Davis’ all-around play sparking Flyers
Dayton Flyers DAYTON — sophomore guard Jordan Davis won the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Award for the first time in his career Monday.
Davis, who s cored 46 points in victories against George Washington and Massachusetts, shared the honor with George Mason’s Justin Kier.
“We just keep telling him to shoot the ball,” point guard Jalen Crutcher said. “He works on his shot all the time. He’s just making his shots now.”
Davis made 7 of 11 3-pointers in a 72-66 win at GW on Wednesday and 6 of 8 in a 72-67 win at home against UMass on Sunday. Davis made as many 3-pointers in the two games as he had in the previous 12 combined.
The key to his shot, Davis said, is “just stepping into it. Just being square. Just don’t think about it. Just let it go.”
In those two games, Davis improved his season 3-point shooting percentage from 25.4 to 35.4. He shot 39.4 percent last season. He has made 28 of 92 3-pointers, ranking second on the team in made 3-pointers behind Crutcher (40 of 97, 41.2).
“Even when he wasn’t making shots, he’s been consistent in terms of getting in the gym, getting shots up and working on his game,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “Some- times as a shooter, you kind of need to see the ball go in from time to time to get your rhythm. The game he had at GW, under those circumstances, on the road, that can do a lot for you in terms of just seeing the ball go in. Myself, his teammates, our coaches, we’ve got a lot of confidence in him. We’ve seen him do it. We know what he’s capable of.
“It’s great for him because of the way he works and because of who he is, just his consistency, to see him be able to have the success he’s enjoyed the last couple of games.”
Davis made his first three 3-pointers Sunday and had 11 points at halftime. He had success on the offensive end while drawing the assign- ment of guarding Luwane Pipkins, one of the top scor- ers in the conference. Pipkins scored 19 points on 8-of- 21 shooting.
“What we asked of him from a defensive standpoint for 38-plus minutes to be the primary guy (guarding Pipkins),” Grant said, “whether it was in the full court or half court and then to still be able to produce on the offensive end, that’s big-time growth, so I’m proud of him.”
Grant said Davis has drawn the job of guarding the opponent’s best player in every game.
“He’s done an outstanding job,” Grant said. “You look at a young man who probably most of his life was known as a scorer, as a guy who could put the ball in the hole, and most of the non-conference, he really struggled in terms of being able to find the bottom of the net on a consistent basis, but he stayed consistent in terms of his work ethic. Like we always talk about, the game is always going to be true if you stay true to it. He did that, and it’s great to see him have the offensive success to go along with what he’s been able to do for us on the defensive end.”
TODAY’S GAME:
WRIGHT STATE AT YOUNGSTOWN STATE
■ Who: Wright State (8-10, 2-3) at Youngstown State (6-13, 2-4)
■ When: 7 p.m. today
■ TV: ESPN+
■ Radio: 106.5-FM
■ Series: Wright State leads 45-10
■ Coaches: Scott Nagy is 53-32 in his third year at Wright State and 463-272 in 24 years overall. Jerrod Calhoun is 14-37 in his second year at Youngstown State. He was 124-38 in five years at Fairmont State, including a runner-up finish in the NCAA Division II tourney in 2017. Mark Hughes Cole Gentry Alan Vest Loudon Love Parker Ernsthausen Jelani Simmons Darius Quisenberry Garrett Covington Naz Bohannon Olamide Pedersen 6-4 5-10 6-3 6-9 6-11 6-5 6-1 6-5 6-6 6-9 Sr. Jr. Sr. So. Sr. Fr. Fr. So. So. Fr. G G G F C G G G F F 10.2 14.3 4.7 13.9 4.4 8.1 12.4 11.6 6.8 3.7 ■ The Raiders have ground to make up in the conference. Detroit Mercy, which was picked to finish 10th, is first at 5-1, while Northern Kentucky is 4-1, Oakland 4-2, Green Bay and UIC 3-2, Wright State, IUPUI and Milwaukee 2-3, Youngstown State 2-4 and Cleveland State 0-6. Detroit’s Antoine Davis, who has been named the league’s freshman of the week six times and player of the week twice, is second in the nation in scoring at 27.7 points per game, trailing only Campbell’s Chris Clemons (29.6). Oakland’s Xavier Hill-Mais is the only other player in the league averaging more than 20 at 20.9 . ... Junior wing Bill Wampler has been productive since becoming sixth man in the last four games. He’s averaging 15.3 points, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 36.4 on 3s. In 14 games as a starter, he averaged 14.7 points, shot 34.2 percent overall and 33.7 on 3’s.
■ The Penguins, who were picked to finish ninth in the league, are coming off an 82-76 win at IUPUI. Quisenberry had a teamhigh 22 points. They just concluded a stretch of four straight road games, going 2-2. That included a win at Milwaukee and an overtime loss at Green Bay . ... Bohannon, a preseason second-team all-league pick, is second in the conference in rebounding at 9.1 per game. He had 28 rebounds in two games against Wright State last year, including 15 on the offensive end . ... Pedersen leads the league in blocks at 1.3 per game . ... Covington is fourth in steals at 1.5 . ... The Penguins have lost three straight to Wright State, but they went 5-5 in the 10 games before that.
■ The Raiders finish their five-game road stretch at Cleveland State (5-14) at 7 p.m. Saturday. They play seven of their final 11 league games at home, including a visit from Milwaukee (7-11) at 7 p.m. next Thursday.
— DOUG HARRIS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER