Dayton Flyers face improved George Mason in second-to-last home game

Archie Miller not turning the page to March Madness just yet

The madness of March doesn’t affect Archie Miller — not in February at least.

Maybe fans of the Dayton Flyers see crocuses popping up in the backyard this week and start mentally preparing for spring, the NCAA tournament, Selection Sunday on March 12 and all fun and tension that comes with that. That’s not the case for the Dayton coach and his players. They’re all in on the Atlantic 10 race with four games to go. The big dance can wait.

“Our concern is not Selection Sunday,” said Miller on Monday when asked about his team’s tournament resume. “Our concern is taking this thing one day at a time and enjoying the ride. You start worrying about that stuff, and that’s when stuff gets added into your brain. It’s just not right. We haven’t done it all year. We’ll see start looking at Selection Sunday when it gets here. We have a lot of ball left.”

The Flyers (21-5, 12-2) have won a season-high six games in a row and have four games left in the regular season. They play George Mason (18-9, 8-6) at 7 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena. It’s the second-to-last home game for the seniors.

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The Patriots are the most improved team in the Atlantic 10 and one of the most improved teams in the country. They finished 11-21 overall and 5-13 in the conference last season. Now they’re tied for fifth place, fighting for one of the top four seeds and a double bye into the quarterfinals of the A-10 tournament in Pittsburgh.

George Mason is a confusing team in some regards. It has two victories over fourth-place Richmond (15-11, 9-5) but also two losses to 10th-place Saint Louis (9-18, 4-10), a team Dayton routed twice.

What Miller does know is the Patriots are dangerous. They rank second in A-10 play in 3-point shooting percentage (38.8) and are the second-best rebounding team (plus 5.0).

“They’re the most improved team in the league,” Miller said. “You can tell those guys spent a lot of time in the offseason developing their guys. There’s a mentality there. Marquise Moore can get to the rim at all times. He’s rebounding the ball at an incredible rate. Otis Livingston was one of the best freshmen in the league last year. Now he’s up to 14 to 15 points a game. He can really shoot the ball. They’ve got a great tandem there.

Moore ranks sixth in the conference with 17.6 points per game and is tied for the A-10 lead with 10 rebounds per game. Jaire Grayer ranks second in A-10 play behind Dayton’s Kyle Davis (14 of 24, 58.3 percent) in 3-point percentage (34 of 71, 47.9). Jalen Jenkins is another player to watch. He ranks in the top 20 in scoring (14.0) and rebounding (6.4).

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Dayton counters with the top scoring defense in the conference (63.8 points per game) and the third-best 3-point field-goal percentage defense (38.6).

“They are an elite defensive team,” George Mason coach Dave Paulsen said. “Across the board, their entire group defends with a level of urgency. That’s clearly build into their entire team’s DNA.”

A victory gives Dayton's seniors 100 wins in their careers. It also moves them one step closer to a fourth straight NCAA tournament berth. The Flyers began the week ranked 27th in the RPI with one top-50 win (No. 49 Vanderbilt). Most experts see Dayton as a No. 8 or 9 seed, though Jerry Palm, of CBS Sports, seeded UD 10th in his latest bracket with a first-round matchup against Xavier.

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With three games against teams ranked below 100 in the RPI in its last four games — No. 119 George Mason, No. 106 Davidson (14-11, 7-7) and No. 132 George Washington (14-3, 6-8) — Dayton has to be careful. A loss against any of those teams would damage its seeding. A couple of losses could put it on the wrong side of the bubble.

On the other hand, UD has one more great chance to improve its resume. It hosts No. 25 Virginia Commonwealth (22-5, 12-2) on Senior Night on March 1.

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None of that concerns Miller right now. He’s only focused on George Mason.

“A lot can happen,” Miller said. “I think our guys are doing a nice job. We’re playing the right way. We have a lot at stake, but a lot of teams have a lot at stake at this time, and everyone sort of wants what you want.”


TUESDAY’S GAME

George Mason at Dayton, 7 p.m., Spectrum Sports, FM 95.7, AM 1290 WHIO

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