‘We fumed’: Down 17, Dayton diminishes Nevada

• Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff WriterMar 21, 2024, 09:33 PM ET

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  Josh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL at ESPN. Josh has covered the Cardinals given that 2012, joining ESPN in 2013. He belongs to the Pro Football Writers of America and a graduate of Indiana University. You can follow him by means of Twitter @joshweinfuss.

SALT LAKE CITY– With 7:39 left Thursday, 10th-seeded Nevada went up 17 points over seventh-seeded Dayton and an upset appeared all however predestined, if not guaranteed.At that point, the Wolf Load had a 99.1%possibility to advance to the second round of the men’s NCAA tournament, according to ESPN Analytics. That improved to 99.5%with 7:14 left in the game, which is right when Dayton began chipping away at Nevada’s lead.The Flyers then went on a 24-4 run to cap the largest comeback in the NCAA tournament since 2018, winning 63-60 at the Delta Center. Dayton will face the second-seeded Arizona Wildcats in the second round Saturday.”I thought down the stretch we got in a rhythm where the guys understood how we wished to attack them and how we required to make plays for each other,”Dayton coach Anthony Grant stated.”You saw guys doing a great job attacking the rim, extra pass for threes, ball being fed to Deuce (DaRon Holmes II) inside, him making plays himself or making plays for his colleagues, which is truly how we’ve played.”Editor’s Picks 2 Related Nevada senior guard Kenan Blackshear described the last seven minutes as a”

disaster.””Ca

n’t really

put it into words actually,”he said.Wolf Load coach Steve Alford stated he never ever anticipated to see Nevada’s

season end on the losing end of a 24-4 run.

However a series of mistakes, consisting of one where two players took the ball out of bounds, and” uncharacteristic things”like not rotating defensively led to their first-round exit, Alford discussed. “Really, really bad offense the last 7 minutes, “Alford stated.”Very bad defense. When you do that on this phase, you’re most likely not

going to win many games. That’s really what happened tonight. “Grant didn’t reveal any panic when the Flyers tracked by 17, and his players stated that grace rubbed off on them. “In those minutes, that’s when we get the closest

,”Dayton guard Koby Brea said. “I believe we have actually remained in those scenarios a couple times this year. I think we’re comfortable

in those situations. When we look at our captain, our coach, we see that he’s not fretted, he thinks in us, everyone from the last player on the bench, every coach, they all think in us. We believe in each other. We rely on each other. We’re capable of doing those kind of things.” Added Grant:”We felt actually good. We felt great where we were. We seemed like we might continue to make the plays we needed to make. The guys made the plays offensively, and we had the ability to be disruptive defensively. Made all the distinction in the world for us.” Dayton fell back with 2:19 left in the first half when Nevada’s Jarod Lucas provided the Wolf Load a 27-25 lead with a step-back 3-pointer. The Flyers didn’t retake the lead till 2:01 was left in the game, when Holmes put the Flyers up 59-58.

But even then, the Flyers could not hold on to their minor edge. Nevada’s Kenan Blackshear, whose daddy, Kerry Blackshear Sr., was coached by Dayton head coach Anthony Grant at Stetson, provided the Wolf Pack the lead once again 60-59 with 1:03 left.Then, with 34 seconds remaining, Dayton Guard Enoch Cheeks struck a layup to put the Flyers up, for what ended up being for great, 61-60. After Nevada sophomore forward Nick Davidson lost the ball throughout a crossover with 16 seconds left, Cheeks developed it and was fouled. He tore down two complimentary tosses to seal the final score. “There was never ever a doubt in our mind, “Holmes stated.”We decreased a lot.

There may be times where we argue on the flooring, however at the end of the day we know we have each other. That’s what matters. If you want to win big games, you got to stick, simply with anything.”Dayton scored 17 straight indicate begin its comeback run, throughout which the group was almost ideal. The Flyers were 7-for-7 from the field, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range. They likewise went 6-for-7 from the totally free toss line with simply one turnover. Throughout the run, Brea had nine points, all on 3-pointers, Holmes had eight, Cheeks had 6 and Nate Santos had three.While Dayton couldn’t miss, Nevada couldn’t find the basket. The Wolf Load went 2-for-9 from the field and missed all six of their 3-pointers while not trying a totally free throw.”We have a group that can fume at any moment, even by metrics, if you simply look at it, “Holmes said.”We did an excellent job with that.

We fumed when we got hot. We stuck together. That’s what happens. “