In a season that started with great promise the University of Dayton suffered what can only be described as a demoralizing defeat at the hands of Old Dominion on Tuesday night. Not only does the loss drop the Flyers to 5-4, it leaves them an embarrassing 1-3 at home. More disconcerting than the loss itself was the way in which the Flyers lost. Quite simply, the Flyers lost because they took the Monarchs lightly and did not bother to show up for the game. As a result, Old Dominion came away with an 81-76 win for their first road victory of the season. They improve to 4-7 on the year.

Nowhere was the Flyers’ lack of readiness to play more evident than their pitiful defensive performance. Shooting comes and goes, but defense and rebounding are mostly a matter of effort. Despite working on the Old Dominion back-door lob play extensively in preparation for this game, the Flyers surrendered lay-ups the first two times Old Dominion ran the play. Old Dominion continuously ran high screens for open threes, and when the Flyers came around the screen to contest the trey, the Monarchs turned around the screen and headed to the glass. The defensive rotation required to stop those simple plays was missing all night long. As a result, ODU converts 50% of their treys and 60% of all their field goal attempts. And the lack of effort was not limited to the defensive effort. Whenever there was a key rebound or loose ball, it always seemed to wind up in the possession of the Monarchs.

The Flyers started the game well enough, maintaining a 4 to 6 point lead through much of the first half. But there were ominous signs and a few key plays were evidence that the Flyers were not ready to play. Up 14-8, David Morris threw a poor pass to a wide open Ramod Marshall cutting along the baseline. The next possession was another turnover — two opportunities to extend the lead to 8 without getting a shot. Later in the half Dayton extended the lead to 30-25. But Nate Green fouls Rasheed Wright on a three point attempt, allowing ODU to cut a 30-25 lead to just two. Trying to maintain the narrow lead near the four minute mark of the first half, Keith Waleskowski and Tony Stanley miss the front end of consecutive one and ones – Tony’s attempt hitting nothing but the floor. Meanwhile ODU hits three point attempts on three consecutive possessions to gain the lead. Then with 4 seconds remaining in the half ODU called time out and substituted Heath Burris – a three- point specialist. Despite the fact that 11,500 fans knew what was going to happen, the Flyers allowed Burris to come off of a double screen and nail a wide open 25 footer to give the Monarchs a 42-36 lead as the first half buzzer sounded.The Flyers got off to a slow start in the second half and the Monarchs extended the lead to 50-41, scoring 9 points on their first four possessions. Almost surprisingly, the Flyers began to play some defense and began to close out on the perimeter shots of Pierre Green or Rasheed Wright. Ramod Marshall forced Green into some bad shots and picked up a steal. The Flyers managed to secure a 59-56 lead and held a three point advantage three different times. Just when it appeared the Flyers might have survived the poor effort, they appeared to get comfortable and relaxed. The defense slacked off and critical mistakes returned. After the Flyers cleared a rebound and finally had possession and a three point lead, Morris was stripped 25 feet from the basket. ODU converted and went to a full-court press. Inexplicably, the Flyer perimeter players deserted Nate Green in the backcourt. The following turnover led to a trey, and after the Flyers missed a shot, ODU converted another trey to move out to a lead they would not relinquish.

The Flyers never got closer than 2 for the remainder of the game.

Old Dominion was led in scoring by Rasheed Wright and Pierre Green with 20 apiece. Nate Green led the Flyers with 17 points while Ramod Marshall chipped in with a career high 16 on 7 of 8 shooting. Marshall also had just one turnover in 21 minutes of play, and continually displayed an ability to penetrate the seams of the defense for lay-ins or pull up jumpers. Keith Waleskowski continued his fine freshman season with another double-double. However the starting perimeter players – Stanley, Morris, and Brooks Hall – managed a combined 7 of 25. To further compound matters, it was frequently their defensive assignment getting open for the big shot.If the Flyers are to restore the promise of Maui they are going to have to fix some serious problems in a hurry. They have to attack full-court pressure and score against the press. Frequently, they are backing up against the pressure and find themselves using nearly the entire allotment of 10 seconds to get across the time line. Inexplicably, they are also making the second pass against the press to Holland or Green deep in the backcourt. Holland and Green seldom find a Flyer coming to the middle to receive the next pass. Many fans will look at the ODU box and see Holland and Green with 7 turnovers and assume they were having the ball stripped in the low post. Not true. Holland and Green each committed at least two turnovers after finding no one to pass to against the press.

Finally, the Flyers are going to have get offensive production from the small forward position. Brooks Hall and Sammy Smith combined for 5 points out of the position Tuesday on 2 of 13 shooting, and no foul shots. It is nearly impossible to win consistently with such anemic offense from one of the key scoring positions on the floor.