Dayton vs. VCU: Seven things to know about Friday’s game

A little more than two minutes later, Cheeks split his defender and then split two other defenders before launching himself to the rim for a one-handed dunk. He was not in quite as much of a hurry to get back on defense, though there was no need to be because Dayton led 100-76 after his basket with 1:54 to play. After the dunk, he flexed his muscles in front of the Dayton bench, which erupted in excitement.

With 100 points, Dayton surpassed the total points scored by both teams in the last game against its next opponent, Virginia Commonwealth. In one of the stranger games of the season, VCU won 49-47 on Feb. 9 at the Siegel Center in Richmond, Va., despite not scoring in the last 5 minutes, 58 seconds. Dayton didn’t score in the last 3:05.

That result, plus six losses to VCU in the previous three seasons, will give No. 25 Dayton (23-6, 13-4) plenty of motivation against VCU (19-11, 11-6) in a 7 p.m. game Friday at UD Arena.

“It’s going to be personal for us; I’m not going to lie to you,” said Brea, who is 2-7 against VCU in his four seasons. “We haven’t had the best of experiences playing against them here at home.”

“It’s another rivalry game,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said. “We’re going to want that one very badly.”

Dayton needs a victory to finish 15-0 at UD Arena. It last posted an undefeated record at home in 2020 when it was 17-0. It also finished 17-0 at UD Arena in the 2014-15 season. The only other time it did not lose a game at UD Arena in a season was 2008-09 when it was 18-0.

That’s another motivating factor, but as guard Kobe Elvis said, “It would mean a lot more beating VCU.”

Here are seven things to know about the game:

1. Streak on the line: The Flyers have won their last home game 12 seasons in a row. That streak includes victories against VCU on Senior Night in 2016 and 2017. The Flyers clinched a share of the A-10 regular-season title with the 2016 victory and clinched the title outright with the victory against VCU in 2017.

With first-place Richmond (23-7, 15-2) and second-place Loyola Chicago (22-8, 14-3) both winning Wednesday, the result of this game won’t change the seeding for Dayton. The Flyers will earn the No. 3 seed in the A-10 tournament no matter what happens Friday. That means it will play a quarterfinal game at 7:30 p.m. on March 14 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

VCU, on the other hand, needs to win to earn the No. 4 seed and a double bye to the quarterfinals. Massachusetts (20-10, 11-7) beat Fordham 66-64 on Wednesday and will tie for fourth place if VCU loses. UMass beat VCU 74-52 on Feb. 20, so it has the tiebreaker.

2. Slumping opponent: VCU has lost two games in a row: 79-76 at Richmond on Saturday; and 69-59 at home to sixth-place Duquesne on Tuesday. VCU has not lost three games in a row since a five-game losing streak in the 2020 season.

Duquesne (19-11, 9-8) spoiled VCU’s Senior Night, taking over the game with a 15-2 run in the second half. Duquesne has won three games in a row, including back-to-back games on the road against George Mason and VCU.

“You’ve got to give Duquesne a ton of credit,” VCU coach Ryan Odom said. “I thought their offense was very good throughout the game. They moved us around. They forced us to guard for longer stretches. They took their chances in transition when they had them. We had way too many defensive errors, even in the first half, to be able to win a game like that. Offensively, we struggled in that first half. We were getting way too deep into our clock and not leaving ourself time to execute. We passed up some shots throughout the game that we’ve got to go for in a game like that, which was disappointing. You can over-pass at times.”

Max Shulga, VCU’s leading scorer, missed the game with back spasms. Odom said after the game the goal is to get him 100% or close to it by the time of the A-10 tournament but did not say if he would play against Dayton.

3. Series history: VCU has won 11 of the last 15 games in the series and three games in a row against Dayton at UD Arena.

Last season, Dayton gave up a 5-0 run to VCU in the last 28 seconds at UD Arena and lost 63-62. In 2022, Dayton fell 53-52 at UD Arena when Adrian “Ace” Baldwin made a go-ahead 3-pointer with six seconds to play. VCU beat Dayton 76-67 at UD Arena in 2021.

4. Players to watch: Shulga, a 6-4, fourth-year guard, leads the team with 15.0 points per game. He ranks fifth in A-10 play in 3-point shooting percentage (39 of 89, 43.8).

• Joseph Bamisile, a 6-4 guard, averages 14.0 points. He led the team with 18 points against Duquesne.

• Zeb Jackson, a 6-5 fourth-year guard from Toledo, averages 11.0 points.

• Sean Bairstow, a 6-8 fifth-year guard, averages 10.2 points.

• Jason Nelson, a 5-10 sophomore guard, led VCU with 11 points in the first game against Dayton. He has scored a total of 18 points in the last six games.

5. Strengths and weaknesses: VCU ranks ninth in the country in free-throw shooting percentage (78.9), 16th in effective field-goal percentage defense (46.2) and 38th in bench minutes (38.2%).

In A-10 play, VCU ranks second in the league in 3-point shooting percentage (38.5) but 14th in 2-point percentage (46.5). Dayton ranks first in 3-point shooting in A-10 play (39.2) and first in 2-point percentage (54.5).

6. Stats update: Brea leads the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (85 of 172, 49.4). That’s the highest percentage by an A-10 player since Micah Mason, of Duquesne, shot 56% in the 2013-14 season. It’s the second-highest percentage by an A-10 player since the 1992-93 season.

Brea is averaging 10.8 points per game.

7. Odds and rankings: KenPom.com gives Dayton an 80% chance of winning this game. Dayton ranks 20th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. No. 81 VCU is the fourth-highest-ranked A-10 team.

This is a Quadrant 3 game for Dayton because it’s a home game against a team that ranks between 76 and 160. Dayton is 3-3 in Quad 1, 5-3 in Quad 2, 8-0 in Quad 3 and 7-0 in Quad 4.

This is a Quad 1 game for VCU. It is 1-3 in Quad 1 with losses to Iowa State, Boise State, St. Bonaventure and Richmond and a victory against Dayton.

FRIDAY’S GAME

VCU at Dayton, 7 p.m., ESPN2, 95.7, 1290