In the process the UD team — which Coach Archie Miller said has lost some of its edge the past couple of games — also lost some of the luster on its NCAA Tournament resume two days before the 68-team field will be finalized.
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Early on, the Flyers bench razzed Gibbs, the Davidson star, about intentionally flopping to the court while playing defense, a ploy that can draw a bogus foul call on the team playing offense.
Gibbs, the A-10’s leading scorer and an Ohio product out of Westerville North High School, answered the UD bench and after that there was some chatter and, on the court, it got a bit chippy at times.
That was especially the case with 13:32 left in the second half. The Flyers had surged back from a 16-point deficit and were trailing by four when Gibbs ended up knocked to the court after setting a screen, said Davidson coach Bob McKillop.
As play continued — Darrell Davis would promptly hit a 3-pointer to bring Dayton within 44-43 — Gibbs stayed seated near midcourt and angrily flung the plastic facemask he wears toward his bench. The 6-foot senior suffered a broken nose a month ago and McKillop assumed he’d been hit in the face.
As the officials reviewed the play on a courtside monitor, an emotional Gibbs finally went to the bench and McKillop had to be momentarily restrained until he got a proper explanation.
“That’s why I’m not a referee,” he said later. “I saw the body go down, the mask come up and I saw him setting a screen. Usually that play is someone maybe hits him above the shoulders and the tape clearly revealed it was not above the shoulder. It was below the shoulders.”
Gibbs later shrugged off the incident: “It’s March basketball. Things are going to get heated and I mean it was just a hard-fought game and it was a battle. So that’s all I really have to say about that.”
While his explanation may have been abbreviated, his play spoke volumes .
He set a PPG Paints Arena record with 34 points and personally flattened the Flyers with two crushing 3s in the final 51 seconds, both with Dayton’s defensive ace Kyle Davis playing him tight.
“I just kind of wanted the ball in my hands at the end of the game to try to make the play,” he said.
He did twice, each time faking in, then stepping back to get a tiny window of separation to launch his shot.
The blame doesn’t go to Davis — Gibbs could have been the league’s player of the year, Miller said — but to a UD defense that didn’t provide help. Miller said Davis was supposed to get double-team assistance on both plays and did not.
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That was just two in a day full of miscues for the Flyers, who have now lost two in a row. Last Saturday they trailed George Washington by 17 at the half and lost by six. Friday they were down 37-25 at the break.
“We’ve just lost an edge about us,” Miller said. “Since we won the conference regular season (title) the air has sort of gone out of that edge. Our team is at its best when things aren’t OK. When you have a chip on your shoulder. We had to play like that for so long, but it seems here of late the chip has not been there as much because we’ve sort of gotten some things done down the stretch. (And) that’s given us a chance to sort of take a deep breath. You can’t do that.”
Sophomore forward Xeyrius Williams agreed: “Yeah, we breathed a sigh of relief.”
The Flyers didn’t lose in February and then on March 1 toppled VCU at UD Arena to win the A-10 crown. Afterward the players crawled into the Red Scare student section for a love-fest and cut down the nets as the sellout crowd cheered.
That victory gave the UD seniors 102 in their careers, making them the winningest class in UD basketball history. Along the way the team has returned to full health and then earlier this week all four seniors won all-conference honors and Miller was named A-10 coach of the year.
“We’re only as good as the fear in our team,” Miller said. “Our team has to fear. They have to be fearful of losing.”
Instead all they did was win until a week ago.
This loss should get their attention.
The defense, long the Flyers’ calling card, wasn’t up to par. They were out-rebounded and, offensively, they struggled to finish drives to the basket.
“I think we missed three kindergarten layups in the first half — one of those ones where it’s ‘Wow! How did that one not go in?’ ” Miller said.
He also said he had little confidence in his bench, which is why Darrell Davis was the only sub who got considerable minutes — 21 — and then he left after a collision left him woozy.
The Flyers are still 24-7 and have enough quality wins that I think they’re definitely in the NCAA Tournament field.
But you can tell Miller is concerned. He brought the tournament up several times in his postgame comments and, at times, it sounded like barely-veiled lobbying.
“I’m always anxious, always high anxiety,” he admitted in the arena hallway later. “I think the (tournament) committee has shown sometimes they don’t respect the league or leagues as much as they should.
“(But) I think our individual resume, as it stands up to the field, is good enough to be in it. I feel like we’ll have our name called.”
He said that would give the team new life and maybe its old edge, as well. Once again the Flyers will have doubters. Once again they are dealing with some losses.
First, though, they must shed that “Don’t Worry Be Happy” song they’ve been listening to.
“With success comes responsibility,” said Williams. “We had our success early and you feel like the world owes you something and it don’t. We were just reminded of that. It doesn’t owe us anything. We still have to fight for what we want.”
He said it now comes down to one thing: “It’s how you want to be remembered.”
And how should Gibbs be remembered?
“Do you think he flops?” Miller was asked before he headed out to the waiting team bus.
“Heeeh,” he said with a bit of a laugh. “Great players find a way to get the job done. That’s what he does. He finds a way.”
The Flyers did not.
Friday they flopped.
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