing a 35-point deficit eight minutes into the second half and cut VCU’s lead to 20 points before losing 99-73, but that’s a small silver lining in a large black cloud that continues to hang over the team.
Dayton suffered its fifth loss in six games. It’s the worst stretch for the program since it lost five of six games in A-10 play in 2014. This loss looks even worse when paired with a 102-71 loss one week earlier at Saint Louis.
Prior to these last two losses, Dayton had lost a total of five Atlantic 10 Conference games by 26 or more points since entering the league in the 1995-96 season.
“You’ve got to compete,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “The first half was unacceptable, the way we didn’t bring a competitive character that you’ve got to have. That’s back-to-back road games that we just haven’t competed at the level we need to compete.”
Dayton guard Keonte Jones tried to rally his teammates at several points in the game, yelling, “C’mon!”
“We just need to get back to competing,” Jones said after the game, “and playing the right way.”
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 24th game:
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
1: The Flyers remain in the top half of the league but face a tough schedule in the weeks ahead: Dayton (15-9, 6-5) remains in fifth place but is now tied with Davidson (14-9, 6-5), which beat Loyola Chicago 84-64 on Friday.
Dayton gets an extended break before playing Davidson at 4 p.m. on Feb. 15 at UD Arena. It’s Dayton’s only Sunday game of the regular season.
Asked if the nine-day break comes at a good time for his team, Grant said, “I’m not looking that far ahead right now, honestly, My thoughts right now are just on this game.”
VCU (18-6, 9-2) won its seventh straight game. It moved into second place, a half game ahead of George Mason (20-3, 8-2). Saint Louis (22-1, 10-0) sits alone in first place.
Dayton will have a tough time securing a top-four seed and a double bye in the A-10 tournament because it still has to play Saint Louis and VCU again, both at home this time, and George Mason on the road. It also has road games against George Washington and Richmond.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2: Dayton missed De’Shayne Montgomery: The Flyers’ second-leading scorer, who started the first 23 games, stayed home because of an illness. There has been only one game in A-10 play when Dayton has had no one listed as “Out” on the availability report except freshman Jaron McKie, who’s sidelined for the season, and that was the 31-point loss at Saint Louis.
“We need everybody,” Jones said. “Coach always says, ‘Next man up mentality.’ Everybody is a good piece to our team. We’ve got enough. We just need to show it.”
Without Montgomery, who averages 15.0 points per game, Jordan Derkack moved into the starting lineup. He scored 15 points and shared the scoring lead with Amaël L’Etang.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3: VCU earned its most lopsided victory in the series: The Rams have won nine of the last 13 games against Dayton and are 17-10 against the Flyers since joining the A-10 in the 2012-13 season.
Prior to this 26-point victory, VCU’s biggest blowout against Dayton was a 66-43 victory in 2023 at the Siegel Center.
This was first-year VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr.’s first game against Dayton. His dad was 14-14 against Dayton in 24 seasons (1995-2019) at Saint Joseph’s.
“I told them before the game the toughest team was going to win,” Martelli Jr. said, “and it was going to be a mental and physical game. Toughness was what it was going to take. And we were tough from the get go.”
VCU shot 47% to Dayton’s 37% and outscored the Flyers by 13 points at the free-throw line. VCU had 30 fast-break points to Dayton’s six. Jadrian Tracey led the Rams with a career-high 26 points.
VCU took a shot-clock violation on its final possession instead of trying for 100 points.
Dayton avoided allowing 100 points twice in the same season for the first time since the 1994-95 season, its last in the Great Midwest Conference.
“We’ve been asking for 40 minutes,” Martelli said. “I thought we got pretty close to that. The offense was clicking. The defense was clicking. That’s what we can be, but we have to make it consistent."
NEXT GAME
Who: Davidson at Dayton
When: 4 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 15
TV: ESPN family of networks
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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