DAYTON -- For the second straight game, the University of Dayton basketball team took a swift kick in the seat of its confidence.
After losing at home Saturday to 3-18 Rhode Island, the Flyers repeated their sin of omission — forgetting that defense is half the game — and lost again at home, this time to Duquesne by 83-73,
This UD team is a team that won the Old Spice Classic at Disney World by beating Wake Forest, Fairfield and Minnesota.
This UD team is a team that has beaten seven opponents ranked in the top 100 in the RPI.
This UD team is a team that beat Alabama, Ole Miss, St. Louis, Temple (at Temple), LaSalle and Xavier.
This UD team also has lost to Miami of Ohio, Buffalo, Seton Hall, St. Joseph's, Rhode Island and Duquesne.
You can't even say, "Go figure," because you can't go figure. Explanations are head-scratchers.
For sure, the Flyers have forgotten the basics of defense, the part where you stop the other team from scoring baskets.
Duquense is a harrowing example.
The Dukes came to Dayton was the 10th best three-point team in the 14-team Atlantic 10, shooting .333 from Threeland. They did not have one player in the top 12 in the league in three-point shooting.
And yet, during the first half Wednesday night, three-pointers were falling on the Flyers' heads like pennies from heaven. The Dukes were 10 for 16 in the first half and seven different players made at least one three-pointer.
"We set our goal to keep a team to 10 three-pointers in a game," said Flyer center Matt Kavanaugh. "But they had 10 in the first half."
Indeed they did – and it helped them construct a 15-point lead midway through the half at 30-15.
With Sean Johnson (two), B.J. Monteiro (two), Mike Talley (two), Eric Evans (one), T.J. McConnell (one), P.J. Torres (one) and Jerry Jones (one) all throwing in three-pointers, the Dukes led at the half, 49-40.
It is a disturbing habit the Flyers have injected into their play over their last three games, all league losses — giving up close to 50 points in a half.
"They put on a first-half shooting display," said UD coach Archie Miller. "That seems to be a common theme against us these days. We didn't have a whole lot of answers."
The way the Flyers were playing, it didn't appear they knew the question.
To their credit, the Flyers didn't FedEx in the second half. They tried. They turned up the defensive burners, especially on the three-point shots. At one point, Duquesne was 0 for 7 on threes in the second half.
And the Flyers steadily hacked away at the lead until they took their own lead, 57-55, on two free throws by Chris Johnson with ten minutes left.
Then the offense went into hibernation and turnovers and offensive fouls surfaced.
Over the next four minutes the Flyers didn't score from the field — just two free throws — as Duquesne went on a 13-2 run to take a 68-59 lead from which the Flyers couldn't recover.
Point guard Kevin Dillard scored eight points in the first half and nearly carried the Flyers by himself in the second half with 14, most when UD was mounting its ill-fated comeback.
The Flyers were much bigger under the basket than the Dukes, but couldn't get the ball often enough inside to 6-10 Matt Kavanaugh. He had 17 points, but only had 11 shots.
"We played a lot harder in the second half than we did in the first half, got a lot more stops," said Dillard. "When we got the lead, they scored two or three easy buckets (off turnovers) and took the lead right back."
Of his team's defensive shortcomings, Dillard said, "We have to keep guys out of the lane. This league has a lot of good guards and we have to keep them out of the lane to take away the driving and the kick outs (for threes).
"Yeah, I was surprised (shocked is more like it) about the threes they were making in the first half," added Dillard. "But they were comfortable. We ran them out of the lane in the second half and they weren't so comfortable."
Coach Archie Miller tried to absorb the blame for his team's defensive meanderings.
"You have to look at the coaches, too," he said. "We're having defensive breakdowns and we're at the point where teams are averaging about 50 points for the last four halves we've played. That's has to come back on me and I have to do a better job of preparing these kids. Put that right on me."
Miller, though, isn't out there defending the three-point line or the lane or the base-line.
"We played extremely hard for at least the first eight to 10 minutes on defense, where we were able to dig in there and get the stops," he said. "We got the game back even and at that point it was anybody's game. At that point it was who would get the stops and finish.
"At the 10-minute mark, we had to make some substitutions and we had breakdowns at both ends that really, really hurt us."
The Flyers, once leaders of the Atlantic-10 at 4-1, are now 4-4 at the halfway point and are staggering, if not falling to the floor.
"This is where we have to regain ourselves and get off the mat," said Miller. "We've lost a lot of confidence. For whatever reason, confidence comes and goes."
Right now it is gone, long gone.
