Montgomery tapped his head three times after the dunk, signifying he had dunked on Tillis’ head.
On the second dunk, Montgomery dribbled past White, thanks to a pick from Amaël L’Etang, got into the paint and threw down another one-handed slam against Johann Grunloh.
Grunloh fell after the dunk. Montgomery started trash talking as soon as Grunloh hit the ground. The official called a technical foul on Montgomery for taunting.
“I said like two words to him,” Montgomery said after the game. “I hurt my team with that technical foul.”
Virginia made both technical free throws to take a 34-28 lead in a game it won 86-73. Montgomery’s foul played only a small part in the defeat.
The bigger issues for Dayton were continuing struggles with 3-point defense and offensive inconsistency that played a part in two runs by Virginia.
Dayton took four days off for exams before returning to practice Thursday. Before practice, Grant talked to local media and spoke about where he wants to see the team improve in the final three non-conference games.
“The thing I talk about with our guys is developing a level of competence where we know what to do and how to do it on both sides of the ball,“ Grant said. ”I think there’s room for improvement there, and that’s on myself and our coaching staff as well as the players to improve in that area. Then it’s the conviction, the belief that we need to do it a certain way in order to have success, individually and collectively. At the end of the day, that will be on the players. Sometimes you’ve got to go through adversity and difficult times to understand the importance of those things. Obviously, we’re disappointed with the outcome that we didn’t necessarily want, but hopefully it makes us a better team."
Dayton (7-3) returns to action at 7 p.m. Saturday against North Florida (2-7) at UD Arena. Here are five things to know about the game:
1: Series history: Dayton leads the series 3-0. It beat North Florida 86-71 in 2015, 78-70 in 2018 and 77-59 in 2019.
Dayton is 7-2 against the Atlantic Sun Conference since 1999. The last time it played a team from the league, it lost 78-59 to Lipscomb on Nov. 17, 2021.
2: State of the program: North Florida finished 15-17 overall and 8-10 in the Atlantic Sun Conference last season. Its last winning season came in 2019-20 (21-12). It made its only NCAA tournament appearance in 2015, losing 81-77 to Robert Morris in the First Four at UD Arena.
North Florida’s first-year coach is Bobby Kennen. He had been the associate head coach since 2012 and was promoted when Matthew Driscoll resigned in May after 17 seasons. Driscoll took a job on Jerome Tang’s staff at Kansas State.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
3: Scouting report: Kamrion Oriol, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, leads the team in scoring (16.8 points per game) and assists (3.9). He’s also the team’s best 3-point shooter (25 of 58, 43.1%).
• Kent Jackson, a 6-2 sophomore guard, ranks second in scoring (12.3). He played last season at Jacksonville University.
• Trey Cady, a 6-8 freshman forward from Marion, Ohio, is the team’s third double-digit scorer (10.7).
• North Florida ranks 99th in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (35.5). Dayton ranks 189th (33.2).
4: Season summary: North Florida beat two lower-division teams for its only victories: New College of Florida; and Trinity Baptist.
North Florida has lost to three teams ranked in the top 20 of the Ken Pomeroy ratings: No. 15 Florida; No. 18 Tennessee; and No. 3 Gonzaga. North Florida’s non-conference strength of schedule ranks 35th.
5: Odds & Ends: KenPom.com gives Dayton a 99% chance of winning and predicts a 91-67 score. Dayton ranks 70th in the Ken Pomeroy ratings. North Florida is No. 337.
• Dayton ranks 85th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. North Florida is No. 328. This is a Quadrant 4 game for Dayton and a Quad 2 game for North Florida.
• Matthew Lisiewski, a senior associate athletic director of development at North Florida, worked in the UD athletic department from 2016 until 2022.
NEXT GAME
Who: North Florida vs. Dayton
Where: UD Arena
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
TV and streaming: MeTV WHIO 7.2 and ESPN+.
Radio: 95.7-FM, 1290-AM
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