By PAUL GOTHAM
COLUMBUS, OH — Dayton’s Flyers are 24-1 when holding opponents under 65 points this season. That number may come into play when the No. 11-seed Flyers (27-8/13-5 Atlantic 10) take on the No. 3-seed Oklahoma Sooners (23-10/13-7 Big 12) in third round East Regional action at Nationwide Arena Sunday night.
Four of Oklahoma’s starters tally double figures with a fifth scoring more than nine per game.
“They’ve got three guards that are great off the bounce that can advance it,” Dayton’s Archie Miller said. “Their bigs run, and they shoot the heck out of the ball.”
Dayton will be facing their third straight conference player of the year in Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield. The 6-4 guard hits nearly three 3-pointers and scores 17. 4 per game while grabbing five and a half rebounds. Isaiah Cousins adds 12 points from the perimeter.
“Just great perimeter scoring,” Dayton’s Jordan Sibert noted. “Gotta work on our transition defense. We know they’re great in transition… From what I’ve seen from film just a great shooting team.”
Ryan Spangler and Tashawn Thomas combine for more than 21 points and 14 rebounds in the post.
Thomas has scored double figures in each of the last four games and six of his last seven.
“We’re going to try like crazy to crowd the floor on him,” Miller explained. “But he’s a great player. The thing I love about him is he’s not one-dimensional. 15 feet and in he can burn you, whether he’s shooting, whether he’s driving.”
The Big 12 Newcomer of the Year ranks second in the conference with a field goal percentage of 52.1.
“He’s got an agility about him around the basket,” Miller continued. “Spinning and moving. He can draw fouls and his offensive rebounding, timely offensive rebounds yesterday, was really impressive. He’s a terrific player.”
Jordan Woodard hands out 3.9 assists per game and has averaged 10.5 points over the last 16 games.
“When you think of Oklahoma, you think of Coach Kruger as the type of team you think of,” Miller added. “Well-coached. Battle tested, play extremely hard and unselfish. This is a really good basketball team.”
The Sooners hold opponents under 63 points a game.
“Their defense is outstanding,” Miller noted. “That’s the quickest perimeter defense that we’ve seen, comparable to even a VCU. They’re very good on the ball. I think they do a great job of pushing things down. They don’t give you your normal reads that you’re able to get, and their front court is very mobile.”
Sibert (16.3 ppg) paces three Flyers scoring ten or more. The senior captain has netted double figures in each of the last 12 games and 15 of 16. Dyshawn Pierre adds nearly 13 points and 8.2 rebounds while Kendall Pollard contributes scores 12.7 with 5.4 boards.
Scoochie Smith (3.8 apg/9 ppg) directs an offense which ranks 19th in the nation (per Basketball State) with assists on 61 percent of their made baskets.
“Dayton does a lot of things well,” Oklahoma’s Lon Kruger said. “I think probably the thing that stands out, I just like their personality. I like, they’re attacking, playing off each other. They’re playing for each other, it appears to me anyhow. They’re fun to watch in that respect. They know what each can do and each takes care of their respective responsibilities. And they trust one another to take care of it.”
Kyle Davis keys a defense which holds opponents to 60. 5 ppg.
Oklahoma is just one of six teams nationally to have the same starting lineup for their entire season.
“It means, number one, we’ve been healthy obviously, knock on wood,” Kruger commented. “But, number two, it also means that no one’s really gone through a big slump where you just need to get them out of there to get their minds refreshed or re-energized. Ironically, we did the same thing last year. We started the same five every game. So our people have trained well. Our trainers have done a good job. And again we hope that continues.”
If Oklahoma beats Dayton, Kruger will become the first coach in NCAA Division I history to take four programs to the Sweet Sixteen or beyond: Kansas State (1988 Elite Eight), Florida (1994 Final Four) and UNLV (2007 Sweet Sixteen). John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Bill Self and Tubby Smith have each taken three schools to the Sweet Sixteen.
Over the last eight years, UD is 26-10 against the Power 5 conferences. Miller is 5-1 in NCAA Tournament games.
The Dayton-Oklahoma winner advances to play No. 7-seed Michigan State.
Leave a Reply