Thomas did this for weeks before being sidelined by an ankle injury. Obi Toppin had the same role in the 2019-20 season.
Dayton hopes Thomas returns to the court and to the pregame dunking job soon. The Flyers won their first three Atlantic 10 Conference games without Thomas and another injured big man, Amaël L’Etang, but none of the games were easy.
Dayton topped Fordham, Loyola Chicago and George Washington by a total of 16 points. It’s the first time Dayton has won three straight A-10 regular-season games by single digits since the 2015-16 season.
Dayton was one of two A-10 teams — Fordham was the other — with four players listed as out this week on the availability list the conference publishes 2 hours, 45 minutes before tipoff.
“That’s a part of it,“ said Dayton coach Anthony Grant on Tuesday after a 79-72 victory against George Washington. ”Everybody goes through that during the course of the year. One thing with this group, they don’t make excuses. We just try to find a way to put ourselves in position, and fortunately, we did that. We’re 3-0 with a little bit of time to get our legs back under us, get back into a routine once school starts and hopefully get closer to being whole and healthy again."
Credit: David Jablonski
Dayton (12-4, 3-0) gets a one-week break before returning to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday against Duquesne (9-7, 1-2) at the UMPC Cooper Fieldhouse in Pittsburgh.
In the second week of A-10 play, 11 of the 14 teams have suffered a loss. Dayton, George Mason (15-1, 3-0) and Saint Louis (14-1, 2-0) sit atop the standings.
Here’s a breakdown of what has happened early in A-10 play:
Biggest victory: Saint Louis won 71-62 at Virginia Commonwealth (11-5, 2-1) on Wednesday. The Billikens ended a 10-game losing streak at the Siegel Center in Richmond.
VCU rallied from a 14-point deficit to take a 62-61 lead with 2:30 remaining. The Billikens outscored the Rams 10-0 the rest of the way.
“I loved our fight for all 40 minutes,” said Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz, according to a report by SLU beat writer Stu Durando. “We had to battle some adversity. We had to absorb a lot of foul trouble and some tough plays. They take the lead and the roof blows off the place, then we close the game on a 10-0 run in money time, on the road in an unbelievable environment.”
Best metrics: Saint Louis climbed to No. 24 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool after beating VCU. That’s 31 spots above the next highest-ranked A-10 team: No. 55 VCU.
No. 72 George Washington, No. 76 George Mason and No. 88 Dayton are in the top 100.
Worst start: Rhode Island (9-7 overall) lost its first three A-10 games for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
Archie Miller, who won back-to-back A-10 regular-season championships in his last two seasons at Dayton, is 18-39 in A-10 play in four seasons at Rhode Island.
Two of Rhode Island’s first three losses, 61-57 to Loyola Chicago on Dec. 31 and 79-72 to La Salle on Wednesday, have come at home at the Ryan Center. In between those games, Rhode Island lost 61-50 at George Mason.
“For 40 minutes, I thought they were the more physical team,” Miller said in his postgame press conference after losing to La Salle. “For 40 minutes, they were the team that imposed their will more. For the first time all season, I can sit here and say there’s a disappointment level in our effort defensively. Our inability to do anything that we practiced or played in 15 games showed tonight. It was a total breakdown.”
Most surprising score: Duquesne (9-7, 1-2) opened A-10 play with an 89-83 overtime victory at Davidson but has since lost at home to Virginia Commonwealth and on the road to Saint Joseph’s.
Davidson (10-5, 2-1) followed the loss at home with victories on the road against Saint Joseph’s (9-7, 2-1) and Loyola Chicago (5-11, 1-2).
Biggest upcoming game: VCU plays George Mason at noon Saturday in Fairfax, Va. VCU has won six straight games in the series since a 79-76 overtime loss in Richmond in 2021 and seven straight games at George Mason’s EagleBank Arena since a 76-69 loss in 2016.
George Mason beat La Salle (5-11, 1-2), Rhode Island and Fordham (9-7, 0-3) in its first three A-10 games.
George Mason is 15-1 for the first time in school history.
“It’s conference play,“ said George Mason coach Tony Skinn after a 67-58 victory at Fordham on Wednesday. ”It doesn’t matter who you play. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. Each game is going to matter when you get to March. You can’t overlook teams. I think Fordham is one or two injuries away from winning some games in our league. They adjusted with what they have with guys out, something we’ve dealt with. It’s hard to overcome that. I expected us to win this game because I’ve got confidence in this group but things are going to get tougher as we get down the stretch in conference play.”
NEXT GAME
Who: Dayton (12-4, 3-0) at Duquesne (9-7, 1-2)
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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