By Hal McCoy
Richmond, VA. — It was Saint Louis deja vu. . .only worse.
After the University of Dayton Flyers lost by 31 points to the Saint Louis Billikens, it was thought it couldn’t get worse.
It did.
The Flyers were overwhelmed, overmatched and overwrought Friday night by Virginia Commonwealth, 99-73.
Dayton donned its spiffy chapel blue uniforms but VCU quickly recognized them for who they are right now.
Bad.
While the Flyers didn’t lose this one by 31, they trailed by 30 points early in the second half and VCU coasted from there.
The handwriting is on the floor in capital letters with three exclamation points — the Flyers are a bad basketball team right now.
They are as dead as Blockbuster, Kodak and Sears & Roebuck.
It was VCU’s seventh straight victory and pushed the Rams to 9-2 in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
It was UD’s fifth loss in six games and after a 5-0 A-10 start the Flyer are 6-5. And it is looking as if they won’t finish in the top four in the standings to get a double bye in the conference tournament.
Some wonder if the Flyers might lose the final seven with a stiff schedule ahead.
The Flyers have return games left against Saint Louis and VCU, both at UD Arena, plus a game at George Mason.
The Flyers hung close in the early going and trailed by only 25-21. But VCU finished the half on a 25-6 run for a 50-27 halftime lead.
And it was over. . .way over. The Flyers produced only three field goals in the last 10 minutes of the first half.
In the first 20 minutes, the Flyers committed 11 turnovers and had the ball stolen seven times.
UD coach Anthony Grant was succinct and on point during his post-game radio interview.
“We had a lot to do with it,” Grant said about his team’s embarrassment. “We’ve gotta be more competitive, we have to have more competitive characters.
“You’re gonna lose games, but the first half was just unacceptable, just in terms of our competitive character,” he added. “If you’re going to step between the lines, you have to be able to compete.
“We didn’t show the competitive character that our fans expect and, frankly, our players expect,” he said. “That was just unacceptable.”
At the end of post-game interviews with Larry Hansgen, Grant’s last two words always are, “Go Flyers.” He didn’t say it after this disappointing debacle.
“It was all the way through, all the way through,” he said about his team’s monumental shortcomings. “It’s unacceptable.”
Before he departed, he laid a heavy indictment on his team’s non-competitive nature.
“We have seven games left and we have to be able to put the guy on the floor that have the best understanding of what it means to compete, not to play,” Grant continued.
“Anybody can just go play. We have guys who like to play. But it’s a different thing when you face a team like VCU, when you face a team like Saint Louis in their buildings.You have to understand there is a difference between playing and competing.”
After the Flyers ended their four-game losing streak with a slim 72-70 win at home against St. Bonaventure, talk surfaced about the upcoming game against VCU.
Senior guard Javon Bennetrt is the only Flyer who had played VCU in the Siegel Center and was asked what he would tell his teammates.
“I will tell them it’s a very hostile environment. We don’t like each other. These programs have been battling each other for a very long time, so you’ve got to come in with the right mindset.”
And, oh, was he on target.
The sold out Siegel Center was, indeed, hostile and whatever UD’s mindset was, VCU removed it.
De’Shayne Montgomery, UD’s No. 2 scorer, was unavailable. It didn’t make any difference.
The Rams battered the Flyers in each and every way. They spent more time in the paint than a house painter, scoring 44 points there.
They forced 16 turnovers, stealing the ball 11 times. They outrebounded the Flyers, 44-41, and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds.
Physical? There were 52 fouls called and VCU hit 31 of 38 free throws to UD’s 18 of 30.
And the Ram had two players come off the bench to score 14 each, Terrence Hill Jr. and Tyrell Ward. Hill leads the nation in scoring off the bench.
Jadrian Tracey, a 6-6 redshirt senior, averages nine points a game but buried the Flyers with a career-best avalanche of 26 points. He was 6 for 9 on three-point tries.
Dayton’s 7-foot-1 Amael L’Etang produced one of his best games with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Jordan Derkack had 15 and Javon Bennett 13.
The cold, hard statistics were mind-boggling.
VCU got 44 points off its bench to UD’s 21. The Rams scored 24 points off UD’s turnovers and 30 points on fast breaks to Dayton’s six.
As Grant emphasized, the Flyers played but they certainly didn’t compete.