Dayton Flyers: Four areas to improve as Atlantic 10 play looms

Flyers play last non-conference game Saturday

Ryan Mikesell has played the cheerleader role to the best of his ability, encouraging the Dayton Flyers from the end of the bench along with Obadiah Toppin, another scholarship player sitting out the season, and walk-ons Joey Gruden, Jack Westerfield, Camron Greer and Dalton Stewart.

That group and the thousands of Dayton fans who cheer the team on from further away hold the same hope for the 2017-18 season as the start of Atlantic 10 Conference play looms.

“I think it’ll be an A-10 season where we get better as the year goes on,” Mikesell said Thursday. “I think we can compete. I think we have the talent there. It’s just meshing two halves together each game and moving on from there and just improving and getting better. That’s what coach (Anthony) Grant is big on. You either get better, or you get worse.”

» PREVIEW: Dayton vs. Wagner

That is the big question about this team: Has it gotten better since the season began Nov. 10?

The Flyers (5-6) get one more chance to prove it before the conference grind begins Dec. 30 at Duquesne. They play Wagner (7-3) at 3 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena.

Dayton’s performance in the 19 games ahead hinges on a number of factors. Here are four areas where it has struggled:

1. Defending the 3-pointer: Opponents have shot 39.2 percent (96 of 245) from long range against the Flyers. That ranks 306th out of 351 teams. The national average is 35.0.

Saint Mary’s made 9 of 23 3-pointers (3.1) in a 69-54 victory Tuesday against Dayton.

“It’s been a variety of things for us,” Grant said. “The other day against Saint Mary’s, I thought for the most part it was offensive rebounding. They got three or four 3-pointers off second-chance opportunities. Prior to that, it was the amount of zone we were playing. Some of the schemes or some of the breakdowns were from the zone rotation. We’ve got to get better in a lot of different areas, but certainly the 3-point line has been problematic in the last five or six games. That’s something we’re aware of and we’ve tried to address through film and on the court.”

2. Poor shooting decisions: Freshman forward Kostas Antetokounmpo scored the first points of his career on a 3-pointer in the season opener against Ball State. He has since missed nine straight 3-pointers, including three against Saint Mary's.

That’s one small example of how the Flyers have too often settled for low-percentage shots. Antetokounmpo has made 25 of 36 shots from 2-point range (69.4 percent).

» SAINT MARY’S GAME: Five reasons Dayton lost | Photos | Notes

3. Not getting to the line: In three of their losses, Dayton has shot a total of 15 free throws (5 of 7 against Old Dominion; 3 of 5 against Penn; and 3 of 3 against Saint Mary's). In those same three games, the opponents made 35 of 50.

In a way, this problem is related to Dayton’s over-reliance on the 3-pointer. When it’s shooting 3-pointers, it’s not driving to the basket or passing the ball to a big man like Josh Cunningham in the post. Those are two good ways to draw fouls.

4. Inconsistent playing time: A number of players, most notably point guards John Crosby and Jalen Crutcher, have seen their minutes dip and rise game by game. Grant would like to stop that trend.

In the last four games, Crutcher played 27, 18, 13 and 27 minutes. Crosby played 16, 25, 31 and 12.

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Matej Svoboda has also seen his role diminish in recent games. After playing 27 minutes against Penn, he played four against Georgia State and one against Saint Mary’s.

“Some of that’s youth,” Grant said. “Some of that’s for me as a coach just trying to figure out what gives us a best chance to have that consistency so we don’t have those roller coasters over the course of a half.”


SATURDAY’S GAME

Wagner at Dayton, 3 p.m., NBC Sports Network, FM 95.7, AM 1290 WHIO

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