The joy was etched on everyone’s faces. Dayton had just recorded its most-lopsided and impressive victory of the season, blowing out a team that will be considered one of the top contenders at the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament next week.
The performance proved once again what Dayton can do when it’s at its best, raising hopes that it can add to the madness of March with three victories in three days in Richmond. That’s what it will take for that same group of players and coaches and the rest of the Flyers to earn another home game: March 14 in the A-10 championship game.
If Dayton can get to that game on Selection Sunday, it would have the chance to claim the NCAA tournament berth it was denied a year ago because of the coronavirus pandemic. It would be one of the great chapters in Dayton basketball history, but it’s still too far away for coach Anthony Grant to think about.
Dayton first has to deal with two regular-season road games, and no road game can be taken for granted for a team that lost at Fordham in January — even one against last-place Saint Joseph’s on Wednesday. Grant didn’t want to speculate about possibly playing at home on March 14 when he was asked about it Friday because he’s only focused on the Hawks.
“This has been a lot coming at us over the course of the year, from really the summer,” Grant said. “I don’t get a vote. We see what’s in front of us, and we move forward. That’s just what we’ll do. We’re on the road next week at Saint Joe’s, who to me is extremely dangerous in terms of the players they have. I’ve seen a little bit of them from earlier when we were supposed to play them here. They’re a very dangerous group.
“I’m going to focus on what’s in front of us, one day at a time. Hopefully, we can continue to stay healthy and keep our players and staff and everybody safe in the middle of this and develop a level of consistency from one game to the next in terms of our focus, our effort, our understanding of what we’ve got to be able to do to win one game at a time.”
Dayton (12-7, 8-6) was scheduled to play Saint Joseph’s at home on Feb. 13. Instead, the teams will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Hagan Arena in Philadelphia. It will be the second game for the Hawks (2-14, 1-9) since a 20-day layoff because of positive COVID-19 tests within the program.
Saint Joseph’s won its first A-10 game of the season Saturday in its first game since Jan. 30, beating La Salle 91-82 in overtime at Hagan Arena. Ryan Daly scored 30 points in his first game since injuring his thumb Dec. 21 in a loss to Tennessee.
Daly returned to action despite not having practiced with the team.
“Yeah, I didn’t think I was going to play today until yesterday,” Daly said when asked if there were times he thought his season was over. “We didn’t work me in to five-on-five [practices] because I really wasn’t sure. Then I went home yesterday, took my [wrap] off. Truthfully, I started kind of hitting my hand, just to see how much I could take. I don’t know if that’s risky or crazy.”
Injury news: Dayton redshirt freshman center Moulaye Sissoko underwent successful surgery on his left knee on Monday, UD announced. No details on the exact nature of the injury were announced.
Sissoko will begin the rehabilitation process and miss three to four months.
Sissoko had not played since Jan. 30. Grant indicated in recent weeks his injury could be a long-term issue. In his last update after a victory Friday against Saint Louis, Grant said more would be known on Sissoko’s status within the next few days.
“We wanted to give him every opportunity to see if he could get himself back,” Grant said on WHIO’s coaches show with Larry Hansgen on Monday night. “After a few weeks, it became apparent this was the best course of action. Now it’s about moving forward and getting him rehabilitated and back healthy and doing what he loves to do.”
Sissoko sat out the 2019-20 season as a redshirt. This was his first season on the court. He averaged 1.4 points and 2.7 rebounds, averaging 9.6 minutes in 14 games.
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