UD foes having easy time on offense

Flyers have given up 72 points or more in all 8 A-10 games this season.

University of Dayton basketball coach Archie Miller would like to have some of the tenacious defense that previous Flyers teams had under former coach Brian Gregory.

Miller also would like to have some of Gregory’s personnel.

Opponents shot only 41.4 percent from the field last season and averaged 65.4 points per game. The year before, it was 39.3 percent and 62.3 points.

But UD foes are hitting at a 46percent clip this season, which is the 13th-worst mark in the Atlantic 10. They’re also scoring 68.3 points per game The Flyers are 8th in the A-10.

Asked about last year’s numbers, Miller said: “Did that include Chris Wright and Devin Searcy and Josh Benson?”

Wright and Searcy were mobile big men who graduated. Benson, a junior forward, played the first 14 games this year before going down with a knee injury.

“There’s a lot of interior athleticism. There’s a lot of athletes. There’s a lot of strength,” Miller said of that group. “We’re having a hard time at this point stopping any one aspect. A lot of it has to do with our talent level. We’re not altering anything around the basket.”

The Flyers (14-8, 4-4 Atlantic 10) have given up at least 72 points in all eight league games. In 14 nonconference games with Benson, foes scored 72 or more just four times.

UD hasn’t been gouged like that since the 1990-91 team allowed 72-plus in 13 straight games.

“Fatigue is playing a role in it, but I think it’s our overall size and overall athleticism,” Miller said. “You take a look at our first 14 games when Benson was there, very few times would a team hit us for 75 or 80 points, and a lot of it had to do with how he keeps the rotation fresher. He rebounds. He blocks shots.”

UD had a solid defensive stretch in the first 10 minutes of the second half of its 83-73 loss to Duquesne on Wednesday. But it didn’t last.

“We’ve shown moments and bursts, but I’m telling you, since our Xavier game (Jan. 21) and going to St. Joe’s, we’ve really run out of gas on defense.” Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or dharris@daytondailynews.com.