Forty years after Grant, then a UD freshman, and the 1983-84 Flyers made a run to the Elite Eight, nearly the entire roster, plus coach Don Donoher, reunited for a ceremony at UD Arena during a game against Grambling State.
The 2023-24 Flyers watched from the bench as the former Flyers, including Grant, who stood next to Donoher, were introduced to the crowd. Then as the former Flyers left the court, they shook hands with the young Flyers.
It will take months to find out if any of the 1984 magic rubbed off on the young Flyers, but there are lessons Grant could use from his experience that season as this season progresses.
“I think the thing that group did is stay the course,” Grant said. “It kept getting better throughout the year, and we put ourselves in a position where we’re able to go on that run. Maybe at the time it was an unexpected run, but we felt like every game we were going to be prepared with the way the coaching staff prepared us. If we executed what we were supposed, then we would have a chance to win. Those lessons, I think, carry in any age.”
Dayton (6-2) impressed the former Flyers with their most lopsided victory of the season, routing Grambling State 76-46 for third straight victory.
“They’ve got a lot of potential,” said Roosevelt Chapman, the leading scorer on the 1983-84 team and the only player in school history with more than 2,000 points. “I saw some depth. That’s the main thing I saw. I saw some bench players that got a chance to play, and I was impressed with many of them.”
Nate Santos was the most impressive player on the court. He led Dayton with a career-high 26 points on 10-of-12 shooting. In eight games at Dayton, he has nearly as many points (108) as he did in two seasons at Pittsburgh (116).
“I’m just taking the good shots that my teammates gave me,” Santos said.
“It’s crazy to see because he came from a situation where he wasn’t really playing,” guard Koby Brea said, “and for him to be able to do this — I know he’s always been capable of doing it — but just to see him actually do it is great to see.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Santos made 6 of 7 3-pointers. Brea made 5 of 10, scoring 15 points. Kobe Elvis made 2 of 3 and scored 10 points.
Dayton made 14 of 28 3-pointers. It has topped 50% in three games and shot exactly that percentage in the last two games. It now ranks 21st in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (39.1).
Brea said the team was never worried about its 3-point shooting touch, even after a 5-for-23 performance in a season-opening 63-47 victory against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
“I think it was just a matter of getting used to playing with each other,” Brea said. “Everybody’s coming from different places. We had to get adjusted to playing here in the arena and get a feel of playing with each other. We’re doing really good playing off each other, and any game could be anybody’s night.”
Although he scored a season-low five points, Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II blocked three shots to break Chris Wright’s school record for career blocks. Holmes has 163 in three seasons. Wright had 162 blocks in four seasons. Holmes also is five dunks away from tying Obi Toppin’s school record of 190 dunks.
Dayton won its 14th straight non-conference home game. It plays two more home games next week — Wednesday against UNLV (3-3) and Saturday against Troy (4-4) — before taking a week break for exams. Grambling State (2-6) lost its fifth straight game and fell to 0-4 against Dayton.
The Flyers took control of the game with a 14-0 run after falling behind 4-0 in the opening minutes. They led by as many as 35 points in the second half. Grambling made 2 of 19 3-pointers.
“I thought our guys gave a great effort tonight,” Grant said. “I thought the first half was really physical and had a good pace. It was great to see our guys be able to match the intensity and take it to another level. In the first half, we dominated a lot of areas, but the one area we struggled with was the rebounding. I thought in the second half we did a much better job of taking care of that and showing a level of maturity with the lead. I think for the most part the guys did a really good job of sustaining that.”
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Dayton vs. UNLV, 9 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 1290, 95.7
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