TODAY’S GAME
Staff Writer
Sophomore guard DAYTON —
Trey Landers summarized the state of the Dayton Flyers on Twitter hours after a 71-53 loss Wednesday at La Salle.
“Trials and tribulations only make you stronger,” Landers wrote.
T hat’s true for Landers, who is one of the most improved players in the Atlantic 10 Conference. It could turn out to be true for the team — maybe they’ll show it at 3 p.m. today in the regular-season finale against George Washington (14-16, 7-10) at UD Arena, or next week in the Atlantic 10 tournament, or even next season — but it’s not true at the moment. Dayton (13-16, 7-10) has not gotten stronger as the season has progressed.
Whether it’s the increased minutes played by the starters during conference play or the absence of Xeyrius Williams or the freshmen hitting a wall in a long season, the Flyers are approaching the end of the season much like they did the last two seasons.
Archie Miller’s last two Dayton teams won conference championships — shar- ing the title in 2016 and winning it outright in 2017 — but they did not play their best basketball at the end of the season. Two seasons ago, Dayton was 21-3 and then lost five of its last nine games. Last season, Dayton lost its last three games after beat- ing Virginia Commonwealth on Senior Night.
The first regular season of the Anthony Grant era ends today at UD Arena with Dayton trying to shake the feeling of its worst back-toback losses since December 2011. The Flyers lost to Rhode Island (81-56) and La Salle by a combined 43 points. Six years ago, they lost to Buffalo (84-55) and Murray State (75-58) by 46 points.
Fans haven’t been frus- trated as much with Dayton losing but with the way it’s losing. Since the back- to-back overtime losses on the road to Massachusetts and VCU, Dayton has lost its last three road games by lopsided margins.
Grant had candid remarks about his team’s lack of com- petitiveness after the latest loss, and he was asked Thurs- day if he had said the same thing to the players.
“I’m never one to try to speak to my team through the media,” Grant said. “I’ve just never been that way. It’s really what I saw and what I felt. At the end of the day, we have an opportunity every day and obligation every day, a responsi- bility every day with how we show up. Sometimes when George Washington at Dayton, 3 p.m., NBC Sports Network, FM 95.7, AM 1290 WHIO you’re young, you can kind of lose perspective. (Wednesday night), I didn’t feel we did what we needed to do to make sure we were ready to play to the best of our abil- ities. That’s on me. That’s on our staff. That’s on each individual player. We’ve got to be better at the end of the day.”
At this point in the season, Grant said there’s not much more he and his assis- tants can say to the players to motivate them. In other words, they’ve heard all the pep talks. He said the best motivation is self motivation.
Winning the final home game in the careers of Dar- rell Davis and Joey Gruden should be motivation enough.
“Right now, it’s internal,” Grant said. “‘What’s your why? What are you playing for? What does this mean to you?’ We’ve got to be able to step up. It’s senior night. GW is a team that’s playing really well . ... They’ve got size. They’ve got physicality.” Contact this reporter at 937244-7400 or email David. Jablonski@coxinc.com.