Grant and Rhoades coached against each other for six seasons. VCU won 10 of the 15 games in that stretch, including the last four times Rhoades brought the Rams to UD Arena.
In Rhoades’ last game at UD Arena in 2023, Dayton had a 62-58 lead with 30 seconds to play but committed three turnovers in a row and lost 63-62.
All that is ancient history because Rhoades left VCU after the 2022-23 season for Penn State. He returned to UD Arena on Sunday for the first time with his new program but did not have the same success.
It was nothing like Rhoades’ first UD Arena experience as VCU head coach, a 106-79 loss in 2018, but there were few bright spots in a 78-62 exhibition game loss to the Flyers.
After the game, Rhoades talked to Mike Hilt, of Nittany Sports Now, who shared a video of the interview on YouTube.
While Dayton played six newcomers in a 10-man rotation, Penn State played three returners, two new transfers and six freshmen.
“That’s why we wanted to do this,” Rhoades said. “Play all our new guys — a whole new team — and play one of coach Grant’s teams here at Dayton. We knew how hard it would be. It was great. We could have scheduled other teams, and it would have not shown some of our early-season warts. This is exactly what we needed.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Freshman Kayden Mingo, a 6-foot-3 guard who ranked 34th in the class of 2025, looked the part of a high-ranked recruit, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Freddie Dillone V, a redshirt junior who averaged 9.4 points last season, also scored 16 on 7-of-17 shooting.
Dayton shot 48.4% from the field, while Penn State shot 39.3%.
Dayton had a 41-36 rebounding advantage, though Penn State grabbed one more offense rebound (14-13).
Both teams struggled with turnovers. Dayton had 15. Penn State had 14.
Neither team shot free throws well. Dayton made 11 of 18 (61.1%). Penn State made 10 of 17 (58.8%).
“I thought we had some good moments but a lot of breakdowns,“ Rhoades said. ”Too many defensive breakdowns. We just gave them too many things at the rim. Early on, we rebounded well, but we didn’t rebound well enough on the road at a place like Dayton. Offensively, their pressure really gave us problems. I knew it would. That’s why we were going to play the game.”
Dayton announced a sellout of 13,407, though there were empty seats in the upper corners.
“I could tell they really rode the momentum from the home crowd,” Rhoades said. “I’ve been here many times, and it’s a great place to play. It’s a basketball town. It’s a basketball school, and it was really neat to see that. It’s great for us to go on the road with our young team to experience that because we’re going to do that throughout the year. Your best teacher is experience.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
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