Did trainer Mike Mulcahey buy you the massage gun, a reporter joked.
“No, my mom,” Simon said.
Mulcahey will need all the tools in his arsenal to keep Simon and his teammates healthy in the 17 Atlantic 10 Conference games that remain in the regular season and whatever postseason games that follow.
Dayton (10-4, 1-0) survived its first test without two injured forwards, Amaël L’Etang and Malcolm Thomas, but bigger challenges loom, starting at 2 p.m. Saturday against Loyola Chicago (5-9, 1-0) at Joseph J. Gentile Arena in the Windy City.
For the second game in a row, Dayton will play a small lineup with 6-foot-9 forward Jacob Conner providing the most size. Dayton coach Anthony Grant talked about the adjustments the team had to make Wednesday, two days after L’Etang suffered a lower-body injury in practice and 11 days after Thomas injured his ankle in a 64-61 loss to Liberty.
“Guys had to play different roles than what we’ve done most of the year,” Grant said. “We have a group that’s got some versatile skill sets, and so guys were able to adapt well. Not that everything today was perfect. But it’s about finding a way to do what you need to do to win games.”
Here are five things to know about Dayton’s 15th game:
Credit: David Jablonski
1: Series history: Dayton leads the series 36-17. Dayton is 3-2 against Loyola and 1-2 at Gentile Arena since Loyola joined the A-10 in the 2022-23 season.
Last season, on Jan. 18 at UD Arena, Dayton won 83-81 in overtime when L’Etang caught a 55-foot alley-oop pass from Malachi Smith and made a go-ahead layup with 0.2 seconds to play.
In the second matchup, on Feb. 21, Dayton trimmed a 13-point second-half deficit to two points but couldn’t complete the comeback, losing 76-72 at Gentile Arena.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2: State of the program: Loyola finished 25-12 overall and 12-6 in the A-10 last season. It reached the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament before losing 80-72 to Chattanooga, which beat Dayton 87-72 in the second round.
Loyola reached the 20-win mark three times in coach Drew Valentine’s four seasons. He’s 88-60 in his fifth season.
Loyola played in the NCAA tournament three times in its last five seasons in the Missouri Valley Conference but did not earn a bid in its first three seasons in the A-10.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3: Scouting report: Justin Moore, a 6-foot-3 redshirt junior guard, leads the Ramblers in scoring (12.9 points per game). He averaged 7.7 points last season in first season at Loyola after two seasons at Drexel.
• Xavier Amos, a 6-8 forward who played at Wisconsin last season, missed the first 10 games with an injury but has averaged 12.8 points in the last four games.
• Miles Rubin, a 6-10 junior forward, ranks third on the team in scoring (11.1) and leads the team in rebounding (6.4). He’s the team’s top returning scorer from the 2024-25 season.
• Kayde Dotson, a 6-2 sophomore guard, is the team’s fourth-leading scorer (10.2). He played at New Mexico last season.
• Deywilk Tavarez, a 6-2 junior guard, is the team’s fourth double-digit scorer (10.3). He played his first two seasons at Delaware State and College of Charleston.
4: Season summary: Loyola Chicago lost seven games in a row after beating Cleveland State 91-88 on a 3-pointer at the buzzer in its opener. The losing streak included two losses at home to teams ranked below 300 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool: 76-65 to No. 309 Mercyhurst; and 76-59 to No. 319 Northern Illinois.
Loyola won two straight games after the 1-7 start but then lost 84-75 at home to No. 314 Chicago State.
“Chicago State definitely wanted it more than us,” Valentine said after the game. “There was a team that was extremely hungry and there was a team that wasn’t connected or hungry. Credit to Chicago State for coming in here and playing their hearts out. They deserved to win.”
An 85-71 loss to San Francisco followed. The 3-9 start was the program’s worst since the 2004-05 season when it also started 3-9.
In the last two games, though, Loyola has started to turn its season around. It beat No. 68 Santa Clara 70-68 on a neutral court and then won 61-57 at No. 136 Rhode Island in its A-10 opener Wednesday.
“Loyola’s got a really nice team,” Rhode Island coach Archie Miller said. “I don’t know what happened in terms of their non-conference schedule, but they’re one of the best rosters in our league.”
5: Odds & Ends: KenPom.com gives Dayton an 84% chance of winning and predicts a 78-67 score. Dayton is No. 71 in the Pomeroy ratings. Loyola is No. 282.
• Dayton is No. 88 in the NET. Loyola is No. 312. This is a Quadrant 4 game for Dayton and a Quad 3 game for Loyola.
Dayton is 0-2 in Quad 1, 0-1 in Quad 2, 4-1 in Quad 3 and 5-0 in Quad 4. Loyola is 0-0 in Quad 1, 1-2 in Quad 2, 1-3 in Quad 3 and 3-4 in Quad 4.
NEXT GAME
Who: Dayton (10-4) at Loyola (5-9)
When: 2 p.m., Saturday
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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