WASHINGTON, D.C.-- The University of Dayton men's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Championship in Washington D.C. with a gritty 78-75 win over UMass Friday. Dayton will meet Richmond Saturday in the tournament semifinals. Game time is 3:30 p.m. ET.
The Flyers edged UMass behind a career-high 28 points by freshman forward
DaRon Holmes II. Holmes scored 28 points (12-15), followed by fellow freshman
Malachi Smith (15 points, 6 assists),
Toumani Camara (12 points) and
R.J. Blakney (10).
In the A-10 end-of-year awards,
DaRon Holmes II was the A-10 Rookie of the Year, Second Team All-A10, and named to the All-Defensive and All-Rookie Teams.
Koby Brea Was named Sixth Man of the Year,
Toumani Camara was Third Team All-A10, and
Malachi Smith was All-Rookie.
Saturday's game will be carried by WHIO Radio, and televised on the CBS Sports Network. Streaming audio and stats will be available at DaytonFlyers.com.
#TRENDING
• Dayton's four A-10 regular season losses included three by a total of four points.
•
DaRon Holmes II and
Malachi Smith were A-10 Rookie of the Week nine total times.
• Holmes is first nationally among freshmen (and 6th overall) in dunks (75). Next are Memphis' Jalen Duren (58) and Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren (51).
• Holmes leads the A-10 in FG% (.652, 159-244). He is one FGM shy of being ranked nationally, but his .652 would be second.
• After 32 career games, Holmes is already in the Flyer Top 10 in career blocks (9th, with 74).
• Holmes II, a consensus Top 50 recruit, is the highest-rated prospect to ever sign with UD.
•
Malachi Smith is in the midst of one of the finest seasons by a UD freshman point guard. He was the first Flyer freshman named an in-season tournament MVP since Roosevelt Chapman was MVP of the UD Invitational in 1980. He already has the UD record for steals by a freshman (now 57) and is second in assists by a freshman (173, 17 away from Juwan Staten's 190).
• After making four of 24 three-pointers in the non-conference season (.167),
Toumani Camara made 16 of 35 (.457) in A-10 play. He has scored double figures in 10 of his last 12 games, averaging 10.3 points a game. In those games he is shooting .500 (15-30) from three.
•
Kobe Elvis averaged 10.2 ppg. in A-10 play, after averaging 5.0 in the non-conference.
• A-10 Sixth Man
Koby Brea has scored double figures in his last five of his last six games.
• Dayton's win over No. 4/3 Kansas was its first over a Top 5 team since the Flyers beat No. 3 DePaul 72-71 at the buzzer on Feb. 18, 1984.
Anthony Grant was a freshman on that team.
• The Covid year has complicated "the clock" for college student-athletes. With that in mind, the Flyers' 11 players listed as freshmen or redshirt freshmen are the second-most in D-I men's basketball. Only Arizona (13) has more. KenPom has UD the least experienced team in D-I.
• UD shoots .502 and allows .395 from the field in its 23 wins this season. In the nine losses, Dayton shoots .414 and allows .456. UD allows 58.1 ppg. in its wins, and 68.2 in its losses.
UP NEXT
• Saturday's semifinal winner will advance to the A-10 championship Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
