Nate Santos scored all 17 of his points in the first half. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
After a shocking upset loss at Richmond last Saturday, the question of the day was, ‘Will the Dayton Flyers bounce back Tuesday against George Washington and will DaRon Holmes II shake off a shaky performance?’ And the answer was yes and yes as UD buried George Washington, 83-61, and Holmes dominated with a double-double, 25 points and 12 rebounds.
Dayton, OH. — When George Washington basketball coach Chris Caputo watched video of the University of Dayton malfunctioning last Saturday against Richmond, he probably clapped his hands in approval and made plans for a grand showing against the Flyers Tuesday night in UD Arena.
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He saw the Flyers shoot the basketball as if blindfolded with cigarettes in their hands.
He saw UD lose by five points.
He saw DaRon Holmes II roam the court as if he had two left feet and a broken arm.
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He saw hope for his George Washington team that was on a three-game losing streak after starting the season 11-2.
All that is not what Caputo saw Tuesday night. He saw the Flyers dismantle his team shot-by-shot and rebound-by-rebound during an 83-61 drubbing of his Revolutionaries.
Koby Brea scores on a rare layup as he hit five three-points.
He saw Holmes rebound and respond from his dismal doings in Richmond with a double-double, 25 points and 12 rebounds.
He saw the picture-perfect three-point stroke of Koby Brea — when it leaves his fingertips all 13,407 folks in the Arena expect it to go in. Brea drilled five of nine three-pointers, one from the far banks of the Great Miami River en route to 17 points.
He saw an aggressive Nate Santos, whose physique looks as if he should be playing tight end in the Super Bowl, score 17 points, all in the first half when the Flyers needed them most.
He saw a UD defense face a team averaging 81 points put 10 pairs of sneakers on his team’s neck and hold them 20 points below their average.
He saw Javon Bennett and Enoch Cheeks say, “No, no, no,” to GW’s leading scorer. James Bishop IV was averaging 18 a game and scored 27 last year against the Flyers. He was hogtied Tuesday, 10 points and six of those came from the foul line. With the clock running, he was 2 for 12 and 0 for 6 from three.
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For the game, the Revolutionaries were 21 for 65 (32.3%) and 5 for 29 from three (17.2%).
“Our guys locked in on what we needed to do defensively,” said Flyer coach Anthony Grant after his team raised its record to 17-3, 7-1 in the Atlantic 10. “Our defense kind of set the tone for us tonight.”
GW’s Caputo was left with an indelible impression of the Flyers.
DaRon Holmes II responded with a double-double, 25 points, 12 rebounds.
“I’d say, yes, Dayton is the best team we’ve played this year,” he said. “We played South Carolina (an 89-67 GW loss) and they’re having a hell of a good year. I think so. I think (UD) is best team we’ve played. And DaRon is the best player that we’ve played against.”
When the game began, it looked like Richmond DeJa Vu. The Flyer missed their first five shots and were down 3-1 four minutes into the game.
That’s when Brea came off the bench and immediately, with his post card pose, buried a three. His picture should be not only be on the cover of The Rolling Stone, but on any book written about the art of long-distance shooting.
He hit another one a couple of minutes later and it was 12-5 and the Flyers never had to glance over either shoulder.
Asked about Brea, Caputo said, “Ooooh. He is impressive. It’s very, very clean. It looks the same every time. He shoots it very deep and he shoots it off the dribble now.
“That guy is as good a shooter as there is. It’s great to have a shooter like that with DaRon,” he said.
From 12-9, the Flyers erupted on a 12-0 burstaway and it was 24-9.
But other than making some kickout passes, Holmes was absent again in the early going. He didn’t take a shot until 9 1/2 minutes were left in the half. Then he dunked on successive possession.
Javon Bennett drives to the hoop, but defense was his calling card Tuesday.
And when the second half began, it was Holmes, Holmes, Holmes and Holmes again, the first eight points of the second half that built the lead to 46-30.
For the game, the 6-10 Holmes was 9 for 13 and 7 for 7 from the foul line for his 25. And after going 2 for 12 at Richmond, 2 for 9 from three, he did not attempt a trey on this night
“We came into the game thinking he might shoot some threes,” said Caputo. “That was a concern. He did a good job and after going 2 for 9 maybe Anthony told him not to shoot anyo more threes.”
Grant was asked if he thought Holmes was playing with a chip on his shoulder and did he play to make amends for Saturday. And he leaped on the question with both well-soled shoes.
“That’s basketball, right? At any level you are going to see guys that maybe don’t play to the level that they’ve had and everybody expects them to play on a daily basis.
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“DaRon is no different,” Grant added. “I’ve said this ad nauseum. He is 21 years old, y’know, and he’s still learning, still growing. And I thought he did a great job today of responding to our loss, to the adversity, whatever. He did a good job of keeping his focus on what to do with things he could control.
“You can’t go back to the past and you can’t look into the future, you gotta be able to see that and he did a great job of doing that tonight,” said Grant.
Walk-on Brady Uhl scored eight late points in two minutes.
And what was Holmes’ version and reaction with the big win after an even bigger loss?
“We just tried to put it beside us,” he said of the Richmond embarrassment. “We’re not perfect. We’re human. So there will be games like that. We’re going to try to eliminate those games.
“We looked at what we needed to fix and we’re slowly working on it and I thought tonight we did a pretty good job with everything,” he said.
Holmes & Company will attempt to keep fixing matters Friday night in UD Arena when St. Bonaventure comes to town. The Bonnies (13-7, 4-4 in the A10) came from behind Tuesday night to beat VCU, 67-62. It’s the second time this month the Bonnies have beaten VCU. They won at VCU earlier this month, 89-78.
After the debilitating and disheartening defeat Saturday at Richmond, the Flyers only slipped from 16th to 17th in the NCAA Evaluable Tool (NET) rankings and from 16th to 21st in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Asked about the important of the comeback win Tuesday, Grant said, “I don’t know how to answer that. I can’t answer that. I have no idea where we are in the polls.”
Rudy, the Red Scare and student section during the Flyers pre-game show.
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