“We’re coming here to win a game, to take the next step on our journey toward trying to win a championship,” Grant said in a game recap video shared by UD on Wednesday. “And so mindset, to me, is the most important thing right now, right? We’ve got to understand what this is about today. It’s about winning the basketball game by any means necessary. We talked about this the other day. We’re not whole. We don’t have everybody. We’ve got enough. We’ve got enough.”
Guard Javon Bennett echoed the “We’ve got enough” line in an interview after a 71-65 victory, and guard Keonte Jones explained Dayton’s resiliency by saying, “Coach preaches toughness every day.”
After the game, Grant told the players, “I saw a bunch of guys out there fighting for one thing — for the win."
The fight continues at 8:30 p.m. Friday. Dayton (13-4, 4-0) plays Loyola Chicago (5-13, 1-4) for the second time. The matchup comes 13 days after Bennett’s shot with 1.9 seconds to play lifted Dayton to a 70-68 victory in Chicago.
Credit: David Jablonski
Here are five things to know about the game:
1: Series history: Dayton leads the series 37-17. Dayton is 4-2 against Loyola since it joined the A-10 in the 2022-23 season.
Loyola is 0-2 at UD Arena since joining the A-10. Last season, on Jan. 18 at UD Arena, Dayton beat Loyola 83-81 in overtime when Amaël L’Etang caught a 55-foot alley-oop pass from Malachi Smith and made a go-ahead layup with 0.2 seconds to play.
Dayton is 60-12 in A-10 home games in Grant’s nine seasons.
2: Standings update: George Mason (17-1 overall) sits alone in first place. It is 5-0 in the A-10 for the first time in 13 seasons in the league.
Saint Louis (16-1, 4-0) joined Dayton in second place with a 78-56 victory at home against Fordham (10-8, 1-4) on Wednesday. The Billikens have won 10 straight games.
Everyone else in the A-10 has at least two losses. Virginia Commonwealth, George Washington, Richmond, Davidson and Saint Joseph’s are tied for fourth with 3-2 marks.
St. Bonaventure (11-6, 0-4) is the only team without an A-10 victory.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3: Season summary: Loyola built a modest two-game winning streak with victories away from home against Santa Clara and Rhode Island before losing to Dayton.
The loss to Dayton started a four-game losing streak. The Ramblers lost 79-64 at home to Davidson, 101-66 at George Washington and 82-74 at home Tuesday to George Mason.
Loyola trailed George Mason 74-72 with two minutes to play but then gave up a 6-0 run.
Nic Anderson, a 6-foot-4 freshman guard, led Loyola with 17 points. He has scored in double figures in three straight games after averaging 2.0 points in his first nine appearances.
“Our guys had the right mindset tonight,” Loyola coach Drew Valentine said in a story posted on the school’s website. “They were trying their hardest to believe we could win. There’s not a lot of people that would think based off Saturday’s result and who was available to play tonight that we could pull it off. But we have some warriors in that locker room. If we continue to have the same belief that we had tonight as we grow and get guys back, I think we have a good chance come February and March.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
4: Injury news: Dayton played without three key players Tuesday. Malcolm Thomas and Amaël L’Etang missed their fourth straight game. Jordan Derkack missed a game for the first time this season. All have lower-body injuries.
Loyola had six players listed as “Out” on the availability report Tuesday, including three of their top four scorers: redshirt junior guard Justin Moore (12.5 points per game); senior forward Xavier Amos (11.4), who has missed three straight games; and sophomore guard Kayde Dotson (10.4), who missed his second straight game.
Valentine spoke at length about each of the injured players in a postgame radio interview Wednesday. Based on his comments, it’s unlikely any of the players will be available Friday, except maybe Amos, who he said received an injection in his foot Wednesday.
The A-10 will provide a status update on the injured players on the league website approximately 2 hours, 45 minutes before tipoff on Friday.
5: Odds & Ends: KenPom.com gives Dayton a 95% chance of winning and predicts an 81-62 score. Dayton is No. 72 in the Pomeroy ratings. Loyola is No. 293.
• Dayton ranks 78th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Loyola is No. 316.
This is a Quadrant 4 game for Dayton, which is 0-2 in Quad 1, 1-1 in Quad 2, 5-1 in Quad 3 and 7-0 in Quad 4.
This is a Quad 1 game for Loyola, which is 1-1 in Quad 1, 0-3 in Quad 2, 1-5 in Quad 3 and 3-4 in Quad 4.
NEXT GAME
Who: Loyola Chicago (5-13, 1-4) at Dayton (13-4, 4-0)
When: 8:30 p.m., Friday
TV: ESPN2
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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