By Hal McCoy
Dayton, OH. — There are some things that are certain — the sun sets in the west, one and one makes two, the Pacific Ocean is deep and the University of Dayton Flyers will lose games they shouldn’t lose.
But three in a row?
After losing back-to-back games in Philadelphia to lowly-regarded LaSalle and St. Joseph’s, the Flyers hit the trifecta Tuesday night in UD Arena.
It was another loss to a team they were favored to beat, by 9 1/2 points, this time at home to Rhode Island, 81-76 in overtime.
The Flyers built a 15-point lead, 28-13, with 6:40 left in the first half. And lost.
The Flyer led, 54-49, with seven minutes left. And lost.
The Flyers forced Rhode Island into four 10-second violations bringing the ball up the floor. And lost.
The Flyers were afforded the luxury of facing Rhose Island with their best player on the bench with an injury. And lost.
The Flyers forced two shot clock violations. And lost.
To listen to coach Anthony Grant, one would believe he played and was 0 for 11 from the field, committed eight turnovers and his defensive assignment scored 25 points.
During an 11-minute postgame media conference, he said this 10 times: “That’s on me. That’s my fault.”
At one point, he said, “Three (losses in a row, y’know. Three in a row. That’s on me. Three in a row. That’s on me when you do the same thing three games in a row.”
So what is going on, why are the Flyers suddenly 5-3 in the Atlantic 10 after a 5-0 start?
Grant again. . .and very incisive.
“In the St. Joe’s game I didn’t see the effort and enery I’ve seen in our group,” he said. “The ability to be resilient has been a strength of ours.
“To see what we did today, on both sides, it was death by a thousand cuts in a lot of different ways,” he added.
“My job as a coach is to make sure we know what we’re doing — from a defensive standpoint we can follow a scouting report. That we play with a sense of urgency. That we play together. We have to know our strengths and have guys play to their strengths.
“None of that was on display today,” he coninued.
As far as playing defensively to the scouting report, the Flyers played as if they looked at the report and burned it.
With Rhode Island’s best player out of the lineup, the scouting report identified Jahmere Tripp and Tyler Cochran as the two Rams the Flyers needed to stop.
Tripp scored 24. Cochran scored 21.
Jauin Simon, who for some reason played only 20 minutes, was just as succinct as his coach.
“The energy right now. . .everybody just seems kind of lost,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going on. Against teams like this — no disrespect — teams below us from a mentality standpoing we kinda play down to the competition.
“I don’t know why that happens,” he added. “Games like this, we just don’t know what our guys mentality is,” he added.
“A lot of times we’re just disconnected and a lot of guys try to do their own things. . .go one-on-one against the defense and it leads to bad turnovers.”
The Flyers turned it over 23 times on this cold and dismal night.
“Just a bunch of things and we’re just out of whack right now,” he said.
The Flyers had four players in double figures, but nobody was consistent. Bryce Heard led the way with 15, De’Shayne Montgomery had 14. Amael L’Etang had 13 and Jason Bennett suffered another off night with 11 poinra on 3 for 10 shooting, 1 for 5 from three.
To add to the misery it was the return of former UD coach Archie Miller, now headmaster at Rhode Island.
“Best win of my career,” said Miller as he stood outside his team’s dressing room as raucous celebratory shouts and screams penetrated the door.
“This team reminds me of some of the players I had when I was here,” he said.
About coming back after leaving in 2017, Miller said, “It’s kind of hard not to have feelings coming back here. It’s a special place for me and my family. It’s a great place, a special place. This is one of the most special places you can coach basketball or play, regardless of the league you’re in. It doesn’t really matter. When you play here or coach here, it will ultimately be your favorite place.”
And winning in UD Arena?
“Listen, your livelihood is on the line so you try to win every game,” he said. “A win like tonight helps us springboard toward the momentum you want.”
After leaving Dayton, he coached at Indiana and is now at Rhode Island and said with a smile, “When I head for my grave, people will say Dayton was his favorite place.”
And as far as graves go, Miller and Rhode Island probably put the Flyers in the A-10 grave on this night.
As Grant put it, “The stuff we saw tonight? A lot of it was self-inflicted. We were just not locked in at what was most important, which is winning.
“It was us. The other day against St. Joseph’s, it was us. In the first 12 minutes against LaSalle (33-8 deficit), it was us.”
The degree of difficulty goes straight up Friday when the Flyers visit Saint Louis, still unbeaten in the A-10 and beating most opponents by double digits.