They did not make it pretty, or convincing, but Dayton outlasted George Mason in Fairfax on Tuesday night with a 62-55 win. The Flyers extended their win streak to 17 games, still tied for the longest in the country with New Mexico State. Their record is now at 26-2 and 15-0 in the A10. George Mason dropped to 15-13 and 4-11 in A10 play. With this win, Dayton clinched at least a share of the A10 regular season title. They have a chance to clinch it outright on #FridA10 at home against Davidson. To the takeaways…
This was Dayton’s worst offensive game all season.
Although it’s not hard to take this away from the game, but Dayton played it’s worst offensive game this season. Obi was the only player, of course, to make a large impact on the game, scoring 19 points on 6-12 shooting. He also chipped in with 7 rebounds. Crutcher looked like he was going to have a big breakout game in the early going, but only ended up with 13 points. The Flyers shot 18.8% from three, absolutely putrid. The most concerning thing was their lack of taking wide open shots when they had them. Dayton is a great passing team, but they passed way too much in this game. It’s great that a team wants to do that, but someone has to pull the trigger eventually. Trey Landers brought the Elmers and chipped in 6 points and 8 boards. 62 points is only the second time the Flyers have scored under 70 points this season. It is also the lowest point total all season.
This was Dayton’s best defensive game all season.
Granted, this comes against a struggling George Mason team, but giving up only 55 points to anyone in college basketball is impressive. George Mason did have AJ Wilson go off tonight and have himself a game, but he was the only guy to make a huge impact on the game. Jordan Miller quietly chipped in 13 points and 10 boards. If Dayton plays that type of defense, but doesn’t lack on offense, they will be tough to stop in March.
AJ Wilson had himself a game.
Wilson was the baddest dude on the court last night. He scored 18 points on 7-14 shooting, including a huge three pointer early on in the game. He had himself a game offensively, and had a huge block on Ryan Mikesell in the first half. An absolute dominant performance by the Mason big man, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Is AJ Wilson the front runner for defensive player of the year now?
Ibi Watson is alive and well.
Ibi had not hit a three since the Fordham game at the beginning of the month, making him 0-11 coming into this game. Watson got the monkey off his back with a huge three in the second half. He would go on to finish with 9 points off the bench for Dayton on 4-7 shooting. He is just another dude who can come off the bench and give this Dayton team more weapons on offense. He actually played pretty good defense, as did all the Flyers. The worry worm for Ibi Watson is gone. All is well in Flyer Nation.
George Mason can make some noise in Brooklyn.
If there is one Wednesday night pillow fight (cc Petey Buckets) team that can win more than one game in the A10 tournament, it’s George Mason. They are a feisty team that has two legit scorers and a dominant defensive stud. Now, they probably won’t win the whole thing, but they are more than capable of making it to at least Friday. Javon Greene was off tonight, but that won’t happen often for Mason. If the season ended today, George Mason would be slotted to play St. Joseph’s on Wednesday and then Duquesne on Thursday. Those are very winnable games for the Patriots. If my math is correct, St. Bonaventure would get a 3 seed after beating Richmond, who Mason played tough on the road and only lost by 9. If this is the effort that George Mason shows up with in Brooklyn, look for them to make some noise with a favorable draw. Not saying that they will, but they are capable of doing that.
Up Next
Dayton will travel back home to Ohio to host #FridA10 against Davidson. They hope to clinch the A10 outright regular season title that night, their first outright title since 2016. George Mason travels to Pittsburgh to get a crack at Duquesne on Saturday night.
