Dayton is in the midst of what looks like it could be a special season, and on Friday night, that appeared to be the case just a little more. When you have a season like that, along the way you have games like the Flyers’ 78-76 overtime win at Saint Louis.
You win games that it looks like you might not, especially against other top teams in the conference.
Much of what will be talked about from this game will be what happened at the end, and understandably so. Jalen Crutcher hit a three-pointer with 0.1 left to lift the Flyers past the Billikens, and all on a well-defended play, too. As he ran up the floor with the ball down one after two made free throws, time was of the essence, so one thing a defense must do is not let a ball handler get a straight line to the basket. They forced him to the side, in this case left, so he was going to have to put up a tougher shot. He went up from a couple of feet behind the three-point line straight out from the basket, and it went down to put them up by two with no time to get a shot off.
Crutcher has become Mr. Clutch for the Flyers, even as Obi Toppin (20 points, 10 rebounds on the night) gets all of the national attention. Crutcher had 21 points and has hit a number of big shots on the season for the Flyers, who are 5-0 and remain atop the conference with Duquesne and St. Bonaventure also undefeated. The Bonnies visit the Flyers on Wednesday.
For Saint Louis, though, this game was lost earlier, when they blew a 13-point lead in the second half. The Billikens, another contender in the conference who had a good run outside the conference, had a 33-25 lead at the break and built it up to 55-42 with 7:40 left. Dayton then scored the next eight points to begin a 24-6 run that was capped off by an 11-1 run and aided by four missed free throws. The Billikens missed 17 free throws on the night, so this is notable as the game could easily have had a different result. The Billikens needed a buzzer-beater of their own just to get to overtime, which Jordan Goodwin (15 points, 13 rebounds) delivered via a driving layup to knot it at 69.
They knew this was there for the taking, and head coach Travis Ford’s post-game comments to the media reflected that, as he told reporters, “We had the game going where we wanted it. We wasted too many possessions offensively.”
The Billikens now have to regroup on the road at under-achieving Davidson. The Wildcats are still very dangerous, while Saint Louis still has a chance to be an NCAA Tournament at-large team. Friday night’s loss doesn’t hurt as a bad resume loss, but it sure does as a missed opportunity. Along the way, one team’s special season can claim part of another team’s fine season as one of its victims.
Side Dishes
The two Big Ten games on tap were a study in contrasts. In the first game, Michigan State took care of Wisconsin 67-55 in East Lansing as Cassius Winston became the Big Ten’s all-time leader in career assists. The later game was an entertaining one that saw Michigan and Iowa trade runs in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes had a halftime lead, but Michigan came alive after the first media timeout of the second half and took the lead just over seven minutes in. When they built the lead to 72-65 just past the halfway point, it looked like they might be en route to a nice road win, but the Hawkeyes responded a bit later. Down 74-68, they ran off 10 unanswered points, with Luke Garza (33 points, seven rebuonds) scoring seven of them, to take the lead for good. They would get the lead as high as eight in the final minute with a series of defensive stops leading the way en route to a 90-83 win. Iowa had a 38-25 edge on the glass, which went a long way towards this win, as well as 22 assists on 27 made field goals.
Other results of note: Yale pulled away from Brown 70-56 in the Ivy League opener for both; Wofford scored a nice home win over Furman 66-52 to stay right with the Paladins and a couple of others in the Southern Conference; and home teams won all three MAAC games on the night as Canisius topped Siena 73-63, Iona beat Fairfield 64-57 and Niagara rallied to edge Rider 70-68.
The SEC reprimanded Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland and fined him $25,000 on Friday for comments he made on Monday this week. Howland commented in a press conference about a conversation he had with the conference coordinator of officials after their game against LSU last week, which the Tigers won at the buzzer.
Tonight’s Menu
Get ready for another busy Saturday from about noon to midnight.
- A non-conference game of note tips early on as Villanova hosts UConn (noon)
- In the ACC, a couple of road teams early on try to get going a little more as North Carolina travels to Pittsburgh and Syracuse visits Virginia Tech (noon), then in-state rivals meet as Miami hosts Florida State (1 p.m.) and Clemson visits NC State in a game that suddenly became a little more important (2 p.m.) Later on is the big showdown of the day as Louisville visits Duke (6 p.m.)
- A couple of key games are on tap in America East as Hartford visits Vermont () and Albany visits Stony Brook (7 p.m.)
- A good matchup in the American Athletic Conference comes up in the afternoon as Wichita State hosts Houston (4 p.m.), while later on Temple visits SMU (8 p.m.)
- In Atlantic 10 action, VCU tries to bounce back as they host 4-0 St. Bonaventure (2 p.m.)
- A full slate of Big 12 action will all be done in the afternoon, and it starts with Baylor visiting fading Oklahoma State (noon), then Kansas goes to Texas, Kansas State looks for their first win as they host West Virginia and Oklahoma hosts TCU at 2 p.m. Later, Texas Tech hosts Iowa State (4 p.m.)
- In the Big East, Butler tries to bounce back as they visit a DePaul team that really needs a win (1 p.m.), then Marquette visits Georgetown (2 p.m.), Providence goes to Creighton (4:30 p.m.)
- Two 4-0 teams match up in the Big South as Presbyterian hosts Radford (4 p.m.)
- The Big Ten slate kicks off with Ohio State visiting Penn State (noon), then Maryland hosts Purdue (2 p.m.)
- Another key game among teams near the top of the CAA is on tap as Hofstra visits College of Charleston, with the Pride just a half game ahead of the Cougars (4 p.m.)
- A pair of 4-1 teams match up in Conference USA as North Texas visits Louisiana Tech, while 4-0 Charlotte gets a test at 4-1 Western Kentucky, both tipping at 5 p.m.
- The Horizon League has a key matchup on tap as Wright State hosts a Youngstown State team that is chasing them (7 p.m.)
- The co-leaders of the Missouri Valley meet in Peoria as Bradley hosts Northern Iowa (6 p.m.)
- In the Mountain West, New Mexico visits surprising UNLV with its 5-1 mark (6 p.m.), while Nevada goes on the road to provide the latest challenge to San Diego State (8 p.m.) and Boise State hosts Utah State (10 p.m.)
- Two of the pacesetters in the Northeast Conference meet as Merrimack travels to Robert Morris (4 p.m.), while two one-loss teams meet later as Saint Francis U hosts Sacred Heart (7 p.m.)
- The slate in the Pac-12 gets going with Colorado visiting Arizona (2:30 p.m.), then Oregon goes to Washington (3:45 p.m.), Oregon State tries to bounce back at Washington State (4 p.m.), USC hosts Stanford (6:30 p.m.) and Utah heads to Arizona State (9 p.m.)
- Patriot League co-leaders meet as Colgate hosts Boston University (2 p.m.)
- In the SEC, Auburn looks to bounce back from their first loss of the season as they go to Florida (1:30 p.m.), then Arkansas hosts Kentucky (4 p.m.), LSU goes to Ole Miss (8 p.m.) and Georgia travels to Mississippi State (8:30 p.m.)
- In the Southern Conference, Western Carolina hosts East Tennessee State (7 p.m.)
- One of the late games is a West Coast Conference showdown as BYU visits Gonzaga (10 p.m.)
