The Flyers return to the University of Dayton Arena on Tuesday evening as they face the Old Dominion Monarchs, the alma mater of both Oliver Purnell and Frank Smith. The Dayton coaches are also members of the ODU Athletics Hall of Fame. The Flyers will be hoping to even their home record at 2-2, and stand at 5-3 after winning 4 of their first 5 games away from UD Arena.

At the 13 minute-mark of the second half of the Cincinnati game, many Flyer fans were hoping Dayton would be firmly entrenched in the Top-15 and sporting a glittering 7-1 record at this point of the season. Down 11 after two Kenny Satterfield free throws, the Bearcats went to a 2-1-2 full-court press, and using a defense they never practice and had not played in several years, forced numerous turnovers on their way to a 7-point victory. Marshall then employed a variety of zone defenses in the halfcourt to hand the Flyers their second consecutive home defeat. And while Dayton managed a victory at Millet Hall and at home against an undermanned Prairie View A&M squad, they struggled mightily on offense in both games.

So what happened? Many cite a lack of defensive intensity, and indeed Dayton had a difficult time getting defensive stops in the latter stages of the Cincinnati and Marshall games. But the bigger issue is that Dayton didn’t attack the zone defenses thrown at them. Far too often the Flyers became tentative and were content to stand around. Whether against the zone press of Cincinnati, or the half-court zones of Marshall and Prairie View, the failure to attack the seams in the zone, to flash to the middle, and to quickly move and reverse the ball led to a stagnant offense. Often, the only available shot was a closely-contested trey as the shot clock ran down. More alarming were the resulting turnovers, frequently leading to opponent points.

This is best evidenced by the following somewhat hard to fathom stats: against Cincinnati, 9 of 22 second half shots were three point attempts, and 10 turnovers were committed; against Marshall, 30 of 63 shots for the game were from behind the arc, and the Flyers turned it over 16 times. Against Miami it was 14 of 42, 12; and against Prairie View 35 of 61, 19. In the last three of those games Tony Stanley attempted 30 treys in 43 shots, and 17 of Brooks Hall’s 23 shots came from behind the arc. Combined, Tony and Brooks went to the foul line 4 times in three games. Quite simply, Dayton is not attacking the press, nor the half-court zone. The ball was not getting inside to post players and the wing players were not penetrating the gaps in the zone. Both are essential to be successful unless you aspire to be Loyola-Marymount with Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble.Further, the Flyers are getting few cheap baskets in transition, while giving up numerous cheap buckets. Cincinnati, Marshall, and Miami combined to commit just 24 turnovers in the three games compared to the Flyers 47 turnovers. In the two Maui wins the Flyers committed 30 turnovers, but also forced 35 turnovers. It is hard to win consistently while committing nearly twice as many turnovers as your opponent.
The Flyers may have rediscovered their recipe for success from Maui this weekend in St. Louis. The Flyers consistently pounded the ball low to Yuanta Holland, Nate Green, and Keith Waleskowski in the second half. For the game, the Flyers attempted just 12 shots behind the arc and 33 inside the arc, the highest ratio of two point attempts to three point attempts this season. Tony Stanley got to the free throw line 10 times. And while the Flyers still struggled handling the ball with 16 turnovers, they forced 13 turnovers by the Billikens.

They will need to continue the same style of play against Old Dominion. While the Monarchs are just 3-7 on the season, they are far from the cupcake the record implies. After opening with a win over Gardner Webb, ODU dropped seven consecutive decisions. Five of those losses were by a combined 26 points, including a two-point loss at George Washington, a seven- point decision at Miami, a five-point loss at St Joseph’s, and a nine-point loss to North Carolina State at home. ODU has won their last two games against Kansas State and VMI. ODU in the past has preferred a pressing, up-tempo style, however games this season have tended to be lower scoring than in years passed. ODU has scored more than 80 just three times, and has given up more than 80 on four occasions.

The Monarchs continue to rely heavily on their bench even as they play at a less-frantic pace. Nine players average more than 10 minutes a game. More amazing, nine players have attempted at least 10 shots from behind the three-point line. It could be a long night if the Flyers allow ODU to shoot uncontested treys like Prairie View. The Monarchs are led in scoring by 6’2″ junior guard Pierre Greene at 11.8 points per game. Andre McCullum, Rasheed Wright, and Ricardo Marsh average between 9 and 10 points a game. Troy Nance, a 5’8″ freshman, has moved into the point position as the year has progressed and is averaging 5 assists and just 2 turnovers a game. In the past four games – NC State, Richmond, Kansas State and VMI – Nance has produced 26 assists and just 9 turnovers. Wright and Marsh are 6’7″ sophomore forwards, each averaging 6 rebounds. Clifton Jones, a 6’7″ senior forward, averages 7 rebounds to lead the Monarchs in that department. McCullum, a 6’6″ senior forward, was expected to be a potential NBA draft pick this spring, but has struggled so far this season. While he is shooting 48% from the field, and 55% from behind the arc, McCullum has only attempted more than 10 field goals in two games. The defensive assignment will likely fall to Brooks Hall, who needs to continue to deny McCullum the ball. The Flyers cannot afford to allow McCullum to find his game as they let Steve Logan do.