UD maintains No. 7 spot in latest AP Poll

‘We’re a team that everyone wants to play,’ says Flyers’ Ibi Watson.

There were no upsets ahead of the Dayton Flyers in the Associated Press top-25 poll, and they stayed at No. 7 for the second straight week in the poll released Monday.

Dayton is finding out what it’s like to be a top-10 team on the road. It has played in front of sellout crowds at SaintLouis and Richmond in its last two Atlantic 10 Conference road games.

We definitely love to play in the hostile environments,” Dayton guard Ibi Watson said Saturday. “Coach said we kind of earned it. We’re a team that everyone wants to play. It’s kind of an opportunity for everyone, so we have to embrace that and really understand every game is kind of a Super Bowl game.”

Dayton (18-2, 7-0), which has won nine games in a row, went 2-0 last week, beating St. Bonaventure 86-60 at UD Arena on Wednesday and Richmond 87-79 on Saturday at the Robins Center in Richmond, Va. It sits alone in first place in the A-10, one game ahead of Rhode Island (14-5, 6-1).

This week, the Flyers play at Duquesne (15-4, 5-2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday and then play Fordham (7-12, 1-6) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena.

Last week, Dayton became the first Atlantic 10 Conference team to reach the top 10 since Saint Louis in 2014 and the highest-ranked A-10 team since Xavier reached No. 7 on Dec. 15, 2008.

Dayton is now the first A-10 team to stay in the top 10 in two straight weeks since Butler was No. 9 two weeks in a row in January 2013. Voters ranked Dayton as high as fifth and as low as 13th. It’s one spot behind Louisville and one ahead of Villanova. The only two teams to beat Dayton are ranked: No. 3 Kansas and No. 20 Colorado.

This is the first time since the 1955-56 season that Dayton has been ranked in nine straight weeks. It passed the 1957-58 team, which was ranked in the final eight polls of the season, and is now chasing the 1955-56 team, which was ranked all season, in 15 polls, and climbed as high as No. 2. That team finished 25-4.

Dayton entered the top 25 at No. 19 on Dec. 2, following its runner-up finish at the Maui Invitational, and then climbed to No. 14 on Dec. 9 and to No. 13 on Dec. 16.

The Flyers fell to No. 18 on Dec. 23 after a 78-76 overtime loss to Colorado at the United Center on Dec. 21. They dropped to No. 20 on Dec. 30 before climbing to No. 15 on Jan. 6 and to No. 13 and No. 7 in the last two polls.

Weekly awards: Jalen Crutcher became the first player in Dayton Flyers history to be named the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the

Week in back-to-back weeks.

Crutcher won the award again Monday after scoring 23 points against St. Bonaventure and 24 points at Richmond. He also had seven assists in each game and a total of 12 rebounds in the two games.

Crutcher has increased his points total in six straight games: 10, 12, 20, 21, 23 and 24.

Dayton has won the weekly award five times. Obi Toppin won it Nov. 11 and Jan. 16. Ibi Watson was honored Dec. 30. Crutcher won last week.

Crutcher moved into 48th place in school history in scoring Saturday. He has 998 points. He’s two away from becoming the 49th player in school history to reach 1,000.

Contact this reporter at 937-244-7400 or email David.Jablonski@cmg.com.