Dayton’s two freshmen learning how much of a grind college practices are

“Most of the stuff we’ve done is basketball,” said senior guard Jordan Derkack, a transfer from Rutgers. “You learn to know each other through basketball, but I think the best thing about us right now is we’re all living in the same building. We are door to door. We all have roommates. We’re all walking to each other’s rooms. You knock one time. No answer? All right, we’re ripping the door open. We’re going to see what they’re doing.“

The players have connected through video games, especially the EA Sports College Football and NBA 2K games. They’ve also hung out at the homes of Grant and associate head coach Ricardo Greer. They’ve gone bowling and ate together at a local hibachi restaurant.

Only two of Dayton’s eight newcomers are adapting to college life as well as a new team. Damon Friery, a 6-foot-9 forward from Cleveland St. Ignatius, and Jaron McKie, a 6-3 guard from St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, are the only two true freshmen on Dayton’s roster, and they’re also roommates in the apartment building where the basketball players have lived for many years near the Cronin Center practice facility.

Friery and McKie sat down with the Dayton Daily News last week, along with the five transfers Dayton added in the spring, to talk about how their summer at UD has gone.

“In practice, we go really hard,” Friery said.

“Campus is great,” McKie said. “My teammates are great. Coaches are great. Everything’s been going good so far. The practices have been a grind. It took a little while to get adjusted, but I think I’m starting to get used to it now.”

Getting consistent minutes could be a challenge for the freshmen on a team with three seniors (Javon Bennett, Jacob Conner and Jordan Derkack) plus two sophomores who were starters last season (Amaël L’Etang at Dayton and Adam Njie Jr. at Iona).

Friery will battle for minutes with the other big men: L’Etang, Conner; redshirt sophomore forward Jaiun Simon; redshirt freshman forward Malcolm Thomas, a transfer from Villanova; and the latest newcomer, Cal State Northridge transfer Keonte Jones.

What can Friery bring to the Flyers?

“I think I can shoot the ball really well,” he said. “Other than that, just defend. Use my length to help us get stops. Then also rebound. Crash the glass.”

McKie will compete for time with Bennett, Derkack, Georgia transfer De’Shayne Montgomery, Njie and North Carolina State transfer Bryce Heard.

McKie said defense and rebounding will get him the court. The offense will come, he said. He has to adjust to the pace and the physicality of the college game, while also learning how Grant runs practices.

“There are no breaks,” he said. “You’re moving from one thing to another. Obviously, they give you water breaks, but you’ve got to be locked in. Everything’s fast paced. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.”

Derkack was asked how much he thought the freshmen would contribute this season and said, “I think that in the summer you don’t know what you’re going to expect, but there are always some surprises. In this day and age, in college, you know how this goes for freshmen. It’s tough. I’ve got a little brother (Aiden) that’s going to be a freshman next year, and it’s going to be tough for him to play regardless where he goes.

“I think the biggest thing for them is just continuing to get better every single day. Those first couple months of summer, my freshman year, it felt like a hurricane. You’re just getting so much knowledge. You’re getting in the new weight room. You’re so sore all the time. It’s just one of those things you can’t prepare for in high school. But I do believe that they both do different things that can really separate them and can put them on the court. So we’ll see what happens.”

McKie has gotten a sense of what kind of team Dayton could have this season.

“I think we could be a great team,” he said. “The coaches have said this is one of the hardest working groups they’ve had, so I feel we should be able to do some great things this year.”