Friday, March 20, 2009
MINNEAPOLIS — To most observers, Dayton’s 68-60 victory against West Virginia was just a hard-fought upset victory. To Flyer coach Brian Gregory, it meant so much more.
“Well, I mean, it’s hard to even put in words at this time, to be honest with you,” Gregory said.
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NCAA First Round, Dayton vs. West Virginia
The first round game between the Dayton Flyers and the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Once a basketball power in the 60s, Dayton hadn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 1990 before Friday’s victory. The Flyers, who will play Kansas on Sunday, won behind second-team All-Atlantic 10 player Chris Wright, who recorded 27 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks.
The Mountaineers pulled within one in the second half, but several times Wright pushed them back with a big play — usually a dunk.
“Those plays are heartbreaking to them,” senior forward Charles Little said. “They think they are getting close, they are climbing back up and then Chris drops the hammer.”
Little shot an efficient 8-of-11 from the field for 18 points. Junior guard Marcus Johnson also chipped in with 10 points.
West Virginia’s Darryl Bryant was 4-for-6 behind the three-point line. The rest of the team went 1-of-14, which Gregory pointed to as a key for his team.
“I thought we made some mistakes behind but our ball pressure was good enough to help us out with that,” Gregory said. “It’s like getting a great rush in football. If you’re getting pressure on the quarterback, the safeties can make some mistakes and that’s kind of how we play defense and it worked today.”
Dayton point guard London Warren was one of the biggest surprises on Friday, as he dished out nine assists to just one turnover.
“Last year at this time he had 30 more turnovers than assists and now he is a 2-to-1 ratio,” Gregory said.
Dayton kept up with West Virginia’s athleticism and turned 11 turnovers into 14 points.
It seemed like a relatively normal 11-seed upset over a 6-seed, until you heard Gregory talk about it.
The Dayton coach, who started coaching at Michigan State in 1990, choked up several times when detailing his team’s journey.
Gregory was especially emotional, though, when discussing his mentors Jud Heathcote (former Michigan State coach) and Tom Izzo (current MSU coach).
“Those guys have taught me what this profession is about. Not just what coaching and winning games is all about,” Gregory said.
Asked about Kansas, Gregory and his players said they haven’t studied too much tape but they know it will be difficult. That’s nothing new for the Flyers, who defeated tournament teams Marquette and Xavier earlier this season.
“There are times we don’t play well, but we never back down,” Gregory said.
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