“We just have to stay focused on ourselves and continue to build,” – Nate Santos (Press Pros File Photos)
UD fans are the best. No matter what tournament or where the Flyers play, UD fans always dominate the stands. “Maui’s a really fun tournament, a beautiful island. The guys are really ready to play and it’s a fun atmosphere to be in,” – Zed Key. Key is a graduate transfer from Ohio State, the Buckeyes played in Maui a couple of seasons ago.
Hall of famer Hal McCoy writes UD Flyer basketball exclusively for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Dayton, OH. — Where better than Hawaii for the University of Dayton to lei the groundwork for a notable basketball season as the Flyers march toward March?
The Flyers are 5-and-0 as they prepare for three games in three days in the Maui Invitational that begins Monday.
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While 5-and-0 is glitzy and glossy, the calibre of competition is of questionable quality, other than Northwestern, when the Flyers came from 13 points in arrears to steal one, 71-66.
And all five games have been in UD Arena, where 13,407 Flyer Faithful aid and abet the team in close games. . .and definitely rattled Northwestern in the waning minutes.
While the games won’t be true road games because it is a neutral site for all teams, the field is full of bluebloods, including four in this week’s Associated Press Top Ten.
The Top Tenners are No. 2 UConn (3-0), the defending two-straight NCAA champions; No. 4 Auburn (3-0); No. 5 Iowa State (2-0) and No. 10 North Carolina (2-1).
Zed Key doing what he does best.
The Flyers drew North Carolina for their Monday opener and while the Tar Heels have lost a game, it was to No. 1 Kansas, 92-89.
“We just have to stay focused on ourselves and continue to build,” said Nick Santos after he scored 23 points, 17 in the second half against New Mexico State Wednesday night in UD Arena.
“Obviously we know there are some great teams out there, so we just need to keep playing to our identity. Our guys are excited and that’s another layer to it,” he added.
UD played in the Charleston (S.C.) Classic last year and made it to the finals before losing to Houston.
“When we made it to the championship, it’s just kinda, y’know, built momentum to look forward to what we want to do in March,” said Santos. “It was a good stepping stone, so that’s the approach we’re taking going to Maui.”
The Flyers, after a slow first half, buried New Mexico State Wednesday night by outscoring the Aggies by 20 in the final 20 minutes en route to a 74-53 win.
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UD coach Anthony Grant refused to call it a tune-up game for the 4,400-mile trip to Maui.
It may not have been a tuneup, but if the Flyers expect to compete in this muscle-bound field, they need to brush up on free throw shooting and three-point shooting.
They are called free throws for a reason, free uncontested points, but the Flyers have made only 75 of 121, a weak 61.1%.
Nate Santos ready to play in Maui.
Three-pointers are, of course, much more difficult and the Flyers have made them even more difficult by making only 38 of 122, a below average 31.1%.
UD has survived with solid in-your-grille defense, a defense that totally disrupted everything New Mexico State tried to do in the second half.
When asked if New Mexico State was a tuneup, Grant said, “This was on of our more complete games overall. I don’t know if I’d call it a tuneup. All these games have a life of their own. Our full attention was on these guys (NMS) and our guys respected that.”
Santos said, “Yeah, coach said in the lockerroom that it was a great performance overall, a great collective performance overall. I think it’s great heading into next week (the Maui) that we had this type of night.”
Zed Key contributed 10 points against NMS and didn’t call it a tuneup, but said, “We got to see Nate, see the ball go through the basket, some other guys gained their confidence, it gave us a game to work on stuff to continue to get better.”
Key owns a pet python named ‘7,’ so probably knows all about strangling defense and also knows all about Maui.
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He is a graduate transfer from Ohio State and the Buckeyes played in Maui a couple of seasons ago.
“It’s a really fun tournament, a beautiful island, guys are really ready to play and it is a fun atmosphere to be in,” said Key.
“It gets rockin’ in there,”he said about the 2,400-seat Lahaina Civic Center. “You don’t expect people to travel because it is so far, but they travel.”
And UD fans are the best travelers. No matter what tournament the Flyers play in and no matter where it is, UD fans always dominate the stands.
Flyer Nation student section ready for Maui Action.
“This is gonna be really good because there are really good teams out there, really good competition,” said Key. “Going into the A10 season, this is what you need. It’s not going to be easy teams, night in and night out.
“We need the tough competition to help see what we need to work on and to get better,” he said.
In addition to stifling half-court defense, the Flyers can employ a full-court press, something they employed in the second half to disrupt New Mexico State.
And it’s something they most likely will have to use more than sparingly to stay tight to teams in Maui.
“It is huge, a part of our team identity,” said Santos. “With our guard depth and our ability to put pressure on the other team. We’re implementing it more and more and doing it really well.”
So, for the Flyers, it is press on.
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