This was an “easy” game. Dayton scored many easy hoops and Richmond scored not nearly as many, a combination that led to the Flyers’ 87-81 win Tuesday night before 5,137 at the Robins Center.
The Spiders (3-13, 1-3 A-10) saw the Flyers (8-8, 2-2 A-10) worm into the UR match-up defense for a series of layups and power moves. It looked like a D that Dayton had often seen.
Maybe that was because Dayton’s first-year coach, Anthony Grant, coached VCU to three wins, without a loss, against that Richmond defense roughly a decade ago. Grant noted that many games have come and gone since his VCU teams met Richmond, and said he didn’t feel his experience against the Spiders was a significant factor.
But it sure looked like he knew what buttons to push. Of the Flyers’ 19 first-half hoops, a dozen were layups or dunks. Dayton shot 68 percent before the break and led 47-35. On 2-point attempts in the first half, Dayton converted 14 of 17.
“I thought our defense really took a huge step back today,” UR coach Chris Mooney said. “We weren’t able to guard Dayton in either half.”
On the other end, Richmond faced the same wide zone that gave it fits in a 69-65 overtime loss at Fordham on Jan. 3. UR shot 34.4 percent before intermission. The Spiders failed to consistently get near the hoop, and triggered mostly jumpers.
Those first 20 minutes set the tone in Dayton’s sixth consecutive win over Richmond. Dayton shot 64 percent and outscored UR 44-18 in the paint. Richmond shot 41 percent.
The Spiders trailed by 15 with 16:34 left, cut it to 2 with 10:38 left behind intensified defense. It was a 3-point game late, but Dayton never lost the lead.
“Some positive signs, but our defense, it’s just going to be too hard to win games when the opponent’s offensive numbers are that good,” Mooney said.
UR guard Julius Johnson scored 17 (five 3-pointers), and guards Khwan Fore and Nick Sherod each scored 15. Dayton forward Josh Cunningham went 8 for 8 from the field and scored 20 in 22 minutes (foul trouble).
Defensively, “I think we did a poor job of talking to each other in the course of the possession, losing our man, stuff like that, while the ball’s in the air,” Fore said.
Dayton, which went to the past four NCAA tournaments and has the most A-10 regular-season wins (68) since the 2012-13 season, started two freshmen and one sophomore. The Flyers arrived with an 0-3 road record.
Grant, a former Dayton forward (Class of 1987), led the Rams to records of 28-8, 24-8 and 24-10 from 2006-07 to 2008-09. VCU, then a CAA member, went to a pair of NCAA tournaments and an NIT with Grant as coach.
Grant went from VCU to six seasons at Alabama, and then was an NBA assistant (Oklahoma City Thunder) before returning to his alma mater as coach, replacing Archie Miller, now at Indiana.
Notes: The Spiders on Saturday at 4:30 meet visiting George Washington (8-8, 1-2 A-10), which plays at Davidson Wednesday night. ... At the Robins Center sitting behind the Dayton bench was Washington Redskins coach Jay Gruden, whose son, Joey, is a Flyers senior reserve.
FG FT Reb
DAYTON M M-A M-A O-T A PF PT
Cunghm 22 8-8 4-5 0-2 1 4 20
Crutcher 24 3-6 0-0 0-3 6 2 7
J.Davis 10 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 0 3
D.Davis 37 6-12 4-4 0-4 4 2 17
Landers 38 7-12 3-3 2-9 2 2 18
Crosby 30 3-5 1-1 0-3 2 2 9
Antetmpo 16 3-4 2-2 2-4 0 2 9
Svoboda 13 2-2 0-0 0-2 3 1 4
Williams 10 0-0 0-0 2-5 0 1 0
Totals 200 33-52 14-15 6-33 18 16 87
Percentages: FG .635, FT .933. 3-Point Goals: 7-19, .368 (Crosby 2-3, Antetokounmpo 1-1, J.Davis 1-1, Crutcher 1-4, Landers 1-4, D.Davis 1-6). Blocks: 2 (Antetokounmpo 2). Turnovers: 14 (Crutcher 3, Antetokounmpo 2, J.Davis 2, Svoboda 2, Williams 2, Cunningham, D.Davis, Landers). Steals: 1 (D.Davis).
FG FT Reb
UR M M-A M-A O-T A PF PT
Golden 24 3-12 0-0 3-5 0 1 6
Bcknghm 34 5-11 3-3 2-7 3 2 14
Fore 30 4-8 6-8 1-2 5 2 15
Gilyard 37 2-6 3-5 0-1 5 2 9
Sherod 21 5-10 2-2 0-2 1 3 15
Johnson 26 5-9 2-2 1-2 1 3 17
Stnsbury 9 1-2 2-2 2-3 0 3 4
Cayo 9 0-1 1-2 1-1 0 1 1
Kirby 8 0-2 0-0 1-1 1 0 0
Frndshuh 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 200 25-61 19-24 11-24 16 17 81
Percentages: FG .410, FT .792. 3-Point Goals: 12-31, .387 (Johnson 5-7, Sherod 3-7, Gilyard 2-5, Fore 1-4, Buckingham 1-5, Stansbury 0-1, Kirby 0-2). Turnovers: 5 (Johnson 2, Sherod 2, Golden). Steals: 10 (Gilyard 6, Cayo, Fore, Golden, Johnson ).
Dayton 47 40 — 87
Richmond 35 46 — 81
A–5,137 (7,201).