Dayton basketball: What to know about Flyers’ game Wednesday at La Salle

At Saint Joseph’s Hagan Arena, Dayton had an even worse history: nine straight losses over the previous 19 seasons.

Anyone who doubted the Obi Toppin-led Flyers were as good as they looked in November and December in 2019 shed their worries early in 2020 when the team beat La Salle and Saint Joseph’s by double-digit margins in those arenas.

“Dayton is really good,” La Salle coach Ashley Howard said then. “They might be one of the best teams in the country. They played like it tonight.”

Dayton lived up to that hype in the months that followed, winning its last 20 games, finishing 18-0 in the A-10 and rising to No. 3 in the Associated Press top-25 poll.

Dayton (14-4, 5-0) will play two games in Philadelphia on one trip for the first time since 2020 this week. It faces La Salle (6-13, 2-4) at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at a renovated building renamed John E. Glaser Arena in 2024 and Saint Joseph’s at 6 p.m. Saturday at Hagan Arena.

“The schedule is the schedule,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said Friday after a 78-51 victory against Loyola Chicago at UD Arena. “We’ll get prepared for each game, one game at a time. I don’t know a whole lot about either team. I’ve seen a little bit on film from scouting other opponents.

“If I’m not mistaken, La Salle may have had some injuries early, and they’re maybe starting to get healthy a little bit and playing really good basketball. St. Joe’s has been impressive on film. They’ve had some very nice wins. So these are two teams that are playing good basketball, and we’ve got to make sure that we’re ready to bring our best.”

Dayton begins the week in a three-way tie atop the A-10 with Saint Louis (17-1, 5-0) and George Mason (17-1, 5-0) with 13 games to play. Four teams are tied for fourth: Virginia Commonwealth (12-6, 3-2); George Washington (12-6, 3-2); Davidson (11-6, 3-2); and Saint Joseph’s (11-7, 3-2).

Here are five things to know about the La Salle game:

1: Series history: Dayton leads the series 32-18 and and has won the last three games: 77-53 on Feb. 28, 2023, at UD Arena; 66-54 on Jan. 23, 2024, at UD ARena; and 84-70 on Dec. 31, 2024, at UD Arena.

The Flyers are 3-2 at La Salle in coach Anthony Grant’s seven seasons.

2: State of the program: La Salle finished 14-19 overall and 5-13 in the A-10 last season. Coach Fran Dunphy retired after the season, which was his third with the Explorers.

La Salle is on pace for its 11th straight non-winning season. It finished 15-15 in the 2019-20 and 2016-17 seasons. It has not posted a winning A-10 record since the 2012-13 season, which was the last time it played in the NCAA tournament.

New coach Darris Nichols spent the previous four seasons at Radford. He was 68-63. One of his assistant coaches, James Haring, was Dayton’s director of basketball operations for two seasons (2019-21).

3: Scouting report: Jaeden Marshall, a 6-foot-4, fifth-year guard, leads La Salle with 13.0 points per game. He played last season at Niagara after two seasons at Omaha and one season at the junior-college level.

• Jerome Brewer Jr., a 6-9 redshirt junior forward, averages 11.7 points per game. He redshirted last season at McNeese after playing two seasons at Texas A&M Commerce.

• Josiah Harris, a 6-8, fifth-year forward, played for Nichols the last two seasons at Radford. He’s averaging 9.3 points.

• Two starters, sophomore guard Jaden Johnson (5.0 points per game) and sixth-year guard Truth Harris (4.3), combined to miss 21 games in November and December with injuries.

4: Season summary: La Salle finished 4-9 in non-conference play. Its best victory came against Monmouth, which is ranked No. 220 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool, for its best victory. Its worst loss came against No. 238 Merrimack.

In A-10 play, La Salle lost at home to two of the three teams that haven’t suffered an A-10 loss: 80-75 to George Mason and 84-72 to Saint Louis. It lost two other road games by lopsided margins: 77-55 at George Washington; and 74-53 at Richmond.

La Salle beat Rhode Island 79-72 on the road for its first A-10 victory and beat St. Bonaventure 78-74 at home on Saturday for its second A-10 victory. Brewer scored 27 points on 9-of-9 shooting for La Salle in the game. The Bonnies (11-7, 0-5) sit alone in last place.

5: Odds & Ends: KenPom.com gives Dayton a 78% chance of winning and predicts a 73-64 score. Dayton is No. 67 in the Pomeroy ratings. La Salle is No. 233.

• Dayton ranks 74th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. La Salle is No. 239.

This is a Quadrant 4 game for Dayton, which is 0-3 in Quad 1, 0-0 in Quad 2, 6-1 in Quad 3 and 8-0 in Quad 4.

This is a Quad 2 game for La Salle, which is 0-2 in Quad 1, 0-6 in Quad 2, 2-4 in Quad 3 and 3-1 in Quad 4.

• Dayton seeks its third 6-0 start in A-10 play in Grant’s nine seasons. It also started 6-0 in 2024 and 2020. Prior to that, it had not been 6-0 since 2004.

• Javon Bennett leads Dayton with 16.8 points per game. He has scored 955 points in three seasons. He’s 45 points away from becoming Dayton’s 52nd 1,000-point scorer and first to hit that milestone since DaRon Holmes II, who ranks 11th in school history with 1,745 points, in 2023.

NEXT GAME

Who: Dayton at La Salle (5-13, 1-4)

When: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday

TV: ESPN+

Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM