Zed Key finishes with a slam dunk. (Press Pros Features Photos y Julie McMaken Wright)
The University of Dayton Flyers, despite shooting only 8 of 32 from three, did what they were supposed to do in their season’s opener in UD Arena Monday night against an outmanned and outmatched opponent — they posted an 87-57 victory over Saint Francis of Pennsylvania.
Dayton, OH. — It was the type of Opening Night opponent a team like the University of Dayton needs — unarmed and not dangerous.
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And Saint Francis of Pennsylvania fit like a pair of comfortable old sneakers — a struggling program that was fed to the dogs Monday night in UD Arena.
The Flyers, 25-point favorites from your favorite wagering web-site, zipped past the spread and recorded a 30-point victory, 87-57.
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While that sounds impressive, last year’s top three Saint Francis scorers disappeared into the transfer portal and the programs is entrenched in three straight losing seasons, including 8-22 last season.
So the rout was a foregone conclusion.
But it is a time for UD when the Flyers are trying to figure out life without DaRon Holmes II, gone to the NBA but not forgotten by UD Arena inhabitants.
The Flyers are trying to establish an inside influence, something it needs desperately because the three-point way is the wrong way.
Javon Bennett blocks the way.
UD’s first 11 shots were three-pointers and only three whizzed through the rim. And for the game the Flyers were 8 for 32 from Treyland.
Inside?
The Man From France, 7-foot-1 freshman Amael L’etang, could develop into a force, although he needs to add about 30 pounds of almond croissants and sticky buns to his yardstick-thin body.
He played 15 1/2 minutes Monday and contributed seven points, eight rebounds and three assists.
And there was some flashy inside work from Enoch Cheeks and Zed Key. Both did some heavy work around the rim with some slam dunks off the fast break.
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Cheeks, a returnee from last season, seemed reticent to look for shots a year ago, but is on the hunt this year. He produced a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Key, a 6-foot-8 graduate transfer from Ohio State, displayed athleticism around the rim, a real rim runner. Key was 4-for-4 from the field, 6-for-8 from the foul line for team-high 14 points.
Posh Alexander evades a block and scores.
While it didn’t seem like an arena-shaking victory, a kick-butt-and-take names type of win over an inferior foe, coach Anthony Grant was more than pleased.
Grant was uncharacteristically critical of his team after a narrow victory over D-II Ashland University in an exhibition game.
But he was upbeat after this one.
“Live ammo tonight, it was real,” said Grant. “It was great to see our guys go out and play with energy and effort. I thought tonight the story of the game was our defense leading to offense for us.
“I thought the guys did a really good job of being locked in defensively and we were able to build a convincing win over the course of a 40-minute game.”
Saint Francis hung around for awhile and only trailed 23-20 with 8:17 left in the half. The Flyers then went on an 11-2 run to grab a 34-22 lead.
During the run, in a span of 20 seconds Cheeks twice scored on fast break dunks. The first came off a steal and a pass from Malachi Smith and then another fast break stuff off a lob pass from Javon Bennett.
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By halftime it was 40-28 and the Flyers wore down the Red Flash in the second half.
Grant was able to use a variety of combination lineups that included Bennett at point guard, Malachi Smith at point guard and both Bennett and Smith in the game at the same time.
It all worked as smoothly as a humming Lamborghini, all the parts synchronized and working in unison.
Jacob Conner buries one of his two threes.
“We had different combinations and all the guys understood what we had to do,” said Grant. “We got really good efforts from a variety of people.”
In the exhibition game against Ashland, Nate Santos couldn’t miss. On Monday, he couldn’t find the rim with a guide dog, a GPS and two Sherpas. He was 1 for 9, 0 for 6 from three.
Did that earn him a tongue-whipping from Grant? To the contrary.
“In the last exhibition, he made a bund of shots,” Grant said of Santos. “Tonight he didn’t make shots, but on the plus/minus he was a plus-32. That’s the epitome of what he talk about in terms of winning.
And I thought Enoch Cheeks was huge in his ability to get to the glass and give us a double-double. Our team needs that from a rebounding standpoint.”
The Flyers outboarded Saint Francis, 50-29, and held them to five offensive boards, “Something we knew they were very good at,” said Grant. And UD snagged 17 offensive boards.
Nate Santos is surrounded by the enemy.
Fans and the media were grumbling about a possible long, long and frustrating season after a big exhibition loss to Xavier and a near-loss to D-II Ashland.
“Those exhibition games were tuneup games and we saw what we needed to work on,” said Key. “We went to practice and continued to work on things. We harped on the stuff that we did wrong and tonight we showed that we are a real good team.”
Well, they showed vast improvement against an outmanned and outmatched team. On Saturday night, they get a true test when the Big Ten’s Northwestern comes to town.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Northwestern is a really good team. I played against them at Ohio State, so we know they are going to come in here and try to beat us. But our guys will be prepared.”
Key could be a key leader due to his experience 70 miles across I-70 at Ohio State.
“The guys believe in me and obviously it’s my last year, so it’s all about playing as hard as I can and making the game fun. . .like dunking,” said Key.
“Playing fast is big for us. Everybody on the team is capable of bringing the ball up the floor, pushing the ball.
“That’s one of the strengths of our team, transition and running. It worked for us tonight and we’ll continued to play like that,” said Key.
Putting the ball in the basket is even bigger. In the immediate future, the Flyers have to start dropping in some threes or quit shooting so many.
Eight for 32? Gosh-awful.
Malachi Smith scores on a driving layup.
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