Grant wore a Jay’s Light T-shirt, supporting the organization that honors his late daughter, because his players had doused him with water in the locker room after an 85-67 victory against No. 2 Connecticut. The red Dayton shirt he wore during the game was headed to a drying rack — or perhaps to a Dayton basketball museum; that’s how big this win was for Grant’s program.
The seventh-place game at the Maui Invitational might have been a NCAA tournament play-in game for Dayton, which needed at least one win in this tournament to pad its at-large resume for March. It got that and more with a dominant and historic performance, one that started after midnight back in Ohio, where tired fans wondered if they should stay awake or save energy for Thanksgiving.
The ones who made it to the end were rewarded with Dayton’s first victory against a top-25 team since the victory against No. 4 Kansas on the Mustapha Amzil shot in 2022. That was as big as victories get for Dayton in non-conference play, but judging by the Associated Press top-25 poll, this was two spots better.
Dayton (6-2) had not beaten a team ranked as high as Connecticut (4-3) since 1974 when it upset No. 2 Notre Dame at UD Arena. It had lost nine games in a row against teams ranked first or second in the Associated Press top-25 poll. It had not defeated a ranked team by this wide a margin since an 80-55 victory against No. 6 Pittsburgh at UD Arena in 2007.
“I’m so proud of our guys,” Grant said. “Three really challenging games. We talked about this before the tournament started. We knew this was one of the most challenging fields — a great tournament. We’re always fortunate to be able to be invited to this. So we’re grateful. Our guys really battled. I think we really grew up here in the tournament.”
Dayton bounced back from a 92-90 loss to No. 12 North Carolina on Monday and an 89-84 loss to No. 5 Iowa State on Tuesday. It had an 18-point halftime lead in the first game and four-point halftime lead in the second game.
Against UConn, Dayton built a 41-34 halftime lead and never gave up the advantage in the second half, though UConn tied it at one point early in the half.
“We had to do some things better tonight,” Grant said. “We understood that against a UConn team that’s just extremely talented and well-coached. We knew we would have to play really well, especially on the defensive end. I’m just proud of the resiliency, the toughness, the togetherness, the heart that we showed throughout the whole tournament. This didn’t feel like a seventh-place game tonight. Our guys understood the opportunity, the things we’ve talked about all year in terms of our goals and what we’re trying to do. They understood that. So I’m really proud and really grateful.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s final game in Maui:
1. The Flyers played their best in the final five minutes: Dayton forward Isaac Jack took a hard fall at one point in the second half, smacking his head on the court. Trainer Mike Mulcahey, Grant and others attended to him.
Everyone took a beating in this tournament. Three physical games, all intense until the end, should have worn the Flyers down. Instead, they broke open a close game by outscoring UConn 25-12 in the final 5 minutes, 39 seconds.
Dayton lost two games at the Maui Invitational for the first time in five appearances but delivered its best performance in many ways, hanging with North Carolina and Auburn for 40 minutes and then handing the tournament favorite UConn — which lost its first two games to Memphis and Colorado by a total of three points — its worst non-conference regular-season loss since coach Dan Hurley’s first season in 2018.
“It means a lot,” said Dayton forward Nate Santos, who scored 18 points on 5-of-9 shooting. “Obviously, we had really close games the two games prior. Like coach said, we really grew up. We really put a full game together. We realized what we’re really capable of. It was good to see that we finished the game off strong.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
2. The Flyers made their free throws: A week after Grant lamented the team’s free-throw struggles (10 of 18) in a 74-53 victory against New Mexico State at UD Arena, the Flyers made 27 of 30 (90%). It was the team’s best performance since they made 28 of 30 against Cincinnati last season.
Zed Key made 9 of 10. Nate Santos made 6 of 7. Posh Alexander, who played his best game of the season with 16 points and six assists, made 5 of 5. Malachi Smith made 4 of 4. Javon Bennett made 1 of 2.
Ironically, four free throws on one possession started the game-winning run by Dayton. A day after Iowa State made the most of a flagrant foul with two free throws and then a layup on one possession, breaking open a tie game with 44 seconds to play, Key made two free throws after a flagrant foul. This time, the call went against UConn star Alex Karaban, who backed his way into Jack, causing him to fall hard and hit his head.
Dayton got the ball back, and Alexander drew a foul and made both free throws. Dayton led 66-57 with 5:38 to play.
Dayton outscored UConn, which made 7 of 11, by 20 points at the line.
“We’re starting to put it all together,” Santos said. “We were struggling last week, and it’s good to see we’re improving in areas where we struggled.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
3. UConn has come back to Earth fast after winning two straight national championships: The Huskies became the second former Maui Invitational champion to lose the seventh-place game. Illinois won the championship in 2012 and lost in the seventh-place game in 2013.
The Huskies ranked third in the preseason AP poll and have since ranked behind only Kansas, while receiving six first-place votes in the most recent poll. They may drop out of the poll next week after losing to three unranked teams: Memphis; Colorado; and Dayton.
“It’s scary that a five-point game with five minutes to go turned into that,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “When you come to a tournament like this, and it’s three games in three days and it starts to go bad, there’s no way of fixing it because there’s no time to. You just have to deal with the situation. It was a humbling trip obviously for the program that’s accomplished what we’ve accomplished.
STAR OF THE GAME
Cheeks scored 10 of his 20 points in the last six minutes. He made 8 of 12 field-goal attempts and 3 of 5 3-pointers. He put the exclamation point on the victory with a fast-break dunk at the 1:15 mark.
Cheeks made 3 of 5 3-pointers. He made 3 of 6 against Iowa State and 3 of 8 against North Carolina.
STAT OF THE GAME
Dayton shot a season-best 47.1% (8 of 17) from 3-point range. Dayton shot 43.2% (29 of 67) in the tournament. Dayton shot 31.1% in its first five games. It improved its season percentage to 35.5. The national average is 33.1
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