Dayton rallies from 17 down, stuns Nevada in NCAA event

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 lads’s NCAA event, in line with ESPN Analytics. That improved to 99.5% with 7:14 left within the recreation, which is true 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 event 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 acquired in a rhythm the place the blokes 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 an excellent job attacking the rim, further go for 3s, ball being fed to Deuce (DaRon Holmes II) inside, him making performs himself or making performs for his teammates, which is basically 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. Once you do this on this stage, you are most likely 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 yr. I feel we’re snug in these conditions. After we have a look at our captain, our coach, we see that he is not anxious, he believes in us, all people from the final participant on the bench, each coach, all of them imagine in us. We imagine in one another. We belief one another. We’re able to doing these kind of issues.”

Added Grant: “We felt actually good. We felt good the place we had been. We felt like we may proceed to make the performs we would have liked to make. The fellows made the performs offensively, and we had 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 lots. There could be instances the place we argue on the ground, however on the finish of the day we all know now we have 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 group was practically good. The Flyers had been 7-for-7 from the sphere, together with 4-for-4 from 3-point vary. In addition 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 sphere and missed all six of their 3-pointers whereas not trying a free throw.

“Now we have a group that may get sizzling at any second, even by metrics, should you simply have a look at it,” Holmes mentioned. “We did an excellent job with that. We acquired sizzling after we acquired sizzling. We caught collectively. That is what occurs.”