UD at Miami (Ohio)

After a pretty damn encouraging win over Western Illinois where a whole lot more looked good than bad, UD made sure not to let any of its fans get their hopes up with a 72-67 overtime loss to Miami.

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Ugh pretty much sums it up. Despite playing without Chris Johnson for the entire first half, UD was holding a five to seven point lead on the Redhawks for most of the frame. They extended it to five (and trust me, five points felt like a significant amount for some reason) but could not put Miami away. In the end, Charlie Coles and crew got away with a W that should have been UD's by 10 in regulation. Dayton's players and coaches did not execute down the stretch, so they are riding the bus home a disappointing 1-1.

The Good
Paul Williams. The player everyone at UD has been waiting to take off didn't necessarily do so tonight, but he had a great game. Williams was 8-13 from the field and 4-6 from three, with some of those shots coming in big moments in a close game. He finished the game with 20 points to lead all scorers. Perhaps most shocking of all, he was aggressive on offense, looking for his own shot. It was like PW knew the Flyers needed him to carry them, so he obliged. You watch a game like this from Williams and wonder why he doesn't score 14 a game. I know he's not going to go 4-6 from three every game, but the way he went to the basket at times and created open looks for himself on the perimeter? He displayed an arsenal tonight. It would be great if that arsenal didn't just show up every now and again throughout this season.

The Bad
Kevin Dillard after the first few minutes. Yeah, there wasn't much good to this one. Dillard was looking like a star in the early going, converting two and-1s early on and managing the game well. He made a couple nice plays late going to the bucket, but a quick glance at his stat sheet shows that it wasn't Dillard's greatest night. He scored 11 points, but went just 4-12 from the field (two bad shooting nights in a row for him). He had six assists, but six turnovers to go with them (unacceptable for a starting point guard. Even if he had 20 assists, six TOs is too many). Not to mention he made the final turnover of the game, icing it for the Redhawks. I still like this guy, and think he's going to be good for UD, but Tuesday night he brought more negatives than positives to the table.

The big men. Against Western Illinois, Josh Benson and Matt Kavanaugh combined for 36 points and 12 rebounds. Against Miami? 12 and nine. It should be said Miami's big men presented a much bigger challenge for those two than Western Illinois' did. But when a team has two starters combine for 12 points, 9 boards, and have absolutely no answer for the opponents' big man on defense down the stretch, it's time to be worried. Julian Mavunga had a bad game, and still finished with 17. He abused Kavanaugh badly enough to cause Archie Miller to sub him out at the end of the game. When Benson stepped up to guard Mavunga, he was abused as well. Last year Chris Wright guarded Mavunga down the stretch and kept him from scoring for the most part. This time, the Flyers had no one with the right combination of strength and quickness to shut him down. And that's before you factor in the seemingly endless parade of moving screens set by Kavanaugh and Luke Fabrizius. I don't know how a college basketball player can play for 13 years and not know how to set a screen, but neither of those two do.

Archie Miller. Dayton's coach, who I believe has brought a better system into Dayton than the previous one used by Brian Gregory, still made some huge mistakes in the game's final five minutes that could have made the difference in a contest like this one. Dayton got the ball after trading baskets with just over a minute left in a tie game at 59-59, and held onto it for the entire shot clock before not scoring. Miami was able to rebound the ball and then had an opportunity for the last shot of regulation. Miller needed to have his players work more quickly on the possession and put up a shot in the 50-45 second range. That way, UD would be in the driver's seat for the final possession of the game. There is something to be said for getting a good shot, but there's more to be said for your chances of scoring one basket on two possessions instead of one. Then, with UD down two and under a minute left in overtime, Miller was content to play defense. The Redhawks worked the ball to Mavunga, who scored easily and Dayton never recovered. Dayton had to foul in that situation. Up to that point, Miami had been just mediocre from the free throw line. UD could have fouled and forced someone other than Mavunga to beat them. The big man had gotten hot at the end of regulation and in OT, so it was not the right move to allow Miami a chance to give him the ball.

There was plenty of other bad in this game from UD. Chris Johnson was in foul trouble throughout, and limited himself. He can't do that. Not only is he one of UD's better offensive threats, but the team is really poor on the glass without him. CJ needs to be in the game whenever he's not scheduled to be on the bench for a rest. I'd rather the player he's defending score than he pick up a foul to prevent a basket early in a game, like he did Tuesday. Josh Parker continues to be a cancer to UD. He "only" committed five turnovers in this game, but most of his passes were deflected or did not reach the intended target. In an offense that is supposed to flow, Parker brings things to a screeching halt more often than not.

This game was a sad reminder of what UD fans hate to think about: Dayton doesn't have a whole lot to work with this season. Things are going to be tougher than normal for them. In years past, these type of mistakes might have flown more under the radar because UD would have rebounded better or had more players on the bench to step up and contribute. But with so few players available, small mistakes are going to be magnified and more costly. After some high spirits following Western Illinois, it's back to the drawing board after Miami. There is still plenty of time for the Flyers to improve on what they need to, but if they don't improve, that sixth-place preseason projection for the A-10 is going to be way too high.