Hours later, some of those same students still lacked shirts as they celebrated a 102-71 victory for No. 21 Saint Louis against the Dayton Flyers. Members of the swim team, wearing Speedos, filled the front row of the student section.
Dayton coaches and players filed past that scene on their way to the locker room in a hurry with no desire to spend an extra second on a court where the program suffered its most lopsided loss in 15 years.
Starting with an 8-0 run to open the game, Saint Louis (21-1, 9-0) lived up to its billing as the top team in the Atlantic 10 Conference, thrilling a sellout, whiteout crowd of 10,277 with its 15th straight victory.
“They’re a really good team,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “It was obviously a great environment here tonight. They answered the bell. They played great.”
On the other hand, Dayton (14-7, 5-4) hit another low point.
The Flyers followed losses to La Salle, Saint Joseph’s and Rhode Island with their worst defensive performance of the century. They had not allowed 100 points in a game since a 100-90 loss to George Washington in 1999. The Flyers have lost four games in a row for the first time since January 2014.
“We were excited to play today,” Dayton guard Javon Bennett said. “We knew this was a big game. We knew they’re on top of the A-10 right now, and they showed us why they are.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 22nd game:
1: Dayton couldn’t keep up with the Saint Louis shooters: Saint Louis shot a season-best 61% (17 of 28) from 3-point range. It improved its season percentage to 41.1. That’s the second-best number in the country behind Yale (41.9).
Trey Green, of Saint Louis, did the most damage from behind the 3-point line. He made 7 of 10 3-pointers and scored 23 points.
When Dayton cut into an 18-point deficit with an 8-0 run early in the second half. Saint Louis answered with a 12-0 run that included three 3-pointers.
Ishan Sharma made 6 of 8 3-pointers off the bench. Robbie Avila, the A-10’s leading 3-point shooter (47.1%), made a 3 on the first possession of the game and finished 2 of 5 behind the arc.
“We identify shooters,” Bennett said, “and they were still able to get the open shots.”
“They’re terrific in transition,” Grant said. “They’ve got so many different weapons that can get to the rim, that can shoot the 3. That makes it hard.”
Dayton shot 35% (7 of 20) from 3-point range. De’Shayne Montgomery scored 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting for Dayton.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2: Saint Louis rebounded from subpar performance against George Washington: This was the second 30-point victory for the Billikens in the last three games. In between, they beat George Washington 79-76 on a 3 in the final seconds by Avila on Tuesday.
There was no drama in this one. The Billikens led the nation in scoring margin (23.0 points per game) before this 31-point victory.
“I thought we’d be ready to play,” second-year Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz said. “I didn’t see us winning by 30, but I did think we’d be ready to go. ... The guys understand we didn’t put our best foot forward (against George Washington), and you’re not going to play your best every night.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3: Dayton’s A-10 championship hopes are dead: The Flyers trail Saint Louis by four games halfway through the 18-game schedule. With four straight losses after a 5-0 start, Dayton sits in fifth place, a half game ahead of three 4-4 teams.
This was Dayton’s most lopsided loss since a 68-34 loss to Cincinnati on Nov. 27, 2010.
This was Dayton’s worst loss to Saint Louis since an 82-39 loss at UD Arena in 1995.
Dayton’s previous worst loss of the Grant era was a 77-49 defeat at Virginia Tech on Dec. 7, 2022. That was Dayton’s most lopsided loss since a 90-61 loss to Xavier in the championship game of the Advocare Invitational in 2015.
Dayton gave up 100 or more points for the first time since a 100-90 loss to George Washington in 1999. This was the highest score allowed by Dayton since a 102-95 loss to Xavier in 1996.
Schertz still had nice things to say about Dayton after the game.
“Dayton’s not going to come in here and roll over,” he said. “They’ve got great players. Anthony Grant’s an incredible coach. I couldn’t have more respect for a program than I do for Dayton. We look at the A-10. They and VCU set the tone for the whole league. Everybody is chasing those two teams, including us.”
NEXT GAME
Who: St. Bonaventure (13-8, 2-6) at Dayton (14-7, 5-4)
When: 7 p.m., Tuesday
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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