Flyers fail first big test of season, narrowing their margin of error
EVANSTON, Ill. — Printed directions in the Northwestern student section advised fans what to do to disrupt the Dayton Flyers on Friday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
“What do we do when they have free throws? Stomp. Jump. Use the balloons.”
“When the other team misses the basket completely on a shot, chant this every time that player has possession: Airball! Airball!”
“When there are eight seconds on the opposing team’s shot clock, start counting down from five.”
The students did a good job filling their sections and making noise in the second game of the season for both teams, but Dayton lost 71-66 to Northwestern for a variety of reasons unrelated to the semi-hostile atmosphere. Of course, the reasons Dayton lost didn’t matter as much as the fact that they did lose what coach Anthony Grant called a “very winnable game.”
For seven seasons now, Grant’s entire tenure, the Flyers have not found a way to win non-conference games on an opponent’s
home court. This was as well as they have played in any of the eight games since a 61-59 loss at Mississippi State in Grant’s first season, but that won’t help them on Selection Sunday. These are the games they have to win.
“Hopefully, this game will be a game that we’ll look back on and say, ‘It made us better,’” Grant said, “But we don’t have a whole lot of these opportunities to get these these types of wins. So we have to make the most out of it. We understand at Dayton we have to be at our best in early November.”
The loss puts more pressure on Dayton (1-1) to perform well at the Charleston Classic next week. It
plays LSU (1-1) on Thursday and then St. John’s (1-0) or North Texas (1-0) on Friday. Houston, Towson, Utah and Wake Forest are the possible opponents on Nov. 19.
Dayton needs at least two victories in the tournament to put itself in a position to compete for a NCAA tournament at-large bid. Its margin of error shrunk with the loss to Northwestern.
“We know how big it is for us,” Dayton guard Koby Brea said, “and honestly we’re feeling not great about this game, but we’re looking forward. We have a really big opportunity in front of us. We’ve just got to make sure that we go over there with confidence and do the things that we have to do.”
The silver lining Friday was that Dayton looked as good as Northwestern, which made the NCAA tournament last season. The Flyers made 12 of 22 3-pointers (52.2%) and overcame an 11-point deficit early in the second half to take the lead at four different points. DaRon Holmes II led the Flyers with 17 points.
Second-chance points elevated Northwestern in a crucial stretch.
After Dayton took a 47-45 lead on a 3-pointer by Koby Brea at the 11:27 mark, Northwestern missed two 3-pointers on its next possession but got the offensive rebound both times and finally scored on a jumper by Brooks Barnhizer.
At the 8:38 mark, Barnhizer scored again after an offensive rebound to give Northwestern a 52-51 lead.
A minute later, Nick Martinelli rebounded a missed layup and scored to give Northwestern a 56-51 lead.
With 5:27 to play, Ty Berry rebounded a missed free throw and made a 3-pointer as the Wildcats pushed their advantage to 59-53.
Northwestern coach Chris Collins credited a higher power for that last second-chance opportunity.
“I learned this from my coach back in the day,” he said, “but I’m a big believer that there are basketball gods out there and the basketball gods reward you when you do things right. You throw yourself into winning, and the basketball gods punish you when
you don’t. I thought Ty, his offensive rebound on the missed free throw that led to him getting the 3, was just one of the biggest plays of the game. You felt the energy in the crowd. Then he followed that up with another big 3.”
Berry’s second 3 came after two offensive rebounds and gave Northwestern a 62-55 at the 4:29 mark. Dayton stayed in the game thanks to 3-pointers by Brea and Nate Santos on its next two possessions but could get no closer than three points the rest of the way.
The Wildcats clinched the victory by making 7 of 8 free throws in the final two minutes.
“We obviously didn’t get the outcome we wanted,” guard Javon Bennett said, “but we were playing hard. We stuck with them the whole game. We’ve got a big tournament in South Carolina next week. We’re going to try to just keep building on this game.”
Bennett stepped into the starting lineup in place of Malachi Smith, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Monday in a 63-47 victory against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He had 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting, five assists and three turnovers in 36 minutes.
“I thought Javon did a good job,” Grant said, “and he was able to run the team. He did a pretty good job keeping his composure. This was his first road game as a Flyer.”
In addition to the 12 offensive rebounds, which led to 16 second-chance points, Northwestern benefitted from turnover differential. Dayton committed 15 turnovers. Northwestern had seven. Dayton turned the ball over five times in the decisive last nine minutes, and Northwestern had none in the same stretch.
In summary, the Flyers fell short in their first big test of the season.
“There are two ways for us to go about it,” Brea said. “We felt like we did a good job competing. There were tough moments during the game, but we showed what this team is capable of. Obviously, we didn’t win, but I feel like there’s a lot that we can take away from it, both positive and negative.”