Dayton Flyers have gotten ‘a lot better’ as season has progressed

Archie Miller likes where team is at halfway into regular season

Senior guard Kyle Davis received a birthday card from the fans in section 102 at UD Arena.

“Happy birthday to a guy who does it all,” it read.

Davis and fellow senior Kendall Pollard turned 22 over the weekend. Pollard posted a photo to Twitter on Sunday of a cake with a basketball falling through a hoop and “Happy birthday, Kyle and Kendall,” written in frosting.

The Dayton Flyers (12-3, 3-0) had plenty to celebrate last week. They stretched their winning streak to five games by beating the teams picked to finish second and fifth in the Atlantic 10. They routed Saint Bonaventure 90-74 on Jan. 3 in Olean, N.Y., and then rallied to beat Rhode Island 67-64 on Friday in Dayton.

Dayton won both games without leading scorer Charles Cooke, who could return at 7 p.m. Wednesday for a road game at Massachusetts (10-6, 0-3). On the A-10 coaches teleconference Monday, coach Archie Miller said Cooke is “slowly but surely” integrating himself back into practice. He expected Cooke to be a full-go at practice Monday and if he continued to practice, he would be able to play Wednesday.

Dayton played two of its best games of the season without Cooke. It reached the halfway point of the regular season in peak form with the four sophomores — Xeyrius Williams, Ryan Mikesell, Sam Miller and John Crosby — contributing more than ever.

“I think we’ve gotten a lot better,” Miller said. “I don’t take away from the older guys because I think they’re all improving. We’ve had a choppy season for about a year just in terms of the continuity of the bodies in the game. You lose Josh (Cunningham) in game two, and there’s a lot of pressure on Sam, Ryan and Xeyrius. I think they’ve developed through the course of the non-conference schedule. Now that we’re in conference play, they’re more experienced. They’ve improved, which has helped us. Our older guys continue to stay the course and be consistent.”

Here’s a summary of Dayton’s first 15 games:

MVP: Scoochie Smith has overtaken Cooke in this category with his recent play, though Cooke could move back to the top if he gets healthy. Smith was named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on Monday after averaging 19 points in two games last week. He's the first Dayton player to win the award this season.

“The one thing Scoochie has done for us is play like the best player on the floor, the most experienced guy on the floor,” said Dayton coach Archie Miller on Monday on the A-10 coaches teleconference. “He makes decisions and plays for us. Last week, with Charles (Cooke) being out, I thought guys had a heightened awareness that they were going to have to play well and solid, and I thought he was a big reason why we were 2-0.”

Most improved: Mikesell narrowly edges Xeyrius Williams. Mikesell is averaging 10 points per game in the last five games, increasing his season average to 7.5 points per game.

Best stats: The Flyers rank 21st in the nation in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. They rank 45th in the nation in scoring defense (65.2 points per game). They're second in the A-10 in field-goal percentage defense (40.1). Kyle Davis ranks fourth in the conference in steals (2.1 per game).

Worst stat: Counting injuries to Cunningham, Cooke and Pollard, the Flyers have lost 19 games to injuries from projected starters. Cunningham's total stands at 13. He still holds out hope of playing again this season, perhaps in late February, after tearing a ligament in his ankle in the second game of the season at Alabama.

Best win: From an RPI standpoint, beating Rhode Island was Dayton's most important victory. The Rams (10-4, 2-1) rank 36th. Dayton ranks 32nd. Dayton's second-best win was against No. 55 Vanderbilt (8-6).

Worst loss: Dayton doesn't have a terrible loss at this point, though lower-ranked teams in the A-10 will provide a number of stumbling blocks in the coming weeks. UD's losses are to No. 29 Saint Mary's (13-1), No. 44 Nebraska (9-6) and No. 51 Northwestern (12-4).

Poll update: Dayton received two votes in the Associated Press top 25 poll Monday. The Flyers had not received votes since November. They received one vote in the USA Today coaches poll.

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