What do advanced analytics say about Flyers’ start?

DAYTON — The Dayton Flyers won five of their first eight games of the 2018-19 season. That’s only a one-win improvement over Anthony Grant’s first season as coach in the same time frame.

However, the numbers do show an improved team, and that could add up to a big change in the win-loss column by March.

Advanced analytics show a team that has made major strides on def e nse and shown some improvement on offense. Here’s a glance at the numbers:

Record performance: Dayton had an effective fieldgoal percentage of 77.8 in a 98-59 victory Tuesday against Detroit Mercy at UD Arena.

This was its best mark in this category since 2002, which is as far back as the KenPom.com numbers go. Its previous best mark of 76.6 was set in a 106-79 vic- tory against Virginia Commonwealth last season. Four of Dayton’s 10-best marks have come in the past two seasons.

Effective field-goal per- centage takes into account Dayton ranks 11th as a team (58.5).

Toppin is averaging 12.4 points putting him within reach of some of the top freshman seasons in school history. Johnny Davis set the freshman scoring average record (14.3) in 1973-74. If Toppin continues on his cur- rent pace, his scoring aver- age would rank fifth in school history for a freshman.

Weak spot: Dayton ranks 277th in the country in free- throw percentage (65.1) and 204th in free-throw rate, which measures a team’s ability to get to the line. Last season, Dayton ranked 117th in free-throw percentage (73.1) and 226th in free-throw rate. Dayton finished fourth in the country in free-throw rate in 2014-15.