On Tuesday, the Dayton Daily News news and sports staff gathered at Warped Wing Brewery in Springboro to talk about the current season and what’s possible the second half. Check that out here:
Entering the game against George Mason in February 2023, Dayton was on an impressive run, having won four straight games, three of them on the road. George Mason had won three games in a row and also had an extended break before playing Dayton.
“They had a week to prepare for the game,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said after the game. “I think it showed.”
Two years later, Dayton gets that advantage. It hasn’t played since a 76-72 loss to Massachusetts last Wednesday in Amherst, Mass. George Mason beat that same UMass team 77-70 at home in Fairfax, Va., on Saturday.
Dayton will seek to avoid its first three-game losing streak in Atlantic 10 Conference play since January 2014 when a team that would reach the Elite Eight that March lost four straight games to Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth, Rhode Island and Saint Joseph’s. In the last 10 seasons, Dayton has lost two straight games seven times but has won the next game every time.
“We’ve got to do some soul searching together,” Grant said after the loss to UMass. “As a coach, I’ve got to try to figure out how I can help. I think some of it is just that we have to play better. We’re not playing well. You’ve seen what we’re capable of when we’re locked in together. We look like a different team right now. We’ve got to be able to figure out what we can do collectively to try to fix whatever’s ailing us right now as a team.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Here are 10 things to know about the game:
1. Series history: Dayton leads the series 10-6. George Mason has won three games in a row against Dayton and five of the last eight.
Last season, Dayton was ranked 16th in the Associated Press top-25 poll when it lost 71-67 at George Mason on Feb. 21. George Mason celebrated the program’s first victory against a ranked team at home.
Dayton lost because it was outscored 24-10 at the foul line. George Mason made 11 straight free throws during a 19-0 run that turned a 42-34 deficit into a 53-42 lead with 9 minutes, 37 seconds to play.
Two seasons ago at UD Arena, George Mason scored on nine straight possessions at one point in the final 10 minutes, overcoming a 51-45 deficit. Dayton kept pace with the Patriots until the final minute when Devon Cooper broke a tie with a go-ahead basket with 43 seconds to play.
Three years ago, Dayton lost 50-49 at George Mason by shooting a season-worst 31% (18 of 58) from the field. Dayton’s Mustapha Amzil missed a 3-pointer that would have won the game as time expired.
2. Winning streak: Dayton’s home winning streak is the third longest in school history. The Flyers won 30 home games in a row from March 2008 to January 2010 and 27 in a row from February 2014 to December 2016.
Entering the week, Dayton’s home winning streak was tied for the fifth longest active streak in the country. Houston has won 31 straight home games. Connecticut has won 28 in a row. Samford has a 28-game home winning streak. Iowa State has a 27-game streak. Purdue has also won 26 in a row.
3. State of the program: George Mason finished 20-13 in coach Kim English’s final season two years ago. Last season, in coach Tony Skinn’s first season, it finished 20-12.
Skinn is George Mason’s fourth coach since George Mason last made the NCAA tournament in Jim Larranaga’s final season in 2011.
This is George Mason’s 12th season in the A-10. It did not finish higher than fifth in its first 11 seasons.
4. Standings update: Entering the week, George Mason sat alone in second place, a half game behind Saint Louis (10-6, 3-0). Dayton was tied for 11th and was one of five teams below .500 in A-10 play.
5. Season summary: George Mason finished 9-4 in non-conference play with road losses to two top-10 teams: 82-63 to Marquette; and 68-57 to Duke. It also lost 70-69 at home to Central Michigan, which is No. 228 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool, on a 3-pointer with two seconds to play. It followed that defeat with a 78-77 double-overtime loss at East Carolina.
In A-10 play George Mason is 3-0 at home with victories against Davidson, Richmond and UMass. It suffered its only loss at Rhode Island, 62-59 on Jan. 4. A 3-point play by Sebastian Thomas with less than a second to play won the game for Rhode Island.
6. Transfer portal loss: Keyshawn Hall led George Mason in scoring (16.6 points per game) as a sophomore and now leads Central Florida in scoring (16.1).
7. Top returner: Darius Maddox, a 6-foot-5 fifth-year guard, ranked second in scoring (14.0) last season and is first (13.8) this season.
8. Top newcomers: Jalen Haynes, a 6-8 forward, redshirted last season at George Mason after playing his first two seasons at Virginia Tech and East Tennessee State. He ranks second in scoring (12.2) and first in rebounding (7.3).
• Brayden O’Connor, a 6-4 junior guard, ranks third in scoring (10.5) and first in assists (2.9). He played his first two seasons at UMass Lowell.
9. Strengths and weaknesses: Opponents shoot 40.2% from 2-point range against George Mason. That’s the second-lowest percentage in the country. Dayton ranks 137th in that category (49.7%).
George Mason ranks 330th in the country in turnover percentage (20.8). Dayton ranks 20th (14.4). George Mason is last in the A-10 in turnover margin (minus 1.59). Dayton ranks fifth (plus 1.31).
10. Odds & Ends: KenPom.com gives Dayton an 74% chance of winning and predicts a 70-63 score. Dayton fell from No. 33 to No. 54 in the Pomeroy ratings after losing to George Washington and UMass. George Mason started the season at No. 97 and now is No. 79.
• Dayton ranks 61st in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. It is the highest-ranked A-10 team. No. 85 George Mason is the fourth highest-ranked A-10 team.
This is a Quad 3 game for Dayton and a Quad 1 game for George Mason.
Dayton is 2-3 in Quad 1 games, 1-1 in Quad 2, 3-1 in Quad 3 and 4-0 in Quad 4. George Mason is 0-2 in Quad 1, 0-1 in Quad 2, 2-1 in Quad 3 and 9-1 in Quad 4.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
George Mason at Dayton, 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network, 1290, 95.7
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