Dayton rallies from 17 down, stuns Nevada in NCAA match

SALT LAKE CITY — With 7:39 left Thursday, Tenth-seeded Nevada went up 17 factors over seventh-seeded Dayton and an upset appeared all however destined, if not assured.

At that time, the Wolf Pack had a 99.1% likelihood to advance to the second spherical of the boys’s NCAA match, in keeping with ESPN Analytics. That improved to 99.5% with 7:14 left within the recreation, which is correct when Dayton began chipping away at Nevada’s lead.

The Flyers then went on a 24-4 run to cap the most important comeback within the NCAA match since 2018, profitable 63-60 on the Delta Heart. Dayton will face the second-seeded Arizona Wildcats within the second spherical Saturday.

“I assumed down the stretch we received in a rhythm the place the fellows understood how we needed to assault them and the way we would have liked to make performs for one another,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant mentioned. “You noticed guys doing job attacking the rim, additional go for 3s, ball being fed to Deuce (DaRon Holmes II) inside, him making performs himself or making performs for his teammates, which is actually how we have performed.”

Nevada senior guard Kenan Blackshear described the final seven minutes as a “meltdown.”

“Cannot actually put it into phrases actually,” he mentioned.

Wolf Pack coach Steve Alford mentioned he by no means anticipated to see Nevada’s season finish on the dropping finish of a 24-4 run. However a collection of errors, together with one the place two gamers took the ball out of bounds, and “uncharacteristic issues” like not rotating defensively led to their first-round exit, Alford defined.

“Actually, actually poor offense the final seven minutes,” Alford mentioned. “Very poor protection. Whenever you do this on this stage, you are in all probability not going to win very many video games. That is actually what occurred tonight.”

Grant did not present any panic when the Flyers trailed by 17, and his gamers mentioned that poise rubbed off on them.

“In these moments, that is after we get the closest,” Dayton guard Koby Brea mentioned. “I feel we have been in these conditions a pair instances this 12 months. I feel we’re snug in these conditions. Once we have a look at our captain, our coach, we see that he isn’t frightened, he believes in us, everyone from the final participant on the bench, each coach, all of them consider in us. We consider in one another. We belief one another. We’re able to doing these sort of issues.”

Added Grant: “We felt actually good. We felt good the place we have been. We felt like we might proceed to make the performs we would have liked to make. The blokes made the performs offensively, and we have been capable of be disruptive defensively. Made all of the distinction on the earth for us.”

Dayton fell behind with 2:19 left within the first half when Nevada’s Jarod Lucas gave the Wolf Pack a 27-25 lead with a step-back 3-pointer. The Flyers did not retake the lead till 2:01 was left within the recreation, when Holmes put the Flyers up 59-58. However even then, the Flyers could not maintain on to their slight edge. Nevada’s Kenan Blackshear, whose father, Kerry Blackshear Sr., was coached by Dayton head coach Anthony Grant at Stetson, gave the Wolf Pack the lead once more 60-59 with 1:03 left.

Then, with 34 seconds remaining, Dayton Guard Enoch Cheeks hit a layup to place the Flyers up, for what ended up being for good, 61-60.

After Nevada sophomore ahead Nick Davidson misplaced the ball throughout a crossover with 16 seconds left, Cheeks got here up with it and was fouled. He knocked down two free throws to seal the ultimate rating.

“There was by no means a doubt in our thoughts,” Holmes mentioned. “We went down loads. There could be instances the place we argue on the ground, however on the finish of the day we all know we have now one another. That is what issues. If you wish to win massive video games, you bought to stay collectively, simply with something.”

Dayton scored 17 straight factors to start out its comeback run, throughout which the staff was almost excellent. The Flyers have been 7-for-7 from the sector, together with 4-for-4 from 3-point vary. Additionally they went 6-for-7 from the free throw line with only one turnover. Throughout the run, Brea had 9 factors, all on 3-pointers, Holmes had eight, Cheeks had six and Nate Santos had three.

Whereas Dayton could not miss, Nevada could not discover the basket. The Wolf Pack went 2-for-9 from the sector and missed all six of their 3-pointers whereas not trying a free throw.

“We now have a staff that may get scorching at any second, even by metrics, in the event you simply have a look at it,” Holmes mentioned. “We did an excellent job with that. We received scorching after we received scorching. We caught collectively. That is what occurs.”