It would be fair to say that Anthony Grant’s tenure at Dayton has been marked by underperformance.
Since Grant’s hiring, Dayton has only won one Atlantic 10 regular-season championship, has never earned a conference title, and has only been to the NCAA tournament once.
However, the Flyers have won 20 or more games in all but two of their nine seasons under his leadership and have been ranked in the AP Poll four times. Of course, there’s the historic 2019-20 season in which Dayton went 29-2, won every
game in league play, and finished third in the country before the NCAA Tournament was canceled at the onset of the global pandemic.
There might not be a more polarizing coach for fans in this conference.
All that tension came to a head late last week when Dayton hosted Northern Illinois on Saturday and fell to the Huskies in overtime, 81-76. According to KenPom’s metrics, it’s the program’s worst loss since 2021-22, when DaRon Holmes II, Toumani Camara, and Co. were defeated by Austin Peay.
Three days later, the Flyers went back-and-forth with Siena before eventually losing by double digits, 99-89. Again, it’s one of the top-5 worst non-conference home losses of the Grant era by KenPom’s rankings.
“It was a lesson today,” Grant said. “What becomes evident is you have to have an understanding of what it takes to win at this level. We have a lot of guys who are kind of new to college basketball or Dayton. It’s different when opponents come in here and they know the history and tradition, and see the atmosphere. We always have to expect that we’re going to see their best version.”
The Flyers’ struggles aren’t for a lack of offense, with four different players averaging double digits for a team that’s scoring 89.7 points per game. It feels like a shortage of defensive effort, with Dayton allowing 79.3 points per game, which is the 123rd most in the country.
Northern Illinois used its chaotic screening offense and off-ball movement to create open shot opportunities against a Flyers team that’s just 209th nationally in Division I experience. Siena ran up and down the floor with pace, using speed and forcing turnovers to create extra possessions, which constantly kept Dayton off balance.
That’s still no excuse and it’s left lots of blame to go around. Some have started to question if Amaël L’Etang is ever going to be the physical, tough interior presence this team desperately needs. Losing Marquette transfer Zaide Lowery to an ankle injury just after the first game doesn’t help.
Four-star freshman guard Aiden Derkack has been forced to step into a bigger role than anticipated. He’s answered the call, averaging 22 points per game, but is navigating with inexperience at the college level.
Still, Grant is confident this team has the talent to turn things around and there’s precedent for his belief. It’s worth noting that the 2021-22 group led by Holmes and Camara won its next five games after Austin Peay, and had upsets of Miami-FL, No. 4 Kansas, and Virginia Tech, received an NIT bid, and finished with 24 wins overall.
That team was even younger than the current one and was 358th nationally in Division I experience.
“It’s an accumulation of a bunch of things that costs you,” Grant said. “As a team, we have to be able to bring that in and get better. That’s my challenge to the group, the standard has to go up and our understanding of the winning habits that we’ve preached and talked about, we have to do better. I believe this team is going to be a good team.”
While some had at-large expectations for Dayton at the start of the season, the back-to-back losses likely mean the Flyers will have to win the conference championship in March for an NCAA bid. That leaves plenty of time for continued development, but the early growing pains are evident for a team that was picked to finish third overall in the A10 this preseason.
Around the Atlantic 10
Duquesne 72, Washington State 71
Six-foot-9 junior forward and Creighton transfer Kerem Konan had to save the Dukes in the waning seconds, converting on an and-one opportunity with 12 ticks left that handed Duquesne a win. He finished with 13 points, nine assists and five rebounds but it continues to be evident that this team is desperately missing Tarence Guinyard who’s fighting for his fifth-year.
Fordham 78, Iona 72
Tuesday night marked the first time since 2006 that Iona visited Rose Hill Gymnasium despite just 11 miles separating the Rams in the Bronx and the Gaels in New Rochelle. As longtime friends Mike Magpayo and Dan Geriot squared off, Iona briefly led in the second half and never really went away. Amir Lindsey ultimately pulled out the win, finishing with the Rams’ final five points on his way to a game-high 17 and nine assists.
Don’t forget about Shane Pendergrass
With multiple talented four and three-star freshmen joining the conference, Shane Pendergrass wasn’t the most talked about this offseason. However, he’s leading the Patriots at 13.3 points per game and has been a spark plug off the bench in Tony Skinn’s rotation. Hard to ignore what Derkack is doing at Dayton, but Pendergrass looks like a real Rookie of the Year contender through week two.
Villanova 80, La Salle 59
The Explorers kept within single digits of their local rival for 33 minutes, out-rebounded the Wildcats on the boards and got 13 points from 5-foot-9 freshman guard RJ Smith. No moral victories, but this game was more encouraging than the scoreline implies.
Asked about the recent comments from Villanova’s Kevin Willard on La Salle’s arena and crowd size, head coach Darris Nichols offered something of an olive branch in respect to the city’s basketball tradition.
“[It bothered me] a little bit,” he said. “I don’t know the details of what went into the Big 5. I would just love to get back [to Finneran Pavilion] and play opening night [next season]. That would be a good experience for our guys.”
Air Force 107, Loyola Chicago 93
The Ramblers’ offense looked improved as Donald Hand Jr. dropped 25 points on 5-of-11 shooting from 3 while Guillaume Grotzinger finished with 14 points and seven assists. The obvious problem being their defense just let up 107 points in regulation to a team ranked 222nd in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency.
Southern Illinois 80, Richmond 70
Chris Mooney’s Spiders have never shied away from playing the occasional tough road game, and it cost them again. Following a performance against Temple on Sunday that felt almost perfect, a good sign for a new rotation learning the intricacies of a Mooney run offense, Southern Illinois led for all but 12 seconds.
St. Bonaventure 88, Cornell 64
The Bonnies might have shot 1-for-12 from 3-point range, but it didn’t matter; Ben Bill was dominant with 28 points on 13-of-15 shooting, with six rebounds and four blocked shots. It might just be the first marquee win of Mike MacDonald’s tenure, but at the very least, it’s a good way to bounce back from a rough start last week.
Saint Joseph’s 83, South Florida 80
After going down 12 early and weathering an injury to Jaiden Glover-Toscano, the Hawks were able to close out a tight win in the second half behind 21 points on six made threes from freshman BJ Ranson. It is currently branded as a Quad One upset on a neutral court and is the highest-ranked win of the Steve Donahue era on Hawk Hill by KenPom’s rankings.
