Dayton is having a special season, which has been apparent for a while. On Friday night, there were new highlights to that end in the Flyers’ 82-67 win over Davidson.
The Flyers are now 16-0 in Atlantic 10 play and clinched an outright regular season title. They all but had it in the bag beforehand, but now it’s official, with the only remaining drama being the question of whether or not they can go undefeated. They go to Rhode Island on Wednesday night and host George Washington on Saturday, so if they can beat the Rams at the Ryan Center, their chances look pretty good. Their winning streak overall is now at 18 games.
On Friday night, they won largely at the offensive end with an amazing night. They shot 72.3 percent from the field, including 7-19 from long range. They had as many turnovers (13) as they had missed field goal attempts on the night. But even more impressive, they missed just one two-point shot on the evening, making 27 of 28 attempts.
This marked the best shooting performance by the team in almost 34 years, going back to when they shot 77.5 percent against Southern on March 1, 1986. Obi Topping had 23 points on 10-11 shooting, with his only miss coming from long range. Dayton entered the night as the national leader in field goal percent, and that certainly isn’t going to change after this game.
Naturally, you wonder if a shooting night like this owes more to the offense than the opposing defense. With Dayton having 20 assists on their 34 made baskets, it would seem the Flyers did well to move the ball to get good shots. That’s also in line with their season numbers, where they came in averaging 17.5 assists per game on just over 29 made field goals.
What the Flyers do before the NCAA Tournament is, at this point, basically all gravy. That’s what will count the most and how this season will be measured, although an undefeated Atlantic 10 mark and even a conference tournament title will be nice. This team is aiming for more, however, and at this point, is there any reason to bet against them making a deep run in March?
Side Dishes
Wright State is the Horizon League regular season champion after they edged Northern Kentucky 64-62. The Raiders, who got 20 points and 14 rebounds from Loudon Love on Friday night, led the league from start to finish and win by two games over the Norse.
Speaking of Northern Kentucky, here is an excellent read on the latest evidence that there is no “kinder, gentler NCAA” – their decision regarding Norse star Tyler Sharpe. 11 minutes means losing an entire season, but four football games does not?
The Ivy League is now very much a three-horse race, with all three teams winning on Friday night. Yale remained on top by edging Penn 76-73 in New Haven to go 9-2, while Princeton went on the road and blew out Brown 71-49 and Harvard handled Columbia 77-69 in New York to remain right behind the Bulldogs at 8-3. Brown fell to 6-5 and remains a game ahead of Penn for fourth place. In the other game on the night, Dartmouth beat Cornell 82-70 in Ithaca.
Other results of note: In key Sun Belt action, Georgia Southern topped Georgia State 79-70 and in a dandy that finished after all the other games on the night were complete. Texas State outlasted UT Arlington 87-85 in triple overtime to break a nine-game losing streak in Arlington and stay a game ahead of Georgia Southern for second place; Siena moved to 13-5 in the MAAC by pulling out a 52-50 win at Marist, while Rider took care of Monmouth 79-67 in Lawrenceville for their tenth MAAC win; and Washington State blew a 13-point halftime lead but pulled out a 78-74 win at Washington.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s the final Saturday with only regular season games, which also means we’ll have the last Saturday Notes of the season coming up on Sunday as well. And naturally, it’s a pretty full day of action.
- Games of note in the ACC start with NC State hosting Pittsburgh (noon), then continue with Clemson hosting Florida State (2 p.m.), Syracuse hosting North Carolina (4 p.m.), Duke visiting Virginia (6 p.m.)
- Liberty will try to win the outright Atlantic Sun regular season title as they visit Lipscomb (2 p.m.)
- A full day of Big 12 action starts with Texas Tech hosting Texas (noon), then Kansas State hosts Kansas (1:30 p.m.), TCU hosts Baylor (2 p.m.), West Virginia hosts Oklahoma and Oklahoma State hosts Iowa State (4 p.m.)
- The Big East slate starts with Providence visiting Villanova (noon), then Seton Hall goes to Marquette (2:30 p.m.) and DePaul visits Butler (6:30 p.m.)
- Two of the teams tied atop the Big Sky meet as Eastern Washington visits Northern Colorado (9 p.m.), while the other team, Montana, visits Sacramento State later (10:05 p.m.)
- The Big South regular season title comes down to two games: Winthrop hosting High Point (1 p.m.) and Radford hosting Gardner Webb (4 p.m.), with the Highlanders having clinched at least a share of the regular season title and leading by a game coming into the day.
- In the Big Ten, Iowa hosts Penn State (noon) and Michigan State visits Maryland (8 p.m.)
- The CAA regular season title will be known by early evening as the two games that will decide it both tip at 4 p.m.: James Madison at Hofstra and Elon at William & Mary.
- In the Ivy League, Brown hosts Penn and Cornell hosts Harvard with earlier tips (6 p.m.) while Yale hosts Princeton and Columbia hosts Dartmouth (7 p.m.)
- The Missouri Valley still has the top spot up for grabs, and both of the top two teams are on the road. Loyola-Chicago goes to Bradley (2 p.m.) and Northern Iowa visits Drake (6 p.m.)
- Highlighted matchups in the Mountain West are San Diego State visiting Nevada (8 p.m.) and Utah State visiting New Mexico (10 p.m.)
- The top seed in the Northeast Conference Tournament is on the line as Robert Morris hosts Saint Francis U (1 p.m.)
- In the Ohio Valley Conference, it’s all on the line as Austin Peay visits Murray State (8 p.m.), while Belmont is tied with both teams and visits Tennessee State (8:30 p.m.)
- The Pac-12 slate is highlighted by two games in Los Angeles as Arizona State goes to USC (8 p.m.) and Arizona visits UCLA (10 p.m.)
- Games of note in the SEC including Tennessee hosting Florida (2 p.m.), Missouri hosting Mississippi State (3:30 p.m.), Kentucky hosting Auburn (3:45 p.m.) and Alabama hosting South Carolina (8:30 p.m.)
- In the Southern Conference, East Tennessee State goes for an outright regular season title as they host Western Carolina, while Furman is a game behind them and hosts The Citadel (4 p.m.) A bit later, UNC Greensboro travels to Chattanooga in another key game there (4:30 p.m.)
- Stephen F. Austin will try to clinch an outright regular season title in the Southland Conference as they host Lamar (5:30 p.m.)
- Saint Mary’s visits Gonzaga in a game that’s always worth checking out (10 p.m.)
