The sixth-seeded Flyers never trailed Tuesday, jumping out to a double-digit lead and dumping 11th-seeded George Washington 67-50 in a first-round game at UD Arena in the Atlantic 10 tournament.
The victory advances Dayton (20-11) to Atlantic City, where it will meet third-seeded Xavier on Friday night.
Dayton and Xavier (19-11) split their two meetings this season, with Dayton rolling to an 87-72 victory at home on Jan. 21 and the Musketeers edging past the Flyers 86-83 in overtime at Xavier on Feb. 21.
However, Dayton appears to have a real shot at beating Xavier on a neutral court. The Flyers whipped the Musketeers in the first meeting, building a 13-point halftime lead and keeping a double-digit lead throughout the second half.
Nearly a month later, in a city where they have not won in 31 years (Cincinnati), the Flyers again had a halftime lead before Xavier rallied to force overtime then won in the extra session. Fouls played a big role in that game, with Xavier star Tu Holloway sinking 14 of the Musketeers' 26 made free throws. Xavier outscored the Flyers at the line by five points.
The Flyers have to contain Holloway, who went for 32 points in the teams' second meeting after scoring a relatively quiet 21 in the first meeting. Junior guard Kevin Dillard is capable of playing Holloway to a draw in this one.
Up front, the Flyers have the edge, as long as junior forward Matt Kavanaugh snaps out his recent funk and plays as he did for much of the season. He had 20 points and nine rebounds in the Flyers' win over Xavier in January, leading Dayton to a 41-29 rebounding advantage. He added 11 points and 11 rebounds in the second meeting as Dayton again led the rebounding battle, 38-36.
Kavanaugh needs help from Chris Johnson (13.0 points, 6.4 rebounds per game) and sophomore forward Devin Oliver (10.4 points, 8.0 rebounds the past five games) to help the Flyers control the boards.
Also important will be the defensive effort of guards Paul Williams and Josh Parker in helping negate the scoring of junior guard Mark Lyons (15.7 points per game) and wing Dezmine Wells (10.1). After George Washington cut the Flyers' lead to five on Tuesday night, Dayton clamped down on defense and outscored the Colonials 19-7 over the last seven minutes of the game.
The Flyers are playing with confidence, having put their four-game skid in the middle of the conference schedule behind them and going 6-2 over the past eight games. They know they can play with anyone in the A-10, having beaten the top three seeds in the conference tournament during the season -- beating Temple on the road and splitting with Saint Louis and Xavier.
"We're going into this tournament confident," point guard Kevin Dillard said. "If we want to make a special run, a special push, it starts (now). It's March, and this is the most exciting time of the year."
STAR WATCH: Point guard Kevin Dillard has been consistently outstanding most of his first season with the Flyers after sitting out last year following his transfer from Southern Illinois.
He ranks second on the team in scoring (12.9 points per game) and leads the team in assists (5.9 per game), minutes (32.3 per game) and steals (1.3 per game).
A deserving co-team MVP with senior forward Chris Johnson, Dillard has had a crucial impact on the team. Without him, the Flyers are often lost. With him, they are a dangerous team.
The 6-foot, 170-pound Dillard led Dayton in scoring in both games against Xavier this season, with 16 points and eight assists in an 87-72 victory at home and 20 points in an 86-83 overtime loss at Xavier.
NOTES, QUOTES
Another 20-win season for UD
--Dayton's 67-50 win over George Washington got the Flyers (20-11) to the 20-win mark for the fifth consecutive season. It's the third time in school history that UD has strung together five straight 20-win seasons. It previously was done under Don Donoher (from 1964-65 to 1968-69) and under both Oliver Purnell (from 1999-2000 to 2002-03) and Brian Gregory (2003-04). Gregory is responsible for the first four years of the current streak, with Archie Miller reaching the 20-win plateau in his first season at the helm. The school has never won 20 games in six consecutive seasons.
--Dayton placed only one player among the 15 selections for Atlantic 10 all-conference teams as voted on by the league's coaches.
Junior G Kevin Dillard was a second-team selection.
Dillard averaged 13.8 points in 16 conference games, which tied for 14th in the league, and he was second in assists at 6.7 per game.
His assist-to-turnover ratio in league play was 2.4-to-1, which led the conference.
--Dayton led the A-10 in free-throw accuracy in the regular season. The Flyers shot 76.9 percent in 30 games overall and 79.6 percent in 16 conference games.
The Flyers had three players in the top 10 in league games with Dillard No. 3 at 88.0 percent, senior F Chris Johnson No. 4 at 87.5 percent and senior G Paul Williams No. 10 at 80.9 percent.
In all games, Johnson was fifth at 84.0 percent and Dillard sixth at 82.5 percent. Williams shot 80.8 percent in all games but that did not make the top 10 in the league.
BY THE NUMBERS: 74.2 -- Dayton was the third-highest scoring team in 16 conference games with its 74.2 average.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "It will be really, really interesting to see the adjustments that will be made." -- Coach Archie Miller, in the Dayton Daily News, after his Flyers were matched against George Washington in their A-10 tourney opener after beating the Colonials in the last game of the regular season.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
--vs. Xavier, Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals, Atlantic City, N.J., March 9
KEY MATCHUPS: PG Kevin Dillard has proved he can play with Xavier star Tu Holloway. However, while Holloway scored a relatively quiet 21 points in the Flyers' win on Jan. 21, Holloway exploded for a season-high 32 in the Musketeers' OT win on Feb. 18.
Fourteen of Holloway's points in the second meeting came from the foul line, and Dillard got in foul trouble, finishing the game with four fouls.
For the Flyers to win the rubber match between the teams, Dillard must be at his best and come close to matching Holloway's point total. If he does that, the Flyers have proven they can beat Xavier. If Holloway goes off again like he did in the second meeting, Dayton likely won't be able to overcome it.
FUTURES MARKET: Dayton is hoping to make a repeat run to the championship game after getting there last year before losing to Richmond. The Flyers have won at least one game in the event in six consecutive years, and they won the tourney in 2003.
PLAYER NOTES
--Senior F Chris Johnson is the only player in college basketball in at least the last 20 years to record 1,400 career points, 800 total rebounds, 300 offensive rebounds, 200 3-pointers and a career free-throw percentage above 80.0 percent. He's also the only Dayton player to ever accomplish the feat.
--Junior G Kevin Dillard ranked second in the A-10 and 21st in the NCAA in assists per game (5.9) during the regular season. He also ranked second in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1) and sixth in free-throw shooting (.825).
--Sophomore F Devin Oliver scored a career-high 19 points in the Flyers' 67-50 victory over George Washington on Tuesday. Over the past five games, Oliver is averaging 10.4 points and eight rebounds.
