Kobe Elvis was fouled eight times and made 14 straight free throws. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
The University of Dayton Flyers traveled 50 miles down Interstate 75 to play the University of Cincinnati on a ‘neutral’ court, the Heritage Bank Arena in Downtown Cincinnati and came away with an upset victory as Daron Holmes II went off for 28 points and Kobe Elvis was one step behind with 27 as the Flyers improved to 8-2.
Cincinnati, OH. — As the University of Cincinnati basketball team received an unexpected punch in the face, they discovered that the modern version isn’t your father’s University of Dayton Flyers, nor are they your grandfather’s version.
Hall of fame writer Hal McCoy covers the UD Flyers/OSU baseball for Press Pros Magazine.com
Those Flyers on the floor of the Heritage Bank Arena Saturday night, resplendent in their chapel blue uniforms, bore no resemblance to prior UD teams that lost 42 of the previous 52 games to Cincinnati.
Even though they’ve exchanged slam dunks and turnovers many, many times, the two schools hadn’t met since 2010.
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Heritage Bank Arena was ostensibly a neutral site for this one-game resurrection of the ‘series,’ but it is located just a few kilometers from the UC campus and it squats on the fringes of Downtown Cincinnati.
Nevertheless, of the 12,457 who witnessed the carnage, an 82-68 Dayton dismantling of the Bearcats, more than half with howling members of the well-traveling Flyer Faithful.
And they had reason to be hoarse with sore throats after what they witnessed.
“We could be playing in Antarctica and the fans would come out to support us,” said DaRon Holmes II. “That’s the beauty of UD basketball.”
Hot-shooting Koby Brea buried his first four three-point shots.
Before the game, UC Coach Wes Miller said, “How we defend Daron Holmes will determine the outcome of this game.”
If that’s the case, UC looked as if it couldn’t guard a fence post or a stop sign as Holmes claimed the court as his personal stage, with indeed a lot of help from his friends.
Holmes roamed for 28 points and the 6-foot-11 superstud displayed his ever-increaming versatility by knocking down three three-pointers.
His most able assistant was Kobe Elvis with 27 points, with 14 coming from the free throw line. . .on 14 attempts with nary a miss.
And then there was Koby Brea sinking all three-three-pointers he tried in the first half en route to 12 points.
As a team, the Flyers were as automatic at the foul line as a new coffee machine, 28 for 30 to UC’s 8 for 16. The Bearcats took 23 more shots than the Flyers, 73-49, but it was quality over quantity. UD shot 46.9% to UC’s 37%.
“I’m really p—-d off, I’m really p—-d off,” said Miller after his team fell to 8-2 and the Flyers climbed to 8-2. “Tonight. . .that was unacceptable. They (UD) were really good tonight and got us out of sync.”
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The Flyers were the aggressors, the hustlers, the scramblers, the defenders with pesky full-court pressure. Even though the Bearcats had a seven-footer and two 6-11 operatives, they couldn’t negate the much smaller Flyers.
“We were struggling to get stops,” he added. “When you can’t get stops and you can’t defend, it puts a lot of pressure on everything else in the game.”
Flyer floor leader Javon Bennett drives to the basket.
The pressure came from Holmes making 10 of 17 shots, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking five shots. The pressure came from Elvis making 6 of 11 shots, all 14 free throws and five rebounds.
“With them changing defenses all the time, we looked frozen at times,” said Miller. He might have been right because the court was laid over ice on which the Cincinnati Cyclones hockey team skates. But the Flyers thawed it out with their shooting and their defense.
“We totally taken out of what we wanted to do offensively. . .they bothered us, it shouldn’t, we should be better and that should have been a more competitive game.”
UD quickly grabbed leads of 5-0 and 8-3. UD Coach Anthony Grant unleashed Koby Brea from the bench and he did what he does best. . .three straight swished threes in a five-minute span to push the Flyers in front, 20-17.
From there Holmes scored eight and Elvis six to provide the Flyers with a 34-29 halftime lead.
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And it was all Holmes and all Elvis all the time to open the second half. Holmes drove home two dunks and scored six points and Elvis added seven. That pushed UD’s lead to 48-39 with 15 1/2 minutes left.
UD’s lead mounted to as many as 17 points, 65-48. The Bearcat crept to within nine, 71-62, with 3:15 left. Holmes drove the lane and slammed through a two-handed dunk and that broke UC’s spirits.
Dayton’s Nate Santos drives around a UC defender in Saturday’s stunning win.
Of Holmes, Miller said, “He’s a terrific player. I read somewhere where he is on the Naismith watch list for national player of the year. It is well-deserved. He is a terrific player.”
And he talked even more glowingly about Elvis.
“He’s good. . .he’s very, very good,” said Miller. “We had a difficult time staying in front of him. He created so much for his team. Gosh. . .6 for 11 and 14 for 14 from the free throw line and three assists. He puts pressure on you from the front of the rim and just keep drawing fouls, drawing fouls and drawing fouls.”
Miller broke it down simply: “Brea comes out and hits three and that was part of our scouting report to not let him shoot, because he is an elite shooter. We wanted to do good job on Elvis and obviously do a good job on Holmes. And you look at what happened and we didn’t do a damn good job at all.
“I mean we were searching defensively,” he added. “We used a 1-3-1, the diamond-and-one press, 2-3s on the outlet. What can we do. . .we can’t stop ‘em.”
The victory was a nifty pelt to show the NCAA tournament committee when the time comes, a Quad 1 victory.
“It was pretty big,” Holmes said of the win. “A very big win. They are a great team and it was a great opportunity to play against them.”
And beat them.
Elvis, the modest man, said of his game, “I just try to be aggressive, get fouled — we worked on free throws all week.
Maybe UC’s lack of cohesion and team play comes from the fact 10 of its 16 players are transfers from other programs.
Miller was not enamored with his team Saturday, but one has to appreciate a team that has guys with first names like Day Day, Jizzle, Chase, Viktor (a Russian native), Ody, Sage and Aziz.
Daron Holmes II can not only dunk,..he can drive through traffic to the rim.
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