Depleted Dayton will be no match for Davidson

Last season, Dayton was the toast of college basketball and was likely going to be a No. 1 seed if there was a 2020 NCAA Tournament. This is now, though, as the Flyers look vastly different and are shorthanded going into Friday’s contest at Davidson.

Dayton will be without starters Rodney Chatman and Chase Johnson, a duo that is combining for 22.2 points per game with Johnson shooting 71.4 percent from 3-point range while pulling in six rebounds per game and Chatman adding 4.2 assists per game.

Without the pair, Dayton is averaging 64 points per game including a loss the perennial Atlantic 10 bottom-feeder Fordham. The Flyers need to try to figure out a Davidson defense that has given up 65 points or fewer in five of its six games since the Maui Invitational.

Davidson ranks 30th among Division I teams in rebound rate and has been significantly better at valuing each possession, committing 5.4 fewer turnovers per game than the Flyers. Dayton is turning the ball over on 24.5 percent of its possessions, the 16th-worst mark in the country.

For the season, Dayton ranks 256th in opponents’ 3-point shooting percentage and in three games without Johnson is allowing teams to make 41.8 percent of 3s.

With three of Davidson’s top four scorers making at least 35 percent of their outside shots — led by Hyun Jung Lee’s 50.8 percent— the Flyers figure to be in for a tough night.

THE PLAY: Davidson, -5.