"St. Joe's has been about as difficult an opponent in my time here as anyone," said Dayton coach Archie Miller on Saturday after a 90-53 victory over Duquesne at UD Arena. "Coach (Phil) Martelli does a great job. He works our defense. He works our offense in different ways. He challenges us in unique ways. They've had our number."
RELATED: Cunningham could return soon
Miller is 2-7 against St. Joseph’s. The Flyers beat the Hawks 60-54 at UD Arena on Feb. 6, 2013, and 68-64 on Feb. 19, 2015, in the last meeting at UD Arena.
The St. Joseph’s team that comes to Dayton on Tuesday is not the same team that beat the Flyers 79-70 in Philadelphia last February and 82-79 in the A-10 semifinals in March. The Hawks lost their three top scorers from that team, and they lost their leading scorer this season, guard Shavar Newkirk (20.3 points per game), to a season-ending torn ACL on Dec. 30.
Dayton (17-5, 8-2) sits atop the A-10 with Virginia Commonwealth (18-5, 8-2). St. Joseph's (10-11, 3-7) is tied for 11th. The Hawks are 3-7 since Newkirk's injury and lost 86-83 in double overtime Saturday at Fordham. The Rams' Antwoine Anderson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
All signs point to a third straight victory for Dayton, but since losing to Massachusetts (12-11, 2-8) and struggling to beat Fordham (10-13, 4-6), Dayton look at every game the same.
“Every team is respected in our league,” forward Kendall Pollard said. “We want to play as aggressive as we did (Saturday).”
RELATED: Kyle Davis is UD’s MVP, Miller says
Dayton’s 37-point victory Saturday, its most lopsided of the season and the second most lopsided in the conference behind VCU’s 90-52 win over La Salle, allowed it to limit minutes for tired players. For example, Scoochie Smith played 35 minutes against Fordham and 23 against Duquesne.
Sophomore point guard John Crosby picked up Smith’s minutes. He played five minutes against Fordham and 17 against Duquesne.
Crosby has struggled during A-10 play. He has more turnovers (18) than assists (13). He has shot the ball well from 3-point range all season (8 of 15, 53.3 percent) and made 2 of 2 3-pointers Saturday. He scored eight points to go with three assists and four turnovers.
Crosby played better than he has in recent games, but the Flyers need him to be more in control when Smith’s on the bench.
“John has to keep working,” Miller said. “As much as it is about shooting, as much as it is about scoring the ball, John has to gain confidence in his floor game. As the point guard, you have to know the tempo of the game. You can’t make silly mistakes. We’ve talked to him about that. We need John to be good. We need John to come into the game and help our team, make guys better, push the ball, make simple plays. On the other end, defend the ball, do a good job rebounding. He’s good rebounder. The more he plays, the better off we’re going to be because Scoochie can’t continue to play the amount of minutes he’s playing.”
TUESDAY’S GAME
St. Joseph’s at Dayton, 8 p.m., ASN, FM 95.7, AM 1290 WHIO
About the Author
